Discovering the uniqueness of football, Hawaiian style
| Check out USA Today's coverage of high school football in Hawai'i: | |
| • | No small wonder Football's allure nifty in 50th state |
| • | Warrior mentality Audio photo gallery: Sights, sounds of islands' tradition |
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's proud, storied high school football tradition received unprecedented national attention yesterday from the country's largest selling newspaper.
USA Today, which is sold across the nation with a daily circulation of 2.3 million, featured Hawai'i prep football with a cover story on both its front page and sports section. The front page story was accompanied by a three-column wide photo of Kahuku players performing their pregame "haka" and was headlined, "Tiny Hawai'i looms as GIANT in football."
The story was continued on Page 2 with photos of Kamehameha quarterback Pono Kam and University of Hawai'i quarterback Tim Chang, plus two charts reflecting how the state ranks nationally in producing football players for NCAA Division 1-A and the NFL.
The sports section's cover story, headlined "Football means community for Hawaiians," is below photos of Waimea High School's halftime show and two Kamehameha players and also jumps to a lengthy continuation on Page 2.
USA Today reporter Sal Ruibal and photographer Robert Hanashiro spent six days on O'ahu and Kaua'i, chronicling the sport's big presence in the 50th state. They attended the 'Aiea-Kahuku playoff game on Oct. 29 and the Kamehameha-Saint Louis showdown the following night, both at Aloha Stadium.
"Our cover story editor had spent some time in Hawai'i and was impressed; he said it was a hotbed of football on all levels," Ruibal said in a phone interview yesterday from USA Today's headquarters in McLean, Va. "He asked if I'd be interested in going there to see what the deal was."
What Ruibal found, he said, was a state that not only had deep roots in the sport but also continues to embrace it with a steady passion.
"We knew a little bit about the football there because Saint Louis and Kahuku had been in our Super 25 (rankings)," Ruibal said. "But I like to see how a sport can unite a culture and how it can change a society, and that's what we saw. You could tell football was important there, just by talking to taxi drivers and people in T-shirt shops."
Ruibal added that while high school football is followed religiously in states like Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, the family-oriented atmosphere in Hawai'i is unique.
"For me, I think on the Mainland we often take high school football for granted and in a lot of places it's become homogenized," Ruibal said. "There appeared to be more passion and community involvement in Hawai'i, and a particular Hawaiian flavor to the football there. They're steeped in old tradition — literally a warrior tradition — with the way everybody played."
The passion and hard-playing style of Hawai'i football has produced top talent, as shown in the two USA Today charts. Hawai'i is tied for 10th in the nation as far as the number of players per 1,000 signing national letters of intent with Division I-A programs, and the state's six native NFL players for every 100,000 male residents ages 10-29 ranks eighth in the country.
"We crunched the numbers looking at population base, and we found that 'pound-for-pound,' Hawai'i is a national power in football," Ruibal said.
But more than anything, he said it is the fans' attachment to high school teams — singing alma maters before games and offering lei, juice and food afterward — that sets Hawai'i apart.
"(Prep) football is big in other states, but a lot of that is looking for what's at the next level," Ruibal said, referring to college recruiting. "In Hawai'i, there seems to be more of a focus on the here and now. There's more of a family feel to it. I got a lot of calls today, and even people on our staff never realized Hawai'i had all that going on out there."
Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.
