The “Local” Connection
May 9, 2010—Combining our experiences, my wife and I have lived in Tonga, Arizona and New Zealand, but the majority of our time has been spent living in Hawaii. My wife was born at Kahuku Hospital and I was born in the old—and long gone—Kaiser Hospital in Waikiki, overlooking the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor (Okay, now I’m dating myself). It’s only natural that the individuals we have interviewed thus far have a “local” connection, or to put it another way, all have a connection to Hawaii/Polynesia. Actually, I’m sure you already figured this out, but some connections aren’t as obvious. Does this mean we will only interview those who have a tie to Hawaii/Polynesia? No, not at all. Will we continue to feature individuals with this connection? Absolutely!
Here’s the breakdown:
- Hiram Thompson and Inoke Funaki both attend the University of Hawaii. Hiram’s grandparents live in Laie and Inoke grew up in Laie.
- Lucas Alves played at, and recently graduated from BYU–Hawaii.
- Salesi Sika, Inoke Funaki and Uani Unga are Tongan.
- Jared Quayle and Yahosh Bonner both played against the University of Hawaii during the 2009–10 season.
- John Davis once worked at BYU–Hawaii as the Sports Information Director.
- Kent Haslam and I were in the same ward in Arizona and my father was his mission president in Japan.
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