One is a two-time Kauai high school golf champion who recently finished his four-year University of Hawaii career.

The other played for McKinley so long ago he was listed as “person lone golfer.” Gerald Isobe went on to a decorated four years — academically and athletically — at Rochester Institute of Technology and coached Punahou for a dozen years.

He and 2013 Kauai High grad Pono Tokioka can now boast of national and international golf success. They would rather talk about a passion that goes even deeper than golf.

The two, who are both deaf, are co-chairs of the inaugural GEM Golf Classic, July 13 at Kaneohe Klipper (entry deadline has been extended until July 6). GEM is the acronym for Georgia E. Morikawa Center, named for an early advocate for Hawaii’s deaf community.

GEM Center does not yet have a physical site, but that has been under discussion since 1971. That’s when the Deaf Action Group formed by Morikawa and other advocates realized how vital it was for the deaf community to have a place to gather and receive services such as translation, education, training, youth activities and senior programs.

A UH study a few years ago agreed there was a need for a “community-owned non-profit to lead efforts to establish the center.” Patty Sakal — Morikawa’s daughter — along with Carol Young, Colin Whited and Kristine Pagano, got together to establish GEM Center to “serve the community through education, advocacy and empowerment.”

The goal is to have an actual center in the next 10 years that “centralizes a full array of programs and services statewide,” according to Whited, now GEM Center president.

He says the initial goal is to raise $1 million for the site. In the interim, the plan is to establish a small office with partners who can help fill the gaps for programs and services to serve Hawaii’s 300,000 deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind residents.

The GEM Golf Classic, with the subtitle “Building a Hawaii Center for Deaf Keiki and Kupuna,” is the first fundraiser. It is aimed at raising awareness about the need for a center that “creates a safe place to receive quality services and celebrate the richness of our shared culture, language and community,” according to Whited.

Why a golf tournament?

“Hawaii is unique in that we have year-round golf weather and some of the world’s most beautiful courses, which has made charity tournaments popular among local non-profits,” Whited says. “GEM wanted to host an event that would bring community members together for an extended period and encourage them to engage with one another.

“Also, we have two exemplary golfers in our community who are deaf and share the dream for a much-needed community center.”

That would be Isobe and Tokioka, who have qualified for the World Deaf Golf Championships. Isobe is heading to Ireland in a month for his eighth championship, hoping again to medal.

“I am honored to represent the United States,” Isobe says, “and to bring recognition to the abilities and capabilities of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community through the game of golf.”

His golf resume is remarkable, including induction into the U.S. Deaf Golf Association Hall of Fame in 2015.

Isobe’s family moved from Wahiawa to town so he could enroll in schools for the deaf and hard of hearing. That put him 10 minutes from Ala Wai Municipal, and he learned to play while caddying barefoot for his father.

He vividly remembers, just after graduating from McKinley in 1971, overcoming a seven-shot deficit in the final round to win A Flight at the Barbers Point Open. A bit later, the Rochester Institute golf coach convinced him to play in college. Isobe is immensely grateful to this day.

He works now as the financial management analyst for the Naval Health Clinic at Pearl Harbor and is the GEM Center treasurer. Isobe is also in the McKinley Hall of Honor and RIT’s Hall of Sport Fame and received an RIT Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Isobe and Whited asked Tokioka, now working full-time at Hokuala Golf Club, to help chair the fundraiser. He was honored to be part of a dream twice as old as he is, and close to his heart.

“I would love to see all deaf and hard-of-hearing people be able to receive all the resources they need,” Tokioka says. “Also, I would like to see the history about Georgia E. Morikawa’s life and background and important events because she made a big impact to our community.”

Tokioka’s dad also introduced him to the game and Isobe helped convince him to focus on golf over baseball before he hit his teens. Tokioka was part of the U.S. Deaf National Team that won world championships in 2014 and 2016 and was eighth individually in 2012. He also calls his fifth-place finish at the 2014 Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic a career highlight. He is now looking into the PGA Apprentice Program.

And looking forward to the inaugural GEM Golf Classic in two weeks. There is no specific financial goal this year, but established fundraising tournaments can work their way up to six figures. The Rehab Golf Challenge, for Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific, has raised more than $3 million in 24 years, including $160,000 this May.

For more information and to enter this year’s event, email gemgolfhawaii@gmail.com or visit gemcenter.org.