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WAIANAE - The Sodfather was impressed.

George Toma — a Hall-of-Fame groundskeeper with a variety of sod-related nicknames — has most likely seen it all in his long career. But Raymond Torii, the only high school stadium in the nation built directly on a beach, was different. It has the perfect backdrop. The sprawling mountains and the vast ocean that extends beyond the visitors' bleachers was the ideal place for football.

Toma thought this was where he would schedule practices for the Pro Bowl football players that were in Hawai'i in 2008, according to Glenn Tokunaga, the school's athletic director at the time.

But there was a problem. The field was outdated, rough and potentially dangerous. For years, high school players would risk rolling their ankles on this field, and Toma was not about to approve it for the all-star NFL players. When talking to Tokunaga about his concerns over the safety of the field, Toma put it bluntly: "million-dollar-players need million-dollar-fields."

In 2019, Raymond Torii was voted as the fourth-best high school stadium in the country by a USA Today poll. While the legendary field is home to 16 championship football teams, in more recent years, it has spiraled in-and-out of utility and may have put high school players at higher risk for minor injuries. Community stakeholders argue that something needs to be done. But when? And who will pay for it?

Cedric Gates — a representative of the 44th-district, including Waianae — has announced on Instagram that Governor Ige has already agreed to release funds for a $750,000 all-weather track. But, as part of a much larger improvement project, Gates is hoping for an additional $5 million for new turf. Such fields have become the standard for high school stadiums 0n O'ahu, and many believe it's time for Waianae to catch up.

Architects are currently conceptualizing the construction of a new synthetic turf field for the stadium, but getting the funds will be a challenge. Concerns over vandalism and the field's proximity to the ocean have created hurdles for Gates. But, with news of a new track, a growing and increasingly influential number of administrators are optimistic that much needed investment is on its way, signaling a modest leap forward for a high school and community that often feels it is at a disadvantage.

"Our community, our students, deserve the same as everybody else," Kekoa Kaluhiokalani, Waianae's current athletic director, said. "We got to level the playing field here."

The project is currently awaiting the governor's approval on the proposed budget, according to Nanea Kalani, a member of the Department of Education's communications branch. Once approved, construction is anticipated to begin in Summer 2022.

Because the project is too early for the bidding process, no environmental impact statement is available, according to Kalani. She added that an assessment will be initiated in the future to determine possible project obstacles.

In the past, Gates has encountered road-blocks when getting support for capital improvement project funding in the legislature. One of those bills he sponsored in the past, for example, was for a playground in a Waianae neighborhood. After it was eventually burned down, Gates needed to request funding a second time, which has become a cause for concerns. Gates himself was a victim of vandalism when a vandal spray-painted a racial slur on his campaign banner in 2016.

Gates added that, because the stadium is on the beach, he also anticipates costly barriers with construction. Some challenges include the coral patch that lays beneath the field, which may need to be excavated. Another is the potential for dangerous waste-water-run-off, which is a concern because of the field's proximity to the ocean. There may also be concern over rising sea levels.

But still, Raymond Torii is a place where many young football players in Waianae dream of playing, and legendary groundskeepers come to admire. A place where legends are made, and a community gathers. A place that would virtually transform overnight with funding; a place where a like-minded community could rise with it, too.

Fukunaga and Associates Inc. — a Hawaii-based civil and environmental engineering firm that provides engineering consulting services — is credited for this architectural drawing of the proposed field upgrades. This design is conceptual, and the final project drawings are not yet complete, according to the DOE.

Construction for Raymond Torii Field was completed in 1957 and was later named after the school's first principal. The Seariders football team won the first-ever O'ahu Interscholastic Association Championship in 1966, then went on to win 15 additional titles before 1997. The team has appeared in four title games since, but lost each time. During its peak, the stadium brought 15,000 spectators to the west side of O'ahu.

Along with football games, the field also hosts graduation ceremonies, community fundraisers and charity events.

Kaluhiokalani, who played quarterback at the school in the late 80s, said that of all the memories he's had on the field, football was always the most enduring. "So many people were excited to come watch for the Friday night game — so much history and tradition — even when I was a kid," Kaluhiokalani said. "You wouldn't emulate any NFL players, you emulated Waianae High School players."

Football games at Raymond Torii Field also fueled an undercurrent for entrepreneurial education at Waianae High School. About 20 years ago, Searider Productions, a multimedia and design hub, began a program at Waianae High School teaching elements of entrepreneurship. At each game, students and teachers set up a pop-up stand to sell apparel and other products made by students in the program.

Searider Productions benefited from the steady flow of foot-traffic from the large crowds at the games, John Allen III, video advisor and operations manager at Searider Productions, said. He added that this revenue stream helps the program to provide payments to their student-interns.

Along with the fundraisers, Searider Productions also uses the field as a backdrop for many of its projects. Allen said access to the beach-front property makes for scenic interviews, photos and other forms of media.

"It's one of those things that, if you went to Waianae High School, and you've been on that field, you understand the beauty of what you're seeing and how special that is," Allen said. "I'll post something about the field, and I get all this engagement from random people from Waianae. They're like, oh yeah, that's my field,' and I don't even know who that person is."

The school also brings in revenue through its concession stands, admission prices and parking fees. It has hosted a variety of charity events including a soccer session where David Beckham and other members of the L.A. Galaxy visited the field in 2008.

Its first notable criticism came when the Hall-of-Fame scout Toma visited in 2008. The groundskeeper, who was representing the NFL, said the field was too dangerous, according to Tokunaga. Instead of having practices at Waianae High School, where he envisioned doing it, they were instead held at Kapolei High School because the field just didn't meet the safety standards of the NFL, according to Tokunaga.

When it was later reported that Kapolei received new equipment and bleachers for hosting the practices, rumors that Waianae turned down a similar offer began to circulate, according to former students interviewed for this article. But when asked, Tokunaga denied speculation that the NFL offered to finance any infrastructure improvements at Raymond Torii Field. He added that there was simply not enough time to re-do the field.

"We were always trying to get it improved or turfed because of Waianae's history of great football teams," Tokanaga said. "We felt our community and student-athletes deserved to be in a first-rate stadium."

In 2010, the Seariders had a chance to host a primetime game in front of a statewide audience. The Kailua Surfriders were in town for the OIA Red Conference football quarterfinal, and the small-town on the westside was ready for the spectacle. Before the playoff game, a group of former student-athletes banded together to coordinate a full firework display, and the local band Kouka agreed to perform at halftime.

"We were one of the first schools, and maybe one of the only schools, to have a firework show at halftime and even a mini-concert," Tokunaga said.

Somewhere in the crowd that night Jacoby Cid, a sophomore kicker on the junior varsity football team, watched the fireworks thunder overhead after his game. He never saw anything like it before on that field. It was at that moment, he said, he was ready to be a varsity player.

But just one year later, after the football team's appearance in the Division I state title game, all home games were relocated. The bleachers facing the ocean, which are designated for the home team, had decayed and were deemed unstable for visitors. This led officials to schedule the entire season to be away games. It eventually took two years for the bleachers to be fixed, which meant that Cid and his teammates were without a home field for their junior and senior seasons.

"We were like, ah, man, our homecoming is at Aiea,'" Cid said, adding that spectators brought signs to the field to make it feel a little more like home. "They still made it kind of special, but to win the first homecoming not at home was pretty discouraging."

Funding for other local high school stadium upgrades have burgeoned in years past. On O'ahu, for example, Mililani's John Kauinana Stadium received $2.5 million in capital funding for its turf field in 2011. Castle High School received $5 million for its turf field in 2012. McKinley High School received $5 million in funds for a turf field, with an additional $3.2 million allocated for design and construction of lights and bleachers. A long-list of schools have also gotten funds for grass and turf upgrades.

Waianae is still waiting for its turn.

In 2019, six years after the construction of the bleachers was completed, Raymond Torii was voted as the fourth-best high school stadium in the country in the USA Today poll, which was also circulated by CBS Sports. But, in 2020, it would sit empty again with COVID-19 restrictions.

"I've been here long enough to see the ebbs and flows with that field," Allen said. "I've seen that evolution."

"Friday night no lights," Allen captioned this photo on Instagram. After COVID-19 restrictions shuttered sports, Raymond Torii once again sat empty.

Raymond Torii, in many ways, perfectly reflects the culture of Waianae. It is sprawling and rough, breathtaking and bold, wide open for opportunity, but hampered by desperately-needed funding. With a new track, though, many administrators, former student-athletes and community stakeholders are beginning to sound-off on ways to further invest in the field.

After the track construction is completed, Kaluhiokalani is hoping for a new all-weather turf field. He said it would help Waianae to host more games both locally and from mainland teams. It would also ease the burden of the maintenance department, he said. Through multiple meetings with potential bidders, he added the turf field is a real possibility.

"I think the field could definitely show that people care about us on this side," he said. "That feeling that we're not getting second-hand things, and that we get the same opportunities as others."

Gates said he would like to invest in projects that contribute to the entrepreneurial aspect of the field. The concession stand, for example, could be upgraded to handle a more diversified menu that features ingredients grown in the agricultural departments on campus, he said.

Gates added that he is also seeking community input on other ways to capitalize on the field. Some ideas circulating are to have open farmers markets on the field, charity walks and "Sunset on the Beach," which is a movie festival.

Cid is also hoping for a new turf field for the safety of the athletes. He said he rolled his ankle multiple times on the field. He added that he would also recommend a new locker room, specifically for the junior varsity players. Also, as a former track runner, Cid is hoping that the track is done professionally and scaled to the standard lengths.

"Kids from Waianae don't get a lot, we don't get a lot of opportunities and we don't get a lot of good looks," Cid said. "We used to joke that we could beat anybody because apparently our track is longer than the usual track."

Allen said he would like to install a permanent robotic live-stream camera to broadcast games in real time. He said it would cost about $15,ooo to 25,000, and would immediately begin to bring in cash for the program. It would also ease some of the responsibilities of the student-interns.

"There are so many opportunities for anybody to generate revenue on that field because of the amount of space and parking there is," Allen said. "If they can re-invest in the infrastructure, the technical infrastructure and the concession – they can create a really cool community space."