HAVE A BLAST WITH OUR PAST
Tanuvasa was ILH's first to run for a 1,000

Learn about Hawai'i sports history and those who figured prominently in it in this feature. We'll ask a question Wednesday and present the answer in an in-depth profile on Thursday.

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Q: He was the first running back in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu to become a 1,000-yard rusher. Who is he? A: Onosai Tanuvasa rushed for 1,076 yards for Farrington in 1969, the last year before the public schools seceded from the ILH and joined the OIA.

In 1969, Farrington High running back Onosai Tanuvasa set a then-ILH record by rushing for 1,076 yards. It happened in the final season before the public schools — Farrington, Kaimuki, Kalani, McKinley and Roosevelt — seceded from the ILH to join the OIA. Tanuvasa, currently a second-year varsity football coach at Pearl City High, recalled there was no hoopla about his accomplishment.

"Nobody told me anything about a record," Tanuvasa said. "I just wanted to win games, to be champion. I didn't think anything of it."

It was Tanuvasa's senior year when he broke the mark of 991 yards set the previous season by Damien's Joe Hisatake. Tanuvasa believes that any other running back during that time — Punahou's Arnold Morgado, Saint Louis' Gary Campbell, Kalani's Baba Kreutz and Joe Story — could have rushed for 1,000 yards.

"I was fortunate," Tanuvasa said. "Hisatake missed by only nine yards the year before."

Since 1969, ILH backs have surpassed the 1,000-yard mark 16 times. Incoming Iolani senior Raynold Stowers rushed for 1,027 yards last season and will try to be the fourth different back to rush for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons. Punahou's Mosi Tatupu (1972 and 1973), Iolani's Joe Igber (1997 and 1998) and Saint Louis' Pesefea Fiaseu (1999 and 2000) have hit the 1,000-yard mark twice.

Tanuvasa's junior season gave no clue as to what was to come the following year. He was seventh in the ILH in rushing with 457 yards, less than half of Hisatake's output. Tanuvasa said he was a defensive end the previous year, one of only two sophomores on coach Al Espinda's varsity squad.

"I told the coaches that I wanted to be the guy who carries the ball," he said.

After rejecting his offer, Tanuvasa pulled off a stunt that got him noticed. As a defensive end on the punt return unit, he and his fellow linemen usually set up a line of blockers. One game, Tanuvasa decided to rush the punter, instead of forming the wall.

"I blocked the punt and ran the wrong way," Tanuvasa said. "I ran to my wall. I was halfway (to the other end zone) before I turned around. I went 80 yards for a touchdown.

"I was tired after that. I had second thoughts of being a running back. But the following day, they took my (jersey number) 86 and gave me 40."

At 5 feet 11 and 195 pounds, Tanuvasa was considered a big running back. He said he was bigger than most of his linemen. He could run past, through or leap over tacklers. One of his most memorable runs was one of the longest ever in Hawai'i.

Onosai Tanuvasa was a Farrington High senior in 1969 when he ran for 1,076 yards. He is the varsity head football coach at Pearl City High. Kevin Dayton • The Honolulu Advertiser

"We were back at our 3-yard line and I looked downfield," Tanuvasa said. "I told my linemen, 'I'm too tired to just get up to the 20-, 30-yard line then have to punt. Let's take it one play all the way so I can rest.' "

The play, a right-side power sweep, was supposed to have the two guards pulling right. Tanuvasa said he told the whole line to go right to influence the defense in that direction.

"Everybody pulled and I took three, four steps, took the pitch and cut back up the middle," he said.

He out-ran the Punahou defense to the diamondhead end zone. He was running so hard his momentum sent him crashing into the wooden billboard wall.

"We lost that game by one point," he recalled.

But the Governors avenged the loss by beating the Buffanblu, 20-19, in the Thanksgiving Day game that pitted the third-place (Punahou) and fourth-place teams.

Tanuvasa went to the University of Oregon for two years. After a change of coaches, he transferred to the University of Hawai'i for the 1974 season. The new Oregon coach wanted him to switch from running back to linebacker.

"I came over the same time as June Jones," he said of the UH coach, who played for the Rainbows for that one season.

After college, Tanuvasa coached at the Pop Warner level for 18 years. He also was an assistant at Moanalua in 1979 for Larry Arnold, also a former Rainbow. Before taking the Pearl City job last season, he was an assistant for two years at Pac-Five under Don Botelho.

Through all the years he has been associated with the game, Tanuvasa said his senior year at Farrington is the one people remember most.

"A lot of people don't realize I played at UH and Oregon," he said. "They just remember that one year at Farrington. We had a good team. A lot of credit goes to the offensive line. They made the plays for me."