The plane ride over was much shorter, but just as sweet.

Of the 36 players making their first trip to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl game on Sunday at Aloha Stadium, only one can call it a homecoming.

Well, kind of.

Seattle Seahawks center Max Unger said he doesn’t spend much time on Oahu when he is home for the offseason.

The Kailua-Kona native earned his first Pro Bowl nod in his fourth season since the Seahawks selected him in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft out of Oregon.

He was the center of attention after the NFC took its turn practicing at Kapolei High on Wednesday and conceded reaching this point was never a real thought in his head growing up.

"I’m from a pretty small town," said Unger, who grew up in South Kona on the Big Island. "I’m kind of from the middle of nowhere … and especially from the Big Island there’s not a lot of football players to come out there."

Maybe not the Big Island specifically, but centers from Hawaii have become mainstays in the NFL.

Unger follows a line of players dating back to former Rams great Bern Brostek, who coached Unger in high school at Hawaii Preparatory Academy.

Farrington alumnus Jesse Sapolu and former Saint Louis star Olin Kreutz have previously played in the Pro Bowl as well.

Currently, Unger is one of three players from Hawaii starting at center in the NFL, joining Detroit’s Dominic Raiola (Saint Louis) and Indianapolis’ Samson Satele (Kailua).

"Bern is an awesome guy who was basically teaching NFL football to high school kids and I wouldn’t be here without him," said Unger, who is the first Seahawks center to be named an All-Pro at his position. "You’ve got Dominic and Samson … for some reason, all of these guys are centers."

Playing in the BIIF, Unger wasn’t the most widely known name when he committed to Oregon out of high school.

He wound up starting all four years for the Ducks and was twice named first-team All-Pac-10.

Unger won a starting spot at guard but was eventually moved to his more natural position of center, where he helped lead the Seahawks to the playoffs this season.

Seattle became a popular upset pick to make the Super Bowl despite earning the fifth seed in the NFC.

They averaged 38.6 points per game during a five-game winning streak to end the regular season and won a wild-card game at Washington before losing in the final seconds to Atlanta in the divisional round 18 days ago.

"It’s tough watching football still," Unger said. "The AFC and NFC games last weekend were hard to watch — we’ll see about the Super Bowl — but it was a good year man, a little short."

The Seahawks have been in four playoff games during Unger’s tenure, winning in the wild-card round in 2010 and ’12.

He’s one of six Seahawks selected to the game, which is the most since 2007 — the year after Seattle made its only Super Bowl appearance.

It’s one of many reasons Unger says the future is bright in the Pacific Northwest.

"We had a lot of turnover on our roster these last couple of years and then last year we built a little bit of momentum going into this past year," Unger said. "We kind of figured it out about halfway through this season and put some games together and I think (quarterback) Russell Wilson and (running back) Marshawn (Lynch) offensively really sparked it."