Crystal Buffanblu If Charles Ane had gotten his choice of schools as a teenager, Punahou School might have lost a big chunk of its sports history.
persuasion
3 generations of Anes
star in Punahou sportsATHLETIC GENES
Jason Kaneshiro / jkaneshiro@starbulletin.com
"I always wanted to go to Kamehameha School, but I couldn't pass the test," he says. "But once I got here I fell in love with this place."
Ane's passion for Punahou has become a family heirloom as three generations have earned diplomas and athletic accolades as members of the Buffanblu.
Charles (Class of '49) and his son, Kale (Class of '71), were football stars at Punahou and each went on to a career in the National Football League. Kale, now an assistant athletic director and head football coach at his alma mater, hired his father to be his offensive coordinator in 1999.
Caroline Ane, Kale's daughter, walked the line at Punahou's 2001 commencement ceremony after a successful career with the Buffanblu girls volleyball and basketball teams.
"This school has meant a lot to us," Charles says.
Charles transferred to Punahou from Kalakaua Intermediate School in August 1945 and earned honors as an offensive lineman for the Buffanblu.
He went on to star at the University of Southern California and carved out an all-pro career as a member of the NFL's Detroit Lions.
He returned to Punahou in the 1960s as head football coach and coached Kale, who also played on the offensive line.
"The only thing I was really afraid of when I coached was the fact that I would someday have to coach my son," he said. "I was scared because you want them to do so well and if they don't and you play them people think, 'well, he's the coach's son.'"
Those fears were allayed by Kale's excellence as a center. He earned a football scholarship to Michigan State and went on to play professionally for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers.
"Expectations are high to excel both in athletics and academics," Kale says of his Punahou experience. "It prepared me to go to college and challenge myself. And to come back and coach and be an athletic director and have my daughters in the school -- it makes it fun to see them have the same experiences that their father had here."
Caroline added to the family's athletic legacy playing for the varsity girls volleyball and basketball teams and was a member of state championship teams in both sports. She plans to try out for the women's basketball team at the University of San Diego next season.
But she says maintaining the tradition set by her father and grandfather created some anxiety in her early days as a Punahou athlete.
"At first it was weird how everyone knows that you're Kale's daughter and I would feel like there was a little extra pressure," she said.
"But now it just feels comfortable."
All three generations spend much of their days together at the Punahou athletic department offices. Their connection to Buffanblu sports has been a binding force for the family.
"I'm always up here," Caroline says. "We used to come in every Sunday and just shoot and have the whole gym to ourselves."
Says Kale: "It's some long hours being an AD and being around family makes it a little more bearable, sometimes."
One of Kale's first tasks when he ascended to head football coach was to ask his father, who had recently retired from coaching at St. Anthony on Maui, to return to Punahou as an assistant.
Charles says their experience as player and coach in Kale's youth has helped them balance coaching and family pressures.
"Going through it, I think it helped us understand each other better," he says. "And now coming back it's easier because he knows what he wants to do ... and I think I understand the roles pretty good."
Neither Kale nor Charles ever had the opportunity to coach Caroline in high school, but both have found playing the role of the spectator parent or grandparent just as stressful.
"You're always hopeful that good things will happen, but also you're well aware of the obstacles in front of them," Charles says. "You just try your damnedest to make sure you lead them in the right direction so they are able to do what's required to enjoy some of the fruits of their labor."
While the Anes' efforts have helped bring athletic glory to the Buffanblu, the family can trace their successes back to the corner of Punahou Street and Wilder Avenue.
"Everything good that's happened to me started here," Charles says of Punahou. "It has afforded me a lot of wonderful opportunities."
Kale Ane has two other children involved in sports. Son Teetai IV, an incoming junior at Kalani High, plays basketball and football and runs track for the Falcons. Daughter Michelle, who will be a 7th grader at Punahou, plays soccer and basketball.