Former police chief Donohue earns high martial arts honor

Tired of seeing her son struggle with bullies, his mom packed him off to judo and jiujitsu classes in the late 1950s, Lee Donohue said.

” ‘You’re not gonna let anybody push you around,’ ” Donohue said he remembers his mother mandating. ” ‘You’re gonna take that class.’ “

But on the practice mats at Okazaki’s Kodenkan, near where Honolulu Police headquarters now stands, Donohue did more than learn how to hang onto his lunch money. He also discovered what would become a life-long passion, the martial arts.

Now, after more than a half-century dedicated to the study and teaching of the martial arts, Donohue will be inducted into the Masters Hall of Fame on Saturday in Costa Mesa, Calif.

“It was a surprise,” said the 69-year-old former Honolulu Police chief and City Council member who holds an eighth-degree black belt in Okinawan Shorin Ryu and still teaches four classes a week.

Donohue was selected “in recognition of his devotion and standing in the martial arts community,” said Daniel Hecht, hall of fame chief executive officer. Donohue will join Ed Parker and Olohe Solomon Kaihewalu among the others with Hawaii ties who are already enshrined in the 13-year-old hall of fame.

Donohue credits a long line of sensei for teaching him the martial arts “is not about learning how to beat up people.” Donohue said, “You learn how to defend yourself; they wanted you to become a good person and represent the school well, too.”

Donohue, who was a member of the HPD judo team and leader in the Hawaii Karate Congress, has taught martial arts since 1970.

He has run three schools and was a co-founder of Kick-Start Karate, a program for at-risk youths, in 1994 and still serves as its president.

He retired from HPD in 2004 after 40 years, the last five as chief. In 2010 he served the final seven months of Charles Djou’s City Council term after Djou was elected to the U.S. Congress.

Looking back, Donohue said getting him into martial arts “was the best choice my mother ever made.”