Twenty five years ago Harold Cabbab was a University of Hawaii baseball standout.

Twenty years ago he was a young Honolulu Police Department officer on the rise, working his way toward the promotion list for sergeant.

Fourteen months ago he was released after more than 10 years in federal prisons following a conviction for stealing what he thought was methamphetamine and cocaine.

Today, Cabbab, who turns 47 next week, is home in Hawaii. He is rebuilding his life and working at making amends.

“I made some bad choices, but I came back a better person,” said Cabbab, who was released from a halfway house in Kalihi last May. “Part of it now is trying to find some sense of normalcy.”

Reuniting with his college baseball teammates helps. Rainbows past and present were supposed to play their annual alumni game Saturday at Les Murakami Stadium, but it was rained out. That didn’t keep Cabbab and his fellow ’Bows from getting together and reliving the glory days.

There were many happy times on the diamond for Cabbab, even before UH. He was a key player on one of the best high school teams in state history at Kamehameha.

He then played four years at Manoa, making all-region as an outfielder on the 1992 team that was one win short of advancing to the College World Series. UH got to the NCAA Regionals three of Cabbab’s four seasons, and went 100-32 with conference championships his junior and senior seasons.

“From the beginning, it was clear to see Harold was tough. He was wiry, but pound-for-pound one of the strongest athletes I’ve encountered,” Rainbows teammate Chris Walz said. “And not one to back down from anything.”

Cabbab’s reputation for fearlessness and focus followed him at HPD, according to another friend.

“He was on the fast track. A top-shape guy, good worker, always did everything with the intensity people knew H. Cabbab for,” said David Hallums, a fellow officer who met Cabbab at UH when Hallums was on the basketball team. “I was totally shocked, and I was disappointed because there was no way the guy I knew would be tempted like that and bite at the bait.”

What very few people realized then is that Cabbab had a serious gambling problem. He said that was what led to a planned heist from which he thought he could net $100,000. But his partner turned out to be an informant.

“It blindsided everyone. No one knew what I was doing,” Cabbab said. “My attitude was, ‘I got this, it’s not a problem.’ But gambling is one of the toughest addictions.

“You have to look at the ripple effect,” said Cabbab, father of two children with his ex-wife, former UH volleyball standout Jenny Wilton. “The money you lose is for their food, to send them to school. If you don’t admit you have a problem, you never change. The biggest part is admitting what it does to the people around you.”

Making good

At his sentencing in 2005, Cabbab apologized to his family, HPD and the community at large. It appears now that he is making good on the promise he made then to rehabilitate himself.

“He paid the price and he’s not afraid to share his story,” said Moku Paiva, a UH teammate and HPD colleague who visited Cabbab in prison and opened his home to him last year as he got resettled. “He’s pretty much the same personality now, but maybe puts more thought into things, a different perspective. Our kids love him.”

Time well spent

Cabbab said he spent much of his time in prison studying religion.

“One thing I learned is that every day is a struggle,” he said. “Being grateful for what I have is important. And remembering the things I did is even more important.

“I’ve been blessed these past however-many months. Guys in the same position as me are struggling harder. I’ve got family and friends. I’ve got a job (working for an electrical contractor), a vehicle, a place to stay, a girlfriend. I’m fortunate.”

While in prison in New Jersey and California he saw his children maybe one weekend every couple of years. They are now college and high school age.

“Visits were always hard, especially the last day. The clock is always on your mind,” he said. “After they left, your heart hurts. I remember going right back to my bunk and staring at the ceiling, thinking there must be so many children in Hawaii going through what mine are.”

Goal to help kids

That gave Cabbab an idea for a nonprofit organization to help children here visit parents who are incarcerated on the continent.

“I’ve started on it, have a folder at home. I don’t know right now if it’s a goal or a dream,” he said. “But I want to help children who are in the same situation as mine were.”

HPD recently produced a training video in which Cabbab and other former officers warn others about mistakes they made, and the consequences.

“If there’s any advice I could give, it would be to do the right thing even when no one is watching,” he said.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser. com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld. com/quick-reads