The serendipity of fulfilled destiny doesn’t occur as often as we’d like to believe, and what seems like it should be fate doesn’t always bring you full-circle.
But if Leonard Wan Sing Lau were still alive, he might agree that as coincidental as this is it was meant-to-be … that his granddaughter, Sarah Lau, and Tiyana Hallums, the daughter of David Kawika Hallums, would become friends, classmates and teammates — and be among the 12 top athletes in the state graduating this spring who entered the Hawaii High School Hall of Honor on Sunday.
They will always share something with the other honorees of 2015: Kamuela Borden, Gabrielle Ewing, Lena Hayakawa, Sabrina Hollins, BJ Hosaka, Ian Kahaloa, Kanoa Kaleoaloha, Kawika Lam, Micah Ma‘a and Kanawai Noa.
But there’s something more for these two, a bond that crosses generations. Even as Lau heads to the University of Hawaii to play soccer and Hallums moves on for volleyball at Gonzaga, they hope to remain as close as their fathers became nearly 40 years ago, and who now consider themselves brothers.
“We’re like siblings now,” Tiyana said.
Sarah’s and Tiyana’s dads met on Palamoi Street in Pearl City, when the boys were around 10 and 11 years old. The Hallums family had just moved into the neighborhood from Hauula.
“We’d never been over the Koolau mountains,” Hallums said. “My brother (Kalani) and I were walking around trying to find out who we could play with and who’d be willing to play with us. We see this kid playing in his yard with all this equipment; he had all the equipment and supplies for basketball, volleyball, football. We said, ‘Hey, boy, can we play with you? Fortunately, he said yes.”
The younger Leonard Lau, then known as Chris, his middle name, had access to plenty of athletic equipment because his dad was the state director of the Police Athletic League.
The Lau and Hallums kids and others in the neighborhood would use that equipment to play everything and anything, every chance they could.
As time went on, officer Lau became much more than a source of athletic supplies for Hallums. He became a role model.
After starring in football and basketball at Pearl City High, Hallums played basketball at Brigham Young-Hawaii and UH. Then, partly inspired by officer Lau, he became a policeman.
“He never got to see me in uniform. But he showed me and my brothers what real men do,” said Hallums, who has been an HPD officer for 15 years. “They take care of their families, no matter what is going on in their personal lives. Never yelled at us. He was just a man you admired for the way he took care of his family and all the while protecting and serving. Anytime we reconnected, it was like we were back on Palamoi Street. He was proud of all of us.”
Meanwhile, the younger Leonard Lau went to Saint Louis, where he was part of the beginning of the Crusaders dynasty under coach Cal Lee, as a receiver. He went on to play at UH and was on the team that played in the school’s first NCAA-sanctioned postseason game, the 1989 Aloha Bowl. He has been a teacher at Dole Intermediate and assistant football coach at various high schools the past 20 years.
Sarah Lau has many fond memories of her grandfather watching her play AYSO soccer and of Sundays when she’d play basketball at his house. Ironically, it’s one of the few sports she didn’t play in high school.
“He would have been very proud of Sarah and her accomplishments for sure,” her father said. “But I think he would be most proud of her graduating from his alumni school of Kamehameha.”
Tiyana and Sarah didn’t know each other well as young children. They reacquainted when Sarah got into Kamehameha as a freshman and both were trying out for volleyball. Tiyana had been there since pre-school.
Then, as Sarah’s dad had done a generation prior for Tiyana’s father, the more established Tiyana welcomed Sarah, the new kid.
“We didn’t even know (about their fathers’ friendship),” Tiyana said. “But something about us clicked.”
Said Sarah: “We got closer over the years. My ninth-grade year I was really scared about volleyball, so many girls were trying out. But Tiyana made me feel better, like I could make it.”
They’ve both made it, winning championships and scholarships. They have talent, hard work and discipline to thank. Athletic mothers, too: Daina (Baldwin) Lau was an all-state softball pitcher at Sacred Hearts and played volleyball at UH. Annette Almarez-Hallums played basketball and volleyball at Mililani.
But if you believe in fate, a chance meeting of little boys on the street nearly 40 years ago had something to do with it, too.
Reach Star-Advertiser sports columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com, his “Quick Reads” blog at staradvertiser.com and twitter.com/davereardon.
