Kaimana winner Wood was a rock for Kaiser football

Bradley Wood was on the field for one play of his senior year of high school football. It was the opening kickoff, and the opposing team scored a touchdown.

Then, as Wood left the field, the Kaiser fans who were at Campbell to see what turned out to be the Cougars’ only game of the season rose to their feet in appreciation.

“He was met with the most loving and understanding standing ovation I have ever seen,” wrote Kaiser teacher Paul Balazs in a letter of recommendation. “That was the type of impact (Wood) has had on our school and our lives.”

Wood couldn’t stay because he had to rush to catch a flight to attend the funeral of his great-grandfather, Martin Vermaas. Kaiser needed him for the opening kickoff because it would have forfeited if it did not have 22 players to start the game.

The final score was 71-0, but the Cougars got to play.

Kaiser — which faced an opponent with nearly four times as many players in that one game — forfeited other games due to the lack of numbers, and then the entire season was canceled after an altercation involving the head coach and a parent.

Through it all, Wood continued to take his role as a co-captain seriously. It was especially important to him that younger players not give up.

“That was a huge part of it,” he said. “Next year they’re going to have a lot better opportunities. We have a lot of new players coming out and a new coaching staff.”

Wood’s leadership amid chaos and disappointment is among the many reasons he was selected as one of 16 HMSA Kaimana Award scholarship winners from the 2017-18 school year. They were honored Saturday, along with nine schools from around the state that won overall awards for academics, athletics, community service, healthy activities and sportsmanship.

Wood also competed in basketball, baseball and track and field while maintaining a cumulative grade-point average well over 4.0.

“Bradley, like all of the honorees, showed not only that he was able to excel on his own, but that he truly cared about his team and his teammates,” said Hawaii News Now’s Steve Uyehara, who serves on the Kaimana Awards selection committee. “It blows you away when you think that someone can be so smart, well-rounded and empathetic.”

See scoreboard on page C6 for the complete list of honorees.

Also, on June 3, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Honor enshrined a new class of 12 elite athletes. They were featured in a special section of that day’s Star-Advertiser.

“While these scholarship programs differ slightly, both programs recognize Hawaii’s best student-athletes in terms of academics, athletics, community service, and sportsmanship, and align with HHSAA’s mission to perpetuate the significance of education-based athletics as part of the high school education program,” said HHSAA executive director Christopher Chun.

“We have a lot of potential and the sky’s the limit,” Bradley Wood said Saturday.

He was referring to next year’s Kaiser football team that he will watch from afar at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., where he will study criminal psychology.

But those same words apply to him and the other Kaimana and Hall of Honor award winners.