Doris Sullivan never intended to be a glass-breaker.

It was the early 1980s, and the organization overseeing an NBA and an NHL team was set to give pay raises to everyone in the marketing/sales department but the only female assistant director. Despite having the additional duties of handling merchandising and coordinating programming for halftimes and intermissions, Sullivan already was receiving a fraction of what her male counterparts earned.

During a meeting, Sullivan, who is 5 feet 4 when in full indignation, stepped onto a chair to go iris-to-iris with the taller boss and demand equal treatment. Her successful stand eventually led to other women in the organization earning promotions.

Two decades later, having relocated from Maryland to Hawaii with her husband, Sullivan was in position to shatter the glass box. Sullivan founded a not-for-profit service that helped hundreds of Hawaii student-athletes pursue and secure college scholarships and opportunities. Pacific Islands Athletic Alliance placed about 1,500 student-athletes from the mid-2000s until Sullivan began lessening her involvement in 2016.

“She was a force in doing the right things for the kids,” said Darnell Arceneaux, a former standout quarterback who worked with Sullivan for several years.

For Sullivan, motivation came while watching an all-Oahu track meet for middle-school-aged kids at Kaiser High. Against the Hawaii Kai backdrop of million-dollar homes, there were some competing in duct-taped slippers. Appalled at the economic contrast, she turned to a friend and asked, “How is this happening? It didn’t make sense to me.”

Sullivan concluded that sports was a means to higher education, and a college degree enhanced the chances of a better life. Sullivan worked with the Hawaii Sports Network, which offered a recruiting branch. Sullivan decided to make opportunities affordable, it would take a not-for-profit service devoted solely to helping players. In 2003, she filed PIAA as a 501(c)(3) non-profit.

PIAA offered to help unrecruited student-athletes connect with college programs across the country. That meant creating a combine to showcase athletic ability, distributing highlight videos, and imploring strong study habits. PIAA’s stipulation was the services would be free to the student-athletes or, at most, a nominal donation would be accepted — but not required — to pay for the combines. And Sullivan made no guarantees. “My promise is I’ll do my best,” she said, noting a player’s ability and character are the what lead to opportunities.

Sullivan used her marketing experience to create packages with verified statistics and evaluations from coaches. With help from coaches, PIAA expanded its networking reach.

As interest grew, Sullivan, husband Bill and sons Billy and Kevin turned their home into a production company, converting game tapes into highlight videos on VHS.

For a national football coaches convention in New Orleans, Sullivan and Arceneaux packed about 5,000 VHS tapes. They were set to pay the air-freight fare when an airline worker in Honolulu asked about the containers’ contents. The worker said his brother’s tape probably was in the container. The fee was waived. Because of a gate change in Chicago, Sullivan and Arceneaux missed the connecting flight to New Orleans. When they finally arrived in New Orleans, they were told airport officials confiscated the videos and were reviewing them for adult content.

“They thought we were transporting pornography,” Sullivan recalled. “We go (to the security office), knock on the door, and they’re watching the Kahuku-Saint Louis game. They wanted to know what colleges these were. We said, no, that’s Hawaii high school football.”

At a hotel casino, they spotted a Division I-AA football coach at the blackjack table. Arceneaux sat on the left of the coach, Sullivan was on the right. In stereo, they promoted Hawaii players. Several coaches overheard the conversation, then joined in the discussions. “Needless to say, (the blackjack-playing coach) recruited one of our players,” Sullivan said.

Through the years, highlights were put on DVDs, then flash drives and eventually to links accessed by a laptop or cell phone. PIAA’s booth at the football coaches’ convention expanded from a 4-foot-by-6-foot table to a 20-by-30 area. PIAA expected 75 players for its initial combine. More than 250 attended.

While the initial focus was on football, PIAA eventually expanded to all sports. PIAA’s signing ceremonies received live coverage.

That meant more calls, more contacts. Sullivan remembered sending an email blast about a swimmer. Stanford was inadvertently included instead of Samford. Recognizing the mistake, the Stanford coach called to apologize there was no spot for that swimmer but asked to be kept in the loop about future prospects. The swimmer ended up being an all-conference competitor at an NAIA school.

As Hawaii became a popular recruiting area and fundraising more difficult, Sullivan began cutting back on her workload in 2016, and eventually retired from PIAA in 2018. In 2019, Sullivan and her husband made the permanent move to Texas, where their son Kevin and his family live. Another son, Lt. Col. Billy “Taz” Sullivan, died last year when his personal aircraft crashed at the Porterville Municipal Airport in California. More than 300 friends, from Paris to Honolulu, attended the memorial. Thousands more sent cards and emails of sympathy. It was a testament to the Sullivans’ impact.

Doris Sullivan, who grew up at a time when only elite female athletes had scholarship opportunities, does not consider herself a pioneer or ground-breaker. She credits many — including Duane Kurisu, Arceneaux, Rich Miano, Cal Lee, Brian Cabral and Paul Honda — for their support in helping others.

“She speaks their language,” Arceneaux said of Sullivan’s easy conversations with coaches, parents and players.

Sullivan is grateful to the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink, who drafted the anti-sexual-discrimination law most commonly known as Title IX. When Billy Sullivan was a Damien senior in 2001, Mink nominated him to the U.S. Air Force Academy.

June 23, 2022, marked the 50th anniversary of Title IX. To commemorate this watershed event, the Star-Advertiser will publish a series of stories celebrating the achievements of female pioneers and leaders with Hawaii ties.

Click here to view the Title IX series.