Tsai-ko Autobiography: Tracy Orillo-Donovan
Name: a.k.a. Kinda Shy
High School:
Waialua 1980
Tsai-ko Lunch Size: N/A
Original Tsai-ko caricature:
second row, left end
From the Warrior Beat blog August 22,
2007:
ST's Intro:
Tracy Orillo-Donovan is part
of your daily life.
You just might not realize it.
She has appeared on more commericials than Augie T.
She also dispenses useful tips as part of her daily UH announcements.
She is married to Jim Donovan, thus making Jim the second-best athlete
in the relationship and fourth-best in the household.
She is smart, funny, gorgeous and, best of all, wise enough to not give
away all of her old friend Bulla's secrets.
Here's Tracy:
Hooked on UH sports
My first memory of UH sports is of the “Termite Palace.” If you think
traffic is bad on game days at Aloha Stadium, imagine being stuck on
the freeway in the family’s gold Impala with your parents, two sisters
and a brother trying to getting into a stadium that had little or no
parking except what was available on the side streets.
The match-up was against Humboldt State. UH quarterback Alex Kaloi, who
just crossed the goal line for a touchdown, started doing the Elvis
dance. You know, the one where his knees go spastic! It was cold, rainy
and the field was muddy but the crowd went ballistic and I was hooked!
Geek and Jockette
I am a 1980 Waialua High graduate who filled my teenage years playing
softball, basketball and running track. I served as class president
(sophomore) and student body vice president and president my junior and
senior years, respectively. Scholarship offers rolled in for softball
(Creighton, USF, USC) and a couple of inquiries for basketball but with
an older brother and sister already in college, I thought the best plan
of action was to start at UH then transfer to a mainland college. I
never left. Literally.
In my first semester at Frear Hall (bachelor’s: journalism and speech;
master’s: educational administration), I met some guys at J-Hall,
including Bulla, who is the same warm, generous and fun person he is
today. It’s funny how with some people, you can go for years without
seeing them, then the moment you talk again, it’s like time never
passed. My friendship with Bulla is like that. BTW, he really was my
resident advisor at Frear.
Each day, the J-Hall boys and I had a routine: eat dinner early, then
head out to Holmes Hall across the street from J-Hall where we played
football until the sun went down. Homework usually followed until we
took a break for pick-up basketball games at Klum Gym on the nights it
was opened late. Then it was back to homework before heading off to
bed. That was the life.
The World of Athletics
Intramural basketball led me to my first job in UH athletics. Sue
Crandall (then-women’s SID) and I were on the same team. Just to
illustrate the expansive cast of the Tsaikos’ cyber net, I also met
Warrior Mojo as a result of being on this team. No, he wasn’t playing,
but his friend was my teammate. Sue encouraged me to apply for the
student writer position in the office. I was hired and helped with the
media duties for all of the women’s sports as well as football,
baseball and men’s basketball.
In my last semester at UH, Sue was on her way to law school and wanted
to me to get her job. I was really torn between trying out for the
newly established UH women’s softball team and looking for a full-time
job. I choose to walk down the responsible path. During my tenure as
women’s SID, several prominent community leaders were my student
assistants. This was my dream job since I love sports and traveling. In
1988, then-UHAD Stan Sheriff named me interim women’s athletics
director before Marilyn Moniz-Kahoohanohano was selected to the
permanently position nearly a year later. I was 26 years old.
UH athletics is also where Jim and I met. He is the love of my life and
the one who helps me reach my highest potential as a person. He
supports me in anything I want to do or be. It’s also probably why
we’ve been married for 18 years. In 1996, we both graduated with our
master’s degrees and walked in the summer commencement ceremony
together (he went through the Executive MBA program). We have two
wonderful children who fill our lives with joy and love.
All Grown Up
Today, I work in the UH Manoa Chancellor’s Office as the broadcast
manager. In addition to the University Reports you hear on KKEA1420 and
10 other radio stations throughout Hawaii, I manage the UH broadcast
projects with radio and television stations as well as coordinate
commercial film shoots for local, national and international production
crews representing the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and
“Lost,” among others. In my spare time, I appear on commercials and do
voiceover work for production companies.
My comments about the Warrior Beat? It’s a 24/7 party in ST’s virtual
garage with people from all walks of life. They show up, eat, talk
story and then leave if they have something to do. But the neatest
thing is that you get to interact with people who love UH sports so
someone’s always around to talk story with you.