Cliff Dias has always lived by a motto: Service to others and a special generosity toward kids.
It’s a reason the 1967 St. Joseph graduate has been a generous benefactor to his alma mater. In 2007, he and his wife Kathie donated $1 million to the school. The couple has also been lead sponsors for the basketball team’s Cardinal Classic for the last eight years.
“Maybe it will inspire others to help kids,” he said. “That is one of our reasons for the gift to St. Joseph to inspire others to give, which helps kids. It’s always about the kids for me.”
He played basketball, baseball, volleyball and ran track for the Cardinals before spending 33 years in the banking industry.
In the curious case of where are they now?, Dias, 71, and his wife are retired and living in Oregon.
Basketball was always his favorite sport. Dias averaged 21.1 points per game when there wasn’t a 3-point line as a senior.
His parents Clifford and Hilda sent all five of their children to St. Joseph. He remembers a childhood built by service to others, and kindness was returned to him by people in the community.
“I was an alter boy for many, many years, at St. Joe and St. Joe church,” he said. “I served mass five days a week at 6 a.m.
“I had a paper route and the one thing I remember was that people were nice in Hilo. They would see a young kid, maybe 7, 8, 9 years old and give me something to eat. The people were humble, generous and supportive.”
He credits his St. Joseph education, the nuns and priests at the school, for providing a faith-based education and sharp discipline.
He also recalls a childhood where his parents stretched their last dollar.
“I had a busy childhood. If I had any complaints, I don’t know of any. My mom worked at home, and my dad worked at First Hawaiian Bank for 44 years,” Dias said. “We were financially humble. We lived in a small house, three bedrooms, one bath and seven people. It was challenging.
“My mom was a good cook. We didn’t have a lot to cook, but what we had was good. We’d go to the grocery store and it seemed like everybody knew her. She was outgoing and calm. She had a warm personality.
“My dad pretty much worked. He was gone all the time, and I was into all different sports. When Hilo and St. Joe locked horns, it was major for entertainment.”
The nuns were strict. Things needed to be clean and orderly. If homework was assigned, it had to be completed. Work ethic was stamped on a student.
A lot of what he learned early helped him in the banking industry. What also helped was the intangibles from sports such as teamwork.
“I liked the teamwork, working with people, and that helped me in the business,” he said. “You had to learn to get along with people. It’s give and take.
“I go back to square one. The nuns taught me how to type. Back then we had to type our own college papers. It saved me time.”
After graduation, he had only one goal to get a college degree. He went to the University of Portland, where he graduated with a degree in marketing and more importantly met his future wife. During that time, the Vietnam war was raging. He served in the Army national reserves for eight years and rose to the rank of captain.
One of his friends mentioned the U.S. National Bank of Oregon, where Dias went in as a management trainee back in 1973.
Kathie worked in nursing and eventually became in charge of 7,100 employees, including 2,000 nurses.
“She was the big kahuna of nursing,” Dias said. “We both had really good careers. We didn’t have any kids, but that’s OK. We helped the other kids. That’s what we actually do.”
About eight years ago, Rod Cambra, a former St. Joe athletic director, approached Dias about getting involved with the Cardinal Classic. Dias only wanted to get involved if he could be the lead sponsor. Due to Dias’ generosity, the basketball tournament hasn’t lacked in anything.
Dias and Kathie had hotel reservations at Hualalai for Oct. 28 but that’s been canceled.
“My sister (Gail) lives in Hilo. She married Morty Carter. We spend a lot of time with them,” Dias said. “I get the daily reports on COVID. I saw 35,000 arrived in the islands last year, and it was under 3,000. You would think those numbers were mistyped.”
Dias enjoyed his job because he had a chance to help people, like a recently graduated college worker looking for a loan to start a business.
“I liked that, watching a business grow,” he said. “We had good training in Oregon, not as good as St. Joseph, like how to be sensitive to disadvantaged people. All those kinds of things.”
Call it what you want: aloha spirit, common decency, compassion.
It was instilled in Dias at a young age and something he still carries around.
For now, Cliff and Kathie Dias walk and spend time with their grandnieces.
“We live a quiet, enjoyable life,” he said. “We still help the kids with no big announcements.”