Favorite HS football players of all time?

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Favorite HS football players of all time?

Post by ChadFukuoka »

I’m not sure if there already is a thread on this forum asking this. I just joined this site this year.

But who are your all time favorite players to watch from Hawaii high school football? Any position, any school, any year.

I’m 32, and really only started watching football when I started high school in fall 2003. From my alma mater, Aiea, when I attended, we had a pretty good wide receiver, Lahaina Olsen-Kuroda. He made some nice catches during my sophomore year, when Aiea made it to the OIA championship for the first time, although they lost to Kahuku. One of our linebackers was a beast as well, Rocky Savaaiagnea (I’m completely messing up his last name, but hopefully it’s close enough for anyone who remembered him to recognize it). He got a full scholarship to UH, and I believe did play in a bunch of games for them.

When I moved to Mililani, being able to watch the explosive trio of McKenzie Milton, Vavae Malapeai, and Kalakaua Timoteo was a pretty cool experience, since I knew several people who were/are Mililani fans, having gone to school there. Their state title run was a lot of fun.

Those of you who watched football from way before my generation, who are your favorite players? Any interesting stories to tell from when you attended high school? Any hometown players you are still fond of?

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

Post by HS Football Fanatic »

ChadFukuoka wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:24 pm I’m not sure if there already is a thread on this forum asking this. I just joined this site this year.

But who are your all time favorite players to watch from Hawaii high school football? Any position, any school, any year.

I’m 32, and really only started watching football when I started high school in fall 2003. From my alma mater, Aiea, when I attended, we had a pretty good wide receiver, Lahaina Olsen-Kuroda. He made some nice catches during my sophomore year, when Aiea made it to the OIA championship for the first time, although they lost to Kahuku. One of our linebackers was a beast as well, Rocky Savaaiagnea (I’m completely messing up his last name, but hopefully it’s close enough for anyone who remembered him to recognize it). He got a full scholarship to UH, and I believe did play in a bunch of games for them.

When I moved to Mililani, being able to watch the explosive trio of McKenzie Milton, Vavae Malapeai, and Kalakaua Timoteo was a pretty cool experience, since I knew several people who were/are Mililani fans, having gone to school there. Their state title run was a lot of fun.

Those of you who watched football from way before my generation, who are your favorite players? Any interesting stories to tell from when you attended high school? Any hometown players you are still fond of?

@ChadFukuoka:

If I recall correctly, that Aiea v Kahuku game was on TV, and I watched most of it. As I recall, it was a day game, which is quite odd. Usually a title game is played at night. And yes, that player Rocky, his last name sounds familiar. I think it's Savaiigaea, or something like that. That same year, I recall Aiea played Punahou, I don't know why. Perhaps it was in the state tourney. (I'm assuming that, as OIA runner-up, Aiea went to States, and that's where they probably played Punahou.) What I remember about that is that there was an action photo in one of the daily papers--there were two back then, the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin--showing an Aiea D-lineman firing-out and manhandling a Punahou O-lineman by his shoulderpads. The photo showed the Aiea player violently firing up from what must have been a three- or four-point stance, and he had thrust both of his palms upward, catching the Punahou player right under the shoulderpads. He stood the Punahou player up by his shoulderpads; you could see the Punahou player's shoulders and head kind of being thrust upward and backward by the Aiea player. As I recall, Aiea had the home jerseys (green tops). It looked like Punahou had yellow tops, though I thought they had switched to white tops by that time for their away jerseys. (Back in the mid-'70s, Punahou indeed had yellow tops for their away jerseys.)

As a mid-'70s graduate, I try to think of players from that era, but it's been so long that not a whole lot of them come to mind. Though I dislike Punahou School, I can't ignore RB Mosi Tatupu, who graduated from Punahou in '74. He was outstanding; he went on to play for the Boston Patriots. (They switched their name to New England Patriots some time later.) Then there was Blaine Gaison, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools in '76. He was a QB, but he went on to play DB for the Atlanta Falcons. There was QB Alex Kaloi, who graduated from Leilehua High in '75. All of that was so far back, I have a hard time remembering great high school players of that era.

I kind of shy away from the notion of "hometown players" because some of them may no longer live in their original hometowns anymore. That's why I try think of players strictly by the schools they attended, not by their hometowns. After all, many of them may have moved away over the years.
Last edited by HS Football Fanatic on Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:34 pm, edited 6 times in total.

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

Post by Jacob Makaiwi »

Good question Chad.
Man, there’s way too many favorites for me. I was born later than you, but I’ll just list a few guys I know during my times.

I was always a running back from 5th grade until I graduated. I believe I was in 6th grade when Kamehameha played Leilehua in the state Championship Game and a Kamehameha RB named Jayson Rego ran 200+yards rushing that game. That was the first and only time I watched him play, but he became an RB idol to me.

One of my favorite RB’s was also my teammate at Kamehameha, Ryan Ho. Watch his Junior and Senior highlights if you have time, he was absolutely incredible.

And I don’t know how to describe him, but there was an RB/SB for Leilehua named Rico Newman who was just a playmaker on offense and made ridiculous things happen (kind of like Steven Lakalaka).

And huge shoutout to the sly mongoose from Kahuku- Kawehana Johnson. Pretty much the Tyrann Matthieu of Hawaii High School football at that time. He was so fun to watch, unfortunately even to the expense of the Mules in 2011 and Punahou also knows what he did to them that year. Leilehua went 10-2 that year and only lost those 2 games against Kahuku by a combined 5 points. Kawe was the difference in those games. Kahuku’s team was special, but Kawehana to me was Kahuku’s most important player during those championship runs, even over Aofaga.

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

Post by gopunahou »

HS Football Fanatic wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:00 pm
ChadFukuoka wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:24 pm I’m not sure if there already is a thread on this forum asking this. I just joined this site this year.

But who are your all time favorite players to watch from Hawaii high school football? Any position, any school, any year.

I’m 32, and really only started watching football when I started high school in fall 2003. From my alma mater, Aiea, when I attended, we had a pretty good wide receiver, Lahaina Olsen-Kuroda. He made some nice catches during my sophomore year, when Aiea made it to the OIA championship for the first time, although they lost to Kahuku. One of our linebackers was a beast as well, Rocky Savaaiagnea (I’m completely messing up his last name, but hopefully it’s close enough for anyone who remembered him to recognize it). He got a full scholarship to UH, and I believe did play in a bunch of games for them.

When I moved to Mililani, being able to watch the explosive trio of McKenzie Milton, Vavae Malapeai, and Kalakaua Timoteo was a pretty cool experience, since I knew several people who were/are Mililani fans, having gone to school there. Their state title run was a lot of fun.

Those of you who watched football from way before my generation, who are your favorite players? Any interesting stories to tell from when you attended high school? Any hometown players you are still fond of?

@ChadFukuoka:

If I recall correctly, that Aiea v Kahuku game was on TV, and I watched most of it. As I recall, it was a day game, which is quite odd. Usually a title game is played at night. And yes, that player Rocky, his last name sounds familiar. I think it's Savaiigaea, or something like that. That same year, I recall Aiea played Punahou, I don't know why. Perhaps it was in the state tourney. (I'm assuming that, as OIA runner-up, Aiea went to States, and that's where they probably played Punahou.) What I remember about that is that there was an action photo in one of the daily papers--there were two back then, the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin--showing an Aiea D-lineman firing-out and manhandling a Punahou O-lineman by his shoulderpads. The photo showed the Aiea player violently firing up from what must have been a three- or four-point stance, and he had thrust both of his palms upward, catching the Punahou player right under the shoulderpads. He stood the Punahou player up by his shoulderpads; you could see the Punahou player's shoulders and head kind of being thrust upward and backward by the Aiea player. As I recall, Aiea had the home jerseys (green tops). It looked like Punahou had yellow tops, though I thought they had switched to white tops by that time for their away jerseys. (Back in the mid-'70s, Punahou indeed had yellow tops for their away jerseys.)

As a mid-'70s graduate, I try to think of players from that era, but it's been so long that not a whole lot of them come to mind. Though I dislike Punahou School, I can't ignore RB Mosi Tatupu, who graduated from Punahou in '74. He was outstanding; he went on to play for the Boston Patriots. (They switched their name to New England Patriots some time later.) Then there was Blaine Gaison, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools in '76. He was a QB, but he went on to play DB for the Atlanta Falcons. There was QB Alex Kaloi, who graduated from Leilehua High in '75. All of that was so far back, I have a hard time remembering great high school players of that era.

I kind of shy away from the notion of "hometown players" because some of them may no longer live in their original hometowns anymore. That's why I try think of players strictly by the schools they attended, not by their hometowns. After all, many of them may have moved away over the years.
We played Aiea in the 2005 state tournament.
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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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@gopunahou:

Yes; that's right. That's the same year I was talking about in my post. Punahou won that game, as I recall.
Last edited by HS Football Fanatic on Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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Jacob Makaiwi wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:10 pm Good question Chad.
Man, there’s way too many favorites for me. I was born later than you, but I’ll just list a few guys I know during my times.

I was always a running back from 5th grade until I graduated. I believe I was in 6th grade when Kamehameha played Leilehua in the state Championship Game and a Kamehameha RB named Jayson Rego ran 200+yards rushing that game. That was the first and only time I watched him play, but he became an RB idol to me.

One of my favorite RB’s was also my teammate at Kamehameha, Ryan Ho. Watch his Junior and Senior highlights if you have time, he was absolutely incredible.

And I don’t know how to describe him, but there was an RB/SB for Leilehua named Rico Newman who was just a playmaker on offense and made ridiculous things happen (kind of like Steven Lakalaka).

And huge shoutout to the sly mongoose from Kahuku- Kawehana Johnson. Pretty much the Tyrann Matthieu of Hawaii High School football at that time. He was so fun to watch, unfortunately even to the expense of the Mules in 2011 and Punahou also knows what he did to them that year. Leilehua went 10-2 that year and only lost those 2 games against Kahuku by a combined 5 points. Kawe was the difference in those games. Kahuku’s team was special, but Kawehana to me was Kahuku’s most important player during those championship runs, even over Aofaga.
The first player from Leilehua that comes to mind is Edieson Dumlao. That guy could catch anything. I’m not sure if he holds any Leilehua records, but he was amazing to watch. Do you know if he played college football after his career as a Mule?

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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ChadFukuoka wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:54 pm
Jacob Makaiwi wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:10 pm Good question Chad.
Man, there’s way too many favorites for me. I was born later than you, but I’ll just list a few guys I know during my times.

I was always a running back from 5th grade until I graduated. I believe I was in 6th grade when Kamehameha played Leilehua in the state Championship Game and a Kamehameha RB named Jayson Rego ran 200+yards rushing that game. That was the first and only time I watched him play, but he became an RB idol to me.

One of my favorite RB’s was also my teammate at Kamehameha, Ryan Ho. Watch his Junior and Senior highlights if you have time, he was absolutely incredible.

And I don’t know how to describe him, but there was an RB/SB for Leilehua named Rico Newman who was just a playmaker on offense and made ridiculous things happen (kind of like Steven Lakalaka).

And huge shoutout to the sly mongoose from Kahuku- Kawehana Johnson. Pretty much the Tyrann Matthieu of Hawaii High School football at that time. He was so fun to watch, unfortunately even to the expense of the Mules in 2011 and Punahou also knows what he did to them that year. Leilehua went 10-2 that year and only lost those 2 games against Kahuku by a combined 5 points. Kawe was the difference in those games. Kahuku’s team was special, but Kawehana to me was Kahuku’s most important player during those championship runs, even over Aofaga.
The first player from Leilehua that comes to mind is Edieson Dumlao. That guy could catch anything. I’m not sure if he holds any Leilehua records, but he was amazing to watch. Do you know if he played college football after his career as a Mule?
@ChadFukuoka:

If I could jump-in here, his name doesn't ring a bell for me. Guess he was too way after my time.

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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HS Football Fanatic wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:55 pm
ChadFukuoka wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:54 pm
Jacob Makaiwi wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:10 pm Good question Chad.
Man, there’s way too many favorites for me. I was born later than you, but I’ll just list a few guys I know during my times.

I was always a running back from 5th grade until I graduated. I believe I was in 6th grade when Kamehameha played Leilehua in the state Championship Game and a Kamehameha RB named Jayson Rego ran 200+yards rushing that game. That was the first and only time I watched him play, but he became an RB idol to me.

One of my favorite RB’s was also my teammate at Kamehameha, Ryan Ho. Watch his Junior and Senior highlights if you have time, he was absolutely incredible.

And I don’t know how to describe him, but there was an RB/SB for Leilehua named Rico Newman who was just a playmaker on offense and made ridiculous things happen (kind of like Steven Lakalaka).

And huge shoutout to the sly mongoose from Kahuku- Kawehana Johnson. Pretty much the Tyrann Matthieu of Hawaii High School football at that time. He was so fun to watch, unfortunately even to the expense of the Mules in 2011 and Punahou also knows what he did to them that year. Leilehua went 10-2 that year and only lost those 2 games against Kahuku by a combined 5 points. Kawe was the difference in those games. Kahuku’s team was special, but Kawehana to me was Kahuku’s most important player during those championship runs, even over Aofaga.
The first player from Leilehua that comes to mind is Edieson Dumlao. That guy could catch anything. I’m not sure if he holds any Leilehua records, but he was amazing to watch. Do you know if he played college football after his career as a Mule?
@ChadFukuoka:

If I could jump-in here, his name doesn't ring a bell for me. Guess he was too way after my time.
I believe he graduated after the 2008 season. So the 2008-2009 school year. He caught the winning touchdown against St Louis in the 2007 state title game.

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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I’m not sure if Edieson played College football. I honestly don’t think he did. He’s living a pretty good life though and I said hi to him a little while ago.

I’m sure he dropped passes before, but anytime I’ve watched a ball thrown his way I don’t ever remember seeing him drop it. I also don’t remember him not coming up with a ball when a defender was tightly covering him in a one one one situation. If the ball was thrown to him and he was double teamed, they needed to swat the ball away because even in 2 on 1 situations he ended up with the ball somehow. He was often double teamed, which allowed the other receivers to get lots of action, but he eventually got his catches in even against those double teams. His hands really were like magnets when it came to anything being thrown his way. And he was so stocky that he could get hit in the air before the ball reached him and he would still make the catch. He was not the fastest, didn’t have a giant vertical, and wasn’t really tall for a wide receiver with such success. But he had a thick frame, used great leverage, and had such great hand eye coordination that he made any defender covering him seem like a mismatch.

I don’t think he played football until high school as well. He was a baseball player for a while. He and I were rookies on the same team in little league and he always had excellent hand eye coordination and a large frame. I’m glad he eventually played football because he was made for it. His game winning catch against St.Louis is iconic. But I don’t think his style and his size would translate the best to wide receiver or slot in college ball. I think he would do alright as a receiver, but I think he would’ve had to be used more at tightend or full back. He was a great and consistent player for those successful Leilehua seasons 🤙🏾

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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Radford 1968,

Bernard Rembert HB over 1400 rushing yards that year.Could he get any love for that? Oh no, a Star-Bulletin writer said he would never gotten to 1,000 if Radford was in the ILH. Rams love him, that’s what counts.hi lights…any time he took the ball in for a TD from midfield.

Entire Radford OL/DL. So many guys I won’t remember them all…Etuale Suafoa, William Gettle,Ray Burley,Olando Auld,Dunstan Canne,Vansen Smith,Peter Toro,and Pat Facchini.

Radford 1969,

David Kinimaka QB. Passed for 914 yards that year.Big deal back then. One of the strongest players even though he wasn’t a lineman.Multi-sport star,was a 1st team OIA catcher for the baseball team

John Brown HB. Maybe faster than Bullet Bernie,doubled as a linebacker.Favorite highlight…Kinimaka threw a dime to him and Brown took it to the end zone for an 80-yard score against Kalani in preseason.

Jeris White HB,S. Really cool guy.All-OIA,UH Warrior,13 year NFL veteran. He gets my vote as the best football player to come out of Radford so far.

Da oddah guys,

Didn’t really care about the other schools, but Levi Stanley , Waianae was one tough player.

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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@unpaid:

Whoa. Late-'60s. That was certainly before my time. Even so, two names you posted are familiar to me. Jeris White: I remember seeing a photo of him in one of those football mags they sold at games. Didn't he play in the NFL, too? And, I've heard about Levi Stanley.
Also in one of those football mags, I remember reading about Jim Nicholson; he graduated from St Louis School in '68. I think he was a lineman; I don't know if it was on O or D. He went on to play in the NFL.
Then there was Arnold Morgado, who graduated from Punahou School in '70, I think. Think he was an RB.
Both he and Nicholson played for the Kansas City Chiefs, I think, and they were on that team at the same time.
I remember reading about Onosai Tanuvasa, who graduated from Farrington High in '71, I think. He was an all-star RB. There was a special sports section during the fall football season (September-November '70) in either the Star-Bulletin or the Advertiser featuring large color photos of the cheerleaders of various high schools, of all things. They weren't photos of individual cheerleaders, but of the entire squads. I've never seen anything like it since. On the front page of that section was a black-and-white photo of Tanuvasa. It was a frontal action shot showing him running the ball, leaping over an opposing school's player.
Kale Ane, currently HC at McKinley High, graduated from Punahou School in '71, I think. I think he played in the NFL as a long-snapper. Kind of unusual; I mean, how many NFL players from Hawaii were long-snappers?

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

Post by XLT1000 »

There's a lot that fit into this category. I'll point out one. Timmy Chang St. Louis High School. 1999. UH Manoa, 2000-2004. Then there's your other local favorites. I don't know, pick anyone.

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Favorite High School football players? I think they'll have to go with Al Noga, Farrington Governors. 1982. And I'll pick one more, then that's it for me. Blaine Gaison, 1976, Kamehameha High School, OIA Honolulu. Okay, one more. Rich Miano, Kaiser Cougars, 1979.

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Re: Favorite HS football players of all time?

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HS Football Fanatic wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 5:13 pm @unpaid:

Whoa. Late-'60s. That was certainly before my time. Even so, two names you posted are familiar to me. Jeris White: I remember seeing a photo of him in one of those football mags they sold at games. Didn't he play in the NFL, too? And, I've heard about Levi Stanley.
Also in one of those football mags, I remember reading about Jim Nicholson; he graduated from St Louis School in '68. I think he was a lineman; I don't know if it was on O or D. He went on to play in the NFL.
Then there was Arnold Morgado, who graduated from Punahou School in '70, I think. Think he was an RB.
Both he and Nicholson played for the Kansas City Chiefs, I think, and they were on that team at the same time.
I remember reading about Onosai Tanuvasa, who graduated from Farrington High in '71, I think. He was an all-star RB. There was a special sports section during the fall football season (September-November '70) in either the Star-Bulletin or the Advertiser featuring large color photos of the cheerleaders of various high schools, of all things. They weren't photos of individual cheerleaders, but of the entire squads. I've never seen anything like it since. On the front page of that section was a black-and-white photo of Tanuvasa. It was a frontal action shot showing him running the ball, leaping over an opposing school's player.
Kale Ane, currently HC at McKinley High, graduated from Punahou School in '71, I think. I think he played in the NFL as a long-snapper. Kind of unusual; I mean, how many NFL players from Hawaii were long-snappers?
Hello. Is Kale Ane still at McKinley High School football head coach? This year anyway. It's going to be fall next season. So I meant next season. Samson Anguay used to play for UH football. Is he the head coach for Kapolei or Mililani? I cannot be sure what year he played in high school. RB 5-7.5 ft/inches tall. Or 5-8. Or 5-9. Cannot be certain. Just that I know that name. Some time in late 2000s.

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