West Keliikipi boosts Warriors' running game
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
ONTARIO, Calif. — The way University of Hawai'i running back West Keliikipi kept shedding USC tacklers in Saturday's 61-32 loss pretty much personified his life. He kept fighting off tacklers the way he has dealt with personal problems.
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An O'anu Interscholastic Association Red Conference all-star at Wai'anae High in 1997, Keliikipi had dreams of playing for UH. But he did not have the NCAA clearinghouse requirements to gain admission. He went to Dixie College, thinking he had a scholarship. But when he got there, there was none.
"I saw my life go downhill and I just wanted to prove to myself that I can make it and be somebody," West Keliikipi said.
"I barely had enough money to come back," Keliikipi recalled.
So he went to Leeward Community College on a part-time basis, eventually made a qualifying score on his SAT and enrolled at UH in 2000. Kamehameha Schools' financial aid covered his first semester, but not the second.
Keliikipi dropped out, and worked as a welder for his father to earn money. In the meantime his weight ballooned to 324 pounds, more than 100 pounds above his high-school playing days.
"I was going into my depressed mode," he joked.
Not happy with the direction his life was heading, Keliikipi moved to San Diego in January to train under his uncle, Larry Lasconia, who coaches Pop Warner in the area. He changed his diet and worked out three, and sometimes four, times a day. By April, the 6-foot-1 Keliikipi had trimmed his weight to 260.
He returned home, and with enough money saved from work, walked on at summer camp and impressed the UH coaching staff.
"The coaches wanted to put me at defensive line," said Keliikipi, who is classified as a junior in eligibility. "But I passed my running (test), so they put me at running back."
The test was composed of 10 sprints of 220 yards in a prescribed amount of time.
"He made his 220 test, which really was shocking for a guy 260 pounds," UH coach June Jones said. "That told me he was committed to getting it done."
Against USC, Keliikipi led UH rushers with 57 yards on eight carries and had two receptions for 18 yards. During one series, he had a 13-yard reception on third-and-3 and an 11-yard run for another first down. That led to Chad Owens' 5-yard TD reception from Tim Chang, ending a string of 42 consecutive USC points.
"He kind of reminds me of 'Ironhead'," said Jones, recalling former NFL fullback Craig "Ironhead" Heyward. "He's that type of back. He doesn't dodge anybody, he just runs over them."
It's the prototype back for the run-and-shoot offense.
"Over the years, that type of back has been the most productive-type back for us for protection and running the ball," Jones said.
Keliikipi is determined to succeed.
"I saw my life go downhill and I just wanted to prove to myself that I can make it and be somebody," he said.
He said he wants to be a role model for Wai'anae youth. He knows how the children struggle through school because the home front isn't always stable. He said his parents at times were between jobs, and recalled times when he dived for fish to put food on the table.
"I've lived a tough life," Keliikipi said. "I don't take anything for granted."
Jones said that Keliikipi is on the track to be put on scholarship when one becomes available. For now, he can't live near or on campus. He leaves the house each morning at 4, arriving by 6 for 7 o'clock practices.
Because of his circuitous journey from high school to college, Keliikipi has a good perspective on his life. When a Los Angeles reporter asked him if it was his dream to play USC, he said it wasn't.
"To me, it's a dream for me just to be playing a Division I college," he said. "Nobody thought that I'd make it to a Division I college because I was coming out of Wai'anae."
