from Samoa

Sports

The Iron Men

The lives, passions and thoughts of the Pacific trio who have made it big in American football

By Barry Markowitz

The American gridiron NFL (National Football League) ought to just give the South Pacific an expansion team fran chise. Especially after three Samoan all stars, Jessie Sapolu (San Francisco 49ers) Junior Seau (San Diego Chargers) and Mark Tuinei (Dallas Cowboys) com pletely dominated on and off field inter est at the 1995 Pro Bowl game.

“Imagine, that out of the 120 million plus people in the United States, three young men of Samoan heritage would be honoured in the Pro Bowl, when the two Samoas have only a total population

of 230,000 at the most,” commented an avid Hawaiian football fan.

Every night special coverage was given during TV sports casts to the three Samoans.

The Pro Bowl Game in Honolulu, Hawaii is considered a warm, sunny, paid vacation for top NFL starts who would otherwise be shivering in North America’s winter. But for those with Pacific island ties, it was an emotional time to network with friends, family and culture, and show off the highly refined skills honed through years of NFL head banging.

Mark Tuinei has quietly enjoyed his

Pacific connection during the mainland football season by gladly receiving island foods mailed to his Texas home every few weeks i by his family. His thoughts on returning to Hawaii to play in the Pro Bowl were: “I came home, I get to play in the game ... I feel good.”

Mark felt especially good because he had played for over 10 years without recognition as a consistent offensive line stalwart. Now here he was, back in front of his family and Pacific island fans, being honoured for being the top in his profession and playing alongside former team mate, offensive guard Jessie Sapolu. “This is just like going back in time to the days I was at the University of Hawaii. It was Jessie and me then too.”

For Jessie the return to the islands was anything but a melancholy home-

Tuinei and Sapolu block for Steve Young

coming. He has received the distinction of being named a Pro Bowl player at both centre and the guard positions. For the days leading up to the game, the fans at practice screamed for Jessie’s auto graph. During the fourth quarter of the game, the 50,000 fans at Aloha Stadium chanted, “Jessie, Jessie!”.The anti-climax came a day after the Pro Bowl when Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris called Jessie into his office and formally pro claimed the day “Jessie Sapolu Day” in the City and County of Honolulu.

Mayor Harris explained his recogni tion of Jessie; “We are very proud of Jessie here in Honolulu. Jessie and I both come from the same small community, Kalihi. What our young people need more than anything in today’s world are role models - people they can look up to who have exemplified the good things in life, being able to make a com mitment to your community, being able to excel at something worthwhile - and Jessie has done that. We need role mod els such as Jessie, so it has been my plea

sure to proclaim today, Jessie Sapolu Day’ in the city and county of Honolulu.

I hope all the young people, and espe cially the lower income kids that live in Kalihi, can use Jessie as a role model.

Hopefully, 10 years from now, we will be having one of them come in being a national star and receiving such a

proclamation.”

Jessie’s reaction to his unexpected ultra-high profile was: “It was way beyond my wildest dreams that I would be in this position.”

His feelings about young people as he received the mayor’s special proclama tion were: “Well, I think it just gives our young kids the hope that this is the land of opportunity. It doesn’t matter where you grow up. Sometimes when you grow up in the rough areas it builds character, as long as you believe in your self. Hopefully the kids in Kalihi can see the difference - that I was just like them a few years ago. If it makes the differ ence in one kid’s life, then it was well worth it.”

Despite Sapolu’s great respect for his second homeland, America, he has no hesitation in holding dear his Western Samoan ties and language. “There is no question. The fact that I grew up in a minister’s home and the thought of me being in the United States at such a young age, thinking that forgetting the Samoan language would make me more acceptable in the United States ... never crossed my mind. I think a lot of that was the influence of my parents. Now that I’m older and out there represent ing the people of Hawaii and Samoa, being able to speak the Samoan lan guage brings a lot of respect to me.”

San Diego Charger linebacker Junior Seau has a similar view of his Samoan heritage. “Oh yeah ... the tightness of family and religion have been instilled ... it’s something I’m always going to hold tight to. It keeps everything in per

spective.”

Junior, who has apparently reinvented and refined the position of linebacker to the delight of TV sportscasters across

Mark Tuinel ( Left) jessic Sapolu (ce[?]ght)

America, has said publicly that life as a pro star has not been a bed of roses.

Recently his younger brother was con victed of murder in a gang-related inci dent. Some in US mainland Samoan com munities speculated Junior’s brother had a self-esteem problem dealing with his brother’s superstar status. Junior said of his family concerns, “You know crises within a life span are going to happen.

When it does happen, you have to stick it out and pray and know that every thing will work out for the best. There aren’t any guarantees in life and when you realise that, you know that things are not going to come too easy ... and with that in mind you can go forward.”

Thousands of Seau fans, young and old, waited before and after practice to get an autograph from this humble young man.

American Samoan businessman Bill Tedreck (of Tedi of Samoa, Pizza Time, etc.) said of his special Honolulu visit to Seau and the Samoan players at prac tice, “It’s been my pleasure to meet

Junior Seau just a little while ago. We were in Samoa Sunday watching the Super Bowl, of course, seeing him in action. Some of his friends and family were there. Now, here I am, meeting him at the Pro Bowl in Honolulu. It’s a real pleasure to see him and Mark Tuinei and Jessie Sapolu. It’s been a real pleasure because these guys represent the terri tory beautifully. Our young people and the youth look up to them as role mod els.”

The Pro Bowl game, as most all-star games go, was a tad untidy as players were not using the same offensive or defensive schemes they had practised under during the regular season. Jessie hit the ground a few times during his pass blocks for Steve Young and the quarterbacks overall threw some passes that would normally get them laughed out of their home stadiums. Junior Seau, one knee down on the sidelines, was clearly dying to get on field for his turn to play for an eager stadium and TV crowd. And when he did get in, he

played at 150 percent.

As Pacific Islanders know - whether it’s Manu Samoa at Apia Park, the Tongan National Rugby Football team playing in front of their king, or Fiji’s golfing sensa tion, Vijay Singh, at the Hawaiian Open when you get back to the islands, before island people, something magical hap pens. You play harder, you are intense and you sure don’t want to lose in front of your own.

The AFC (American Football Conference) beat NFC (National Football Conference) by a wide, almost embarrassing margin. But it didn’t mat ter. Young Hawaiian, Filipino, Samoan, Tongan, Haole (Caucasian) and African American kids got their hats, shirts and footballs autographed ... and, what is more important, rubbed shoulders with their almost-mythical heroes, Sapolu, Tuinei, and Seau. The Pacific island heroes became the champions of all Hawaii and the US mainland’s 60 million TV viewers. It was a great week of pride for Samoa and the Pacific.

[?]re).Junior Seau (right)

Tongans on the run. The side got as far as the quarter-final

Sevens maestro Waisele Serevi leaves the Samoans gasping

Canada comes under assault from the Japanese