At the close of last night's boys basketball state championship awards ceremony, Keith Amemiya ended his 10 1/2-year tenure as Hawai'i High School Athletic Association executive director.

But his service to Hawai'i high school sports will continue, as Amemiya has agreed to stay on as overseer of the HHSAA's highly successful "SOS" (Save Our Sports) campaign to help public schools offset state budget cuts that left them operating with less than 65 percent of their state allocations compared to 2008-2009.

The SOS project, which has raised more than $1.4 million since its kickoff on July 28, 2009, was created by Amemiya and is not an official function of the HHSAA. New executive director Chris Chun's first day of work was this past Monday.

"He's going to have more than enough things to do (over the next few months), without also worrying about SOS," Amemiya said of Chun.

Amemiya said individual contributions are still coming in, with many of the electronic donations still to be registered. Also, LION Coffee's ongoing promotion — contributing 25 cents from every bag of coffee sold at Longs Drugs to SOS — will continue through the end of March.

Since its kickoff, the SOS Fund has raised $1,443,243 through contributions from businesses, foundations, unions, individuals and events/promotions throughout the community.

To contribute to the SOS Fund, make a check payable to "HHSAA SOS Account" and send it to HHSAA, P.O. Box 62029, Honolulu, HI 96839, or visit www.sportshigh.com

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456. Read his blog on high school sports at www.preptalk.honadvblogs.com