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Excitement ran high Saturday afternoon among the 200 or so alumni, faculty, students, football players and cheerleaders gathered at Saint Louis School’s Heisman Trophy watch party to cheer former Saint Louis star Tua Tagovailoa, one of three finalists vying for the coveted honor during ESPN’s nationally televised announcement.
“My motto is Tua fo’ shua!” said 79-year-old
Gilbert Olayan, Class of ’57.
The crowd was anticipating a repeat win for a graduate from the high school in Kaimuki, following alumnus Marcus Mariota’s 2014 Heisman Trophy. But it wasn’t to be.
When Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was awarded the prize, with
Tagovailoa, the Alabama quarterback, a relatively close second, the group showed good sportsmanship in politely clapping. The applause got far louder when it was announced Tagovailoa had won the Nissan Heisman Fan Vote.
Saint Louis is nationally known for its football program, which was ranked 13th this year in the USA Today’s Super 25.
Hoots and cheers had filled the room when an ESPN announcer mentioned “There’s a school in Hawaii … ,” as well as when the Saint Louis boosters got some face time on national TV as live shots of the party were broadcast, and, of course, when Tagovailoa was featured.
Saint Louis alumnus and security guard Ron Yoshida’s eyes welled with tears as he awaited the results. “I’m proud. I’m dumbstruck, being an alumnus from this school as well as working here. It makes me feel really good. I’m excited. I want Tua to win, but if he doesn’t, we’ll be back again next year,” he said.
Mark Sagapolutele, who played football in his younger days, brought his entire family, including his two sons who attend
Saint Louis. His cousin Pio Sagapolutele played for the Cleveland Browns and the New England
Patriots.
“We come from a football family,” he said, explaining why the family had come to the watch party.
His wife, Charlene, chimed in: “It’s exposing our sons to it. It opens their minds to possibilities.”
Sagapolutele said he never met Tagovailoa but knows the Heisman finalist’s father from church and wanted to lend his support.
His son, Arona, a sophomore and varsity quarterback, and Azariah, a fifth-grader who also plays football, watched the ESPN program on the big screen with serious faces.
Dwayne Yamaguchi, an ’89 alumnus and Tagovailoa’s homeroom teacher, recalled the quarterback being “a very hard
worker, very respectful, with a good faith.
“I’m very proud of my school and excited about my son coming to school here and to support Tua,” he said.
“What I learned from Tua was to be a leader,” said Yamaguchi’s son, Shea, 11. “I want to (play football) but my mom won’t let me.”
Stanley McKenzie, 16, a Saint Louis defensive lineman, also got the message.
“When I came up from JV, I got a chance to play football with him,” he said. “He is telling us to work hard toward our goal.”
McKenzie’s goal: “To make it by going off to college and try and make our family proud.”
Saint Louis Principal Christopher Casupang said that even though Tagovailoa did not win
the Heisman Trophy, “it doesn’t diminish our pride in him. We
always band together and
support him.”
He referred to Tagovailoa’s comments that God and family are important.
“It’s what we try to instill in our young men, that reliance on one another is so important and we share in our successes and our challenges and our joys.”
Leilani Puchalski, Tagovailoa’s Hawaiian language teacher for
five years and 2017 class adviser, said he was an excellent student who worked hard, put in extra
effort and had a natural gift for language.
“He’s very well-spoken, and he’s so successful in Alabama,” she said.
She noted Tagovailoa graduated a semester early from Saint Louis so he could get to Alabama early.
“He was driven,” Puchalski said. “Having that drive made him a better student ” and, ultimately, a better player.
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