Joe Francis, a football star at Kamehameha and Oregon State who played in the NFL and CFL prior to coaching and teaching at Pearl City High School, died Monday after a long battle with prostate cancer. He would have turned 77 this Sunday.
Francis died peacefully at home in Kaneohe. His wife, Rolenda, is a hospice nurse.
"She was by his side and comforted him the best she could, she knew everything to do," said their son, Ikaika Alama-Francis. "But it was still painful and we’re glad he’s not suffering now."
Joe Francis was drafted by Green Bay in the fifth round of the 1958 draft and played for the Packers when Vince Lombardi was coach in the pre-Super Bowl era. In 1959, Francis was summoned into a game against the New York Giants ahead of another young quarterback, Bart Starr.
"I was on the sidelines and I thought Bart was going to be the QB," Francis said in a 2002 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel "Packers Flashback" article. "(Starter Lamar) McHan was having a hard time. Out of the clear blue sky I heard, ‘Francis, warm up, you’re going in.’ I thought I had a fairly decent game, but we got beat and I was out of there."
A knee injury kept him out of football in 1960, and Francis finished his pro career with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL in 1961 and ’62.
Francis was Oregon State’s team MVP in 1956 and ’57. He led the Beavers to the ’57 Rose Bowl, where Iowa beat Oregon State 35-19 despite 207 yards in total offense by Francis. He passed and ran as a back in the single-wing formation.
Francis was later enshrined in the state of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.
Few of the students to whom he taught P.E. at Pearl City for 31 years and just some of the football players he coached there for 12 years knew of Francis’ pro career and college stardom.
"He’s always been the type not to be a showoff. ‘Don’t hot-dog it,’ he’d say," Alama-Francis said. "Always the humble type."
Ikaika, and an older son, Jon, played in the NFL. Jon was a running back for the Los Angeles Rams in 1987. Ikaika, an All-State basketball player who did not play football while at Kalaheo High, switched to football while at the University of Hawaii and has played four NFL seasons as a defensive end and linebacker with the Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. He is now a free agent.
"He always said it was my choice what I wanted to do, and he would support me," Ikaika said. "But I know he was happy I went into football."
Services are pending.
