CALL it a changing of the guard. Sapolu, Tuinei not quite
ready to pass the torchAt a time when three former Hawaii prep stars from St. Louis have been drafted and are looking forward to their first season in the National Football League, the careers of two NFL veterans from here apparently have come to an end.
Picked in this year's NFL draft were center Olin Kreutz (Chicago Bears), running back Chris Fuamatu-Maafala (Pittsburgh Steelers) and defensive tackle Viliami Maumau (Carolina Panthers).
They will begin their NFL careers just when Jesse Sapolu and Mark Tuinei could be ending theirs. Both Sapolu and Tuinei have played 15 seasons, each with one team -- Sapolu with the San Francisco 49ers and Tuinei the Dallas Cowboys.
The 49ers open training camp Saturday. Sapolu, though, won't be there. He's coming home the following Monday.
Tuinei wasn't invited to camp by the Cowboys, although he still hopes to play one more year.
If Sapolu and Tuinei -- who aren't ready to give retirement speeches yet -- can somehow play another season with the only team they've ever played for, they would set franchise records for service.
Tuinei shares the Dallas record of 15 seasons with Bill Bates and Ed "Too Tall" Jones. Bates recently retired to become a special teams coach for the Cowboys.
Sapolu and Jimmy Johnson share the 49er record -- also 15 years.
A more unsettling transition for me is that the only local players drafted this year didn't play for the University of Hawaii as Sapolu and Tuinei did. Kreutz starred for Washington, Fuamatu-Maafala for Utah and Maumau for Colorado.
The inability of UH to get local blue-chip prospects, of course, is perhaps the single major reason the caliber of Rainbow football has declined in recent years. And with it, attendance.
It doesn't help that Rainbow football just lost one of its biggest boosters in Harold Kometani, who died Monday at the age of 78.
The flag of the Waialae Country Club, where he was a member, will be at half-mast. The colors of the University of Hawaii, where he devoted a lifetime of service, should be respectfully lowered as well.
Kometani starred in football and basketball for the Rainbows from 1938 through '41 and was an assistant coach under Tommy Kaulukukui when they returned to competition after World War II. Even during the war years, Kometani was a player-coach for the Manoans, a local senior league team made up of mostly UH players.
HE was a charter member of Ahahui Koa Anuenue, the football booster club formed in 1967 under the leadership of the late Gov. John A. Burns. Up until his death, Kometani was the organization's vice president. He was inducted into the UH Circle of Honor in 1986.
"He never played football in high school (at Mid-Pacific)," said Kometani's son, Michael.
However, sports always commanded Kometani's attention.
"I guess you could say we've always been an athletic family," said Michael, who was an Interscholastic League of Honolulu swimming champion and played football for Punahou.
Kometani's grandson, Scott LaFontaine, played football and baseball for the Buffanblu, and his granddaughter, Dana Kiner, played volleyball at Punahou and coaches women's volleyball at Hawaii Preparatory Academy.
Kometani also followed the exploits of LPGA player Pamela Kometani. She's the granddaughter of his late older brother, Dr. Katsumi Kometani, also a prominent local sports figure.