Lineman Toledo found right path at Damien

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kea Toledo, who has attended four schools in five years, has found a home at Damien. Advertiser Staff

Nor is it a picnic to be going up against the best that Kamehameha, Iolani and St. Louis have to offer with only one strong knee.

And how about enduring all this after adjusting to four different schools in five years?

"Some situations didn't work out for me," said Damien senior offensive lineman Kea Toledo, "but there's a reason for everything."

After a turbulent adolescence spotted by academic and social struggles, Toledo may have finally found the reason he is at Damien and not St. Louis or Punahou, where he seemed destined to be.

He now is a team captain, honor student and possible Division I college prospect. Such status appeared unattainable as recently as 18 months ago.

"My son was named Kealaka'i, which means: 'Guardian of the Path,' and it was with the hope that someday he would be a leader," said Toledo's father, Joe. "I believe now he is on the right track."

A long journey

Like many young football players in Hawai'i, Toledo had visions of one day marching in with the St. Louis Crusaders, and he actually got to do it on the intermediate level for two years.

Toledo, who was a water boy for the 1994 Crusaders, seemed to be following in the path of his father, who was a lineman on St. Louis' 1966 Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship team, and family friend Olin Kruetz, a former Crusaders standout and now a center for the Chicago Bears.

Joe Toledo comes from a family of St. Louis alumni, and the school's gym is named after his grandmother's brother Stephen McCabe.

"I wanted Kea to go to St. Louis to experience many things, not just football," Joe said. "When we took him out, he wasn't happy about that move."

Kea transferred to Punahou in the ninth grade because Joe and his wife, Pomai, were not satisfied with his academic progress at St. Louis.

"He didn't have the right mental attitude there," Joe said. "Everything was football."

They hoped things would change at Punahou, Pomai's alma mater. Things did change, but not for the better. Kea's grades plummeted and he had trouble fitting in with the new student body. He also was found to have a learning disability.

"The academic program there was not what he was accustomed to," Pomai said. "Punahou was just not his bag."

After two years with the Buffanblu, Kea transferred to Academy of the Pacific, where he repeated the 10th grade.

"Everything was going downhill," Joe said. "It was heart-breaking to see what he was going through, because it was different from what we thought would happen."

Chris Bisho, then the athletic director at AOP, was named head football coach at Damien in 2000 and suggested Kea follow him there.

Pomai said "it took some convincing" to get Kea interested in yet another move.

"Damien was never known for football," Kea said. "But I thought of the school in general, and I said OK."

Playing with pain

Toledo finally found a place to play, a place where he felt comfortable academically and socially. But last season, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

He had surgery in December, then went through physical therapy seven days a week for seven months to be ready for this season.

"Some people said to take the year off, but not playing wasn't the choice for me," Toledo said.

The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Toledo has not only played with pain, but because of Damien's lack of depth, he's had to do it at center, guard and tackle.

Toledo has also succeeded in the classroom, with a 3.33 grade point average on his first-quarter report card.

Brigham Young, and Colorado have shown interest, and Western Kentucky is actively recruiting him.

The ILH season will end Friday, with Damien (0-6) playing Pac-Five (1-5) at 4:45 p.m., followed by St. Louis (5-0-1) vs. Kamehameha (5-0-1) for the championship at 7:30.