University of Hawaii-West Oahu Chancellor Rockne Freitas is retiring at the end of the year.

The former NFL Pro Bowler — whose career at UH spans 23 years — was the first Native Hawaiian chancellor when he was named in 2013.

“I am the happiest man in the world to have served the University of Hawaii, but I am retiring to begin a new journey, spend time with people that I love, go fishing and work out,” Freitas said in a news release.

UH-West Oahu’s enrollment grew under Freitas and is expected to reach 3,000 this fall, up from 1,909 when he took over.

Freitas was in the NFL for 12 years, all but one of them with the Detroit Lions before ending his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Freitas was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame and the Oregon State University Sports Hall of Fame.

Exonerated obstetrician says he’ll seek reimbursement

After a circuit judge on Hawaii island decided to uphold a decision clearing a Hilo obstetrician of allegations of fraud, the doctor says he will seek reimbursement from the state and insurers.

Dr. Frederick Nitta was suspended from receiving Medicaid reimbursements amid allegations of bilking more than $1 million from the program.

On Friday, Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura upheld a February ruling by a state hearings officer that overturned the suspension, Hawaii News Now reported Monday. Both rulings found there were mistakes made in the way Medicaid was billed, but there was no intentional fraud.

Nitta’s attorney Eric Seitz said the doctor is seeking Medicaid reimbursements of several thousand dollars from when claims were suspended.

“There are hundreds of thousands of dollars of reimbursements that should have been paid that have been held back,” Seitz said. “Most doctors would have gone out of business because of this experience. He basically financed his practice, didn’t pay himself and paid his staff out of pocket.”

Nitta’s practice is known for treating primarily Medicaid, Medicare or Med-Quest patients. His practice of drug testing expecting mothers for 14 different types of drugs landed him in trouble. Nitta was billing insurers for each of the 14 tests when he was allowed to bill for only one.