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For the Hawaii football team, the journey to Wyoming involved an important detour.
Following a direct flight from Honolulu to Denver this morning, the Rainbow Warriors were scheduled to visit Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., where defensive tackle Kalepo Naotala is being treated for a spinal-cord injury.
“Visiting him means a lot to us,” defensive end Meffy Koloamatangi said. “We haven’t seen him since he got injured.”
Naotala was seriously injured after an accident off Waikiki Beach on July 1. A witness said Naotala appeared to hit his head while diving off the wall near Kapahulu Groin. Naotala was treated at The Queen’s Medical Center for three weeks. On July 20, he was transferred to Craig, a 93-bed facility known for its work and research in spinal injuries and neuro rehabilitation.
Coach Nick Rolovich said it was a priority to visit Naotala in advance of Saturday’s road game against
Wyoming.
“He’s a guy who’s the epitome of living aloha the day he got (to Hawaii),” Rolovich said. “He wanted to make this place great. He was always volunteering for community service. He’s a great teammate.”
“A terrific teammate,” middle linebacker Jahlani Tavai said. “A perfect character that you want as a teammate. He was all juiced up for the team. That’s what you need in a teammate. Unfortunately, things happened. Right now, we want to support him and his family.”
Receivers coach Kefense Hynson was UH’s point recruiter for Naotala. But as Nevada’a offensive coordinator in 2015, Rolovich tried to recruit Naotala to Reno. After an ACL injury during his senior season scared off some schools, Naotala received a gray-shirt offer from Rolovich, who was named UH’s head coach in November 2016. Naotala rehabbed the knee, then enrolled at UH in January.
“He was raw in the spring, but he kept fighting, and he kept getting better,” Rolovich said.
Defensive coordinator Legi Suiaunoa said: “I know we miss him. I thought he had a chance (to play) coming from spring. He showed it in spring (training) and the improvement he made in the summer. I thought he put himself into a position to contribute this year.”
That all changed on that July morning.
“It’s just an unbelievable faith his family has,” Rolovich said. “That’s why his spirits are so high. We give a lot to make these guys great men. We try to make this a man-of-aloha factory. We ship them out better people. It’ll make the world better. Kalepo was on his way to doing that. I know he’s going to do great things.”
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