Residents rally around hometown hero

Laie » A day after the world learned about the relationship between Manti Te’o and a fictitious woman who he believed died of cancer, media reports, blogs and Twitter pages were aswirl with questions, analysis, criticism and speculation.

But in Te’o’s hometown of Laie, residents remained grounded with love and support for the star Notre Dame linebacker.

"He’s a hero — he’s still our hero," said Kela Miller, a longtime Laie resident who lives not far from the Te’o family home.

To many people in this tight-knit community centered around the Mormon Church and high school football, Te’o is family.

Their view of the Heisman Trophy runner-up now preparing for the National Football League draft generally is of a clean-living young man who may have been too trusting. That view hasn’t been shaken despite the bizarre circumstances of a three-year relationship with someone Te’o had never met in person.

"If I could say something to Manti, I’d say hang in there and keep your head up," Laie resident David Niu said. "You’ve overcome a lot. You can overcome this, too. Keep the faith."

The community response reflects tight bonds of a small community on Oahu’s North Shore where ties to the Te’o family are everywhere.

Miller’s grandson played Pop Warner football with Te’o, and the team’s coach was Te’o’s father, Brian.

Niu was a classmate of Brian’s brother Ephraim at Kahuku High School.

There is a sense in the community that significant details of the whole girlfriend episode aren’t fully known. But there is also a conviction that Te’o is a victim of a so-called catfishing hoax and that he has done nothing wrong.

"I know for a fact this community stands behind his family and behind Manti," Miller said. "He’s a great kid."

The level of support was on display during a celebration at Laie Park on Dec. 8 to watch the Heisman Trophy selection. Miller estimated that around 1,200 people turned out to watch the event on a big screen.

Robert Ah Puck, a close friend and classmate of Te’o’s father, printed about 2,000 shirts with a green 5 — Te’o’s jersey number — for the occasion. Demand exceeded supply. "The Te’o family has a lot of support," he said. "We love the family. We love the son, and we support them through this whole thing."

Brent Cates, a student at Brigham Young University-Hawaii in Laie, is annoyed by the whole spectacle and is critical of media reports he said twist reality. "People are going to say things whether you do good or bad," he said. "Either way, it doesn’t affect the linebacker he was at Notre Dame. He’s an awesome football player."

Miller, meanwhile, is thinking ahead about having another party in the park to celebrate Te’o and two of his teammates — Robby Toma from Laie and Kona Schwenke from nearby Hau­ula — for being in college football’s championship game against Ala­bama earlier this month.

"There’s no one who has done something like this for Hawaii," she said. "He’s made us proud."