By: Makayla Dilliner
Many high school athletes work tirelessly just to make it on to a collegiate-level team-- if they make it on one at all. But class of 1980 Kalaheo graduate, Mike Akiu, has a different story. You may recognize the last name Akiu as he is known as “Papa” to athletes Damian (grade 10), Kyah (grade 10), Kaylee (grade 10), and Nohea (grade 10). He also has his own NFL jersey in the gym.
With a sports resume that spanned over four sports, holding state and school records, Akiu was a state champion for five different track events his senior year. Later, he obtained a track scholarship, became a collegiate national champion, qualified for the Olympics fresh out of high school, and ultimately, became a National Football League player. Needless to say, Akiu was a more than dedicated athlete. When Akiu was at Kalaheo, he played football, baseball and ran track all four years. He also played soccer his last two years at the school. During his senior year, when he competed in track, he was state champion in the 100 (10.84 sec.), 200 (21.75 sec.), 300 (40.44 sec.), and 400 (49.94 sec.) meter dashes, including the 4-by-100 relay. After 42 years, his 100-meter dash continues to be a state record while the rest are still Kalaheo records.
Akiu was sure he wanted to go further in his sports career. More importantly, he was sure of the next step he would have to take to get there. “The first goal of going pro was going to college,” Akiu explained. He said that money was tight and that he did not want to burden his family with extra bills. “If you wanted to play football, you had to find a way to get there. I wanted to go on my own. I studied hard and trained even harder to make sure I got accepted on a sports scholarship.” He explained how the bar is set higher in college. “I trained even harder in college. I wanted to get to the next level so I could make money. When I was in college, the NFL was only a 45-man roster. So you had to challenge against 1,000 universities to be one of the 45 players on one of the 31 teams. And that's not much. Maybe 1,200 players. To be one of the 1,200 players out of a million guys. Two million, three million. You never know how big the student body is going to be.”
It was at Washington State University when he was on an all-star track team. Despite having been the fastest in the nation for specific track events, Akiu was not able to compete in the 1980 Olympics due to its cancellation. “The United States boycotted the Olympics due to friction with Russia at the time,” Akiu said. After completing two years at Washington State University on his track scholarship, he decided to switch to football. “In 1983-1984, I walked on the football team at the University of Hawaii at Manoa,” he explained. Now known as one of Hawaii’s favorite NFL teams, the Tennessee Titans, in 1985, Akiu was drafted under the franchise’s former name, The Houston Oilers. He explained the NFL’s process of elimination. “It's the last four weeks leading up to the start of the season. They call this guy the Turk. He’s the guy who would go knock on your door when you were sleeping at about 10:30 at night. And he would go, ‘Coach wants to see you and make sure to bring your playbook.’ When Turk comes knocking on your door, either you or your roommate are going to make it on that elimination list.” Akiu described the happiness of not being cut. “I remember being so stoked that I made it on the team. I called my mom and we finally knew we had made it. Money wasn’t going to be a worry anymore,” Akiu recounted.
Akiu was a wide receiver for the Houston Oilers. Despite being undersized for a NFL player, Akiu proved to be a powerhouse on the field. “They would look at me and think I was crazy because I was only around 5’8 and 150 lbs. But I was the fastest guy in the league. They would think, ‘Wow, who is this small guy?’ just like Damien,” he said with a laugh. “One of my most memorable moments in the NFL is when I scored a 51-yard touchdown pass from Hall-of-Fame quarterback Warren Moon when we played against the Dallas Cowboys. I was only a rookie,” Akiu explained. “In the NFL, now you have people to train with. Before the NFL, you have to find equipment, you have to find somewhere to go, someone to throw the ball. When you’re in season, everything is all ready for you. Everyone wants to train, even the quarterbacks. So on Tuesdays and Thursdays for quarterback throws, we would use throwing machines, we’d use elastic bands with big tires you had to run and pull. You had a whole bunch of stuff to train with for just being a receiver. And you had a machine that would throw you passes all day long. We would work on that machine for at least two hours a day. Stopping the balls, catching the balls, and running it back,” Akiu described.
After being with the Houston Oilers for two seasons, Akiu then moved on to New York’s Buffalo Bills. “You have to dedicate yourself to wanting to train hard enough so you can get a chance. But I trained a lot in running. We used to live on Kalaheo Avenue and I would run on the beach every day. You have to want it. Inside of you, you have to really want it to make it. It doesn’t matter what you do or what kind of training you do, you just have to have the will. Until you get to that spot, you have to work hard and eat right, train, practice- it's a whole lot of work you have to do.”
Akiu gives more advice on what he learned when being an athlete. “You have to be humble. You cannot be a showoff, a guy who thinks he knows everything. Because you don’t. There's always going to be someone better than you. Which there is. There's always going to be somebody faster than you. Which there was. But you just have to be humble. And things will work out. That's what I learned and that's what my father always told me.He also shared his work and coaching experience since the NFL. “Being a stevedore is the only job I’ve ever had. The owner of our team used to be on the board of regents for the Denver Broncos. He told me after your career is done, if you ever need a job you come and see me and I'll give you one. From 2000 to 2002, while working as a stevedore, Akiu coached for Kalaheo’s football team. “While it was difficult to get kids, they all knew my background. We had good guys who were going both ways.”
During this time, Kalaheo had both a varsity and junior varsity football team. “We had a little sideline,” Akiu laughed. He made it clear that being a football coach is a full-time job. You can’t cut corners.“When you coach football, you can’t just be there from two to four after school. It is much deeper than that. You have to be there every day with your staff going over what your offense is going to be, what your defense is going to be, and what your special teams are going to be. It takes more than two hours out of the day. And you need to watch film. You need to know what the other team is doing. Among many other things,” Akiu explained. He described how back then, Kalaheo was in division one, aka the red division. Kalaheo Football was able to play against schools like Kahuku and Waianae. “When we played against Kahuku we only had 24 guys for the entire game. Yet we were leading at halftime. In the end, the Red Raiders only beat us by one touchdown,” he laughed. During his coaching era, this was the last time Kalaheo competed in that division. That was the last time Kalaheo ever played Kahuku, Waianae, or even Kailua. When asked if Kalaheo’s recent football season had improved, Akiu gave credit to Mr. Jaymason Lee. “I think Jaymason Lee is doing a very good job with the amount of kids he has. This year a bunch more kids came out compared to when Mr. Maeda was coaching. When they played against Kaimuki, a score like 60-43 hadn’t happened in years. I went to all of the games this year,” Akiu said.
As a coach for the junior varsity softball team, Akiu also gave insight into the season. “This year we had enough players, we had 12. So we didn’t have to forfeit.” As stated in another article in this edition of Ka Leo o Kalaheo, the team got to go to the championships for the first time and play against Kailua High School and won. “The team has a chance now. We could have done just as well last year had there been enough girls because we had such a good team then too. Luckily, players came back this year.” Despite Akiu’s push for the team to have a banner in the gym, unfortunately, the OIA does not recognize JV championships with banners. So Mr. Baum agreed that a championship banner would be made and hung on the fence at the front of the school so the community could recognize the achievement.