Finally, there's joy in Fuga's world
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
It won't matter a lump of coal if the halls aren't decked or the stockings stuffed with gifts.
This promises to be the best Christmas for University of Hawai'i football player Lui Fuga.
Fuga
He has a soulmate, an infant son and, finally, inner peace.
"I'm ready to start a new Christmas tradition," he said. "My life has been so up and down. I have a hard time trusting people. But now, everything is finally good in my life. I feel complete."
Fuga has emerged from a nightmare that began in 1981, when his 23-year-old mother, Lusia, was stabbed to death during a squabble with a Waipahu neighbor. At the time, he was 18 months old.
After that, Fuga was raised by his father's relatives in Hawai'i and Samoa.
"I moved from place to place, fighting through to make something happen," he said.
Holidays and birthdays were "very sad," he recalled. "It was always in the back of my head: 'Am I going to get a present? Anything?' "
Date: Friday Time: 2 p.m. WHERE: Aloha Stadium TICKETS: Aloha Stadium box office, Stan Sheriff Center box office, phone sales: (808) 944-2697; Internet sales: www.etickethawaii.com
Then, after a while, he stopped caring. Instead, he partied — hard and often.
WHO: Hawai'i (7-5) vs. Alabama Birmingham (7-4)
"I didn't care if I got hurt or died," Fuga said. "I wanted to live life on the edge. That was my mentality."
And that's when his life became a wonderful life.
Four years ago, as a UH sophomore, Fuga was approached by a tall young man who introduced himself as his brother. When Lusia was murdered, George was an infant who didn't even have a name.
"It was a big surprise," Fuga said of the meeting.
They have become close friends.
Three years ago, Kimberly Lutu answered a knock on her UH dormitory door. It was her secret admirer.
"He told me his name was 'Jonathan,' " Lutu recalled.
"That's my secret name," Fuga said, laughing.
"He asked me to dinner," she said of her future fiance. "It started from there."
In October, while watching ESPN's telecast of the UH-Boise State game, Malae Tagata was drawn to the name of the Warriors' starting defensive tackle.
She called UH officials and, eventually, reached Fuga. She introduced herself as his aunt, Lusia's sister. Two weeks later, Tagata and her husband made the three-hour drive from Oxnard, Calif., to Fresno to watch their nephew play in person.
"It was the first time I saw one of my mom's relatives," Fuga said. "I didn't know how to act. All I did was try to ask questions about my mom. If my mom was still here, it would have changed my life. It would have made my life a lot easier."
Tagata has been helpful in filling in the blanks. She has told her nephew of Lusia's kindness and gentle grace.
Fuga has no recallable memories of his mother. But, he said, "the only reason I feel I made it this far was because of my mom. I felt her spirit has guided me, protected me from all of that chaos. Sometimes, I feel her presence. Sometimes, I talk to myself, like she's there next to me."
Tagata won't be able to attend Friday's Sheraton Hawai"i Bowl — her nephew's last football game as a Warrior — but will try to visit in January.
It is then when Fuga hopes to receive the only gift on his Christmas wish list.
"I don't have pictures of my mom," he said. "Only at her grave I saw a little picture of her. They said I look a little like my mom. I hope I can get a picture of her."
Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8051.
