From The Trenches With Senior Defensive Lineman Jerry Togiai
Oct 29, 2001 | Football
Oct. 29, 2001
MANHATTAN, Kan. -
by Lindsay Burket, Kansas State Sports Information student assistant
One of Hawaii's most popular legends is that of the Menehune people. These little people were known to have had special powers and did many great deeds throughout the islands, and even though they were of small size, they possessed great strength and prodigious energy. Senior defensive lineman Jerry Togiai may be a little bit big at 6-foot-4, 295-pounds to qualify as a Menehune, but the native Hawaiian definitely possesses their powers of great strength and energy in both mind and body. These powers have served him well on his long journey from his original home of Honolulu to his current position on the Wildcat football team.
Togiai and his two brothers were very reluctant to come to the mainland at first because they all had a passion for surfing and were fond of their way of life in Hawaii.
"My parents kind of tricked us into coming here," Togiai said. "They wanted to move to Utah, but my brothers and I didn't because we liked to surf. They tried hard to convince us and told us their was a beach in Utah, which turned out be the Great Salt Lake. We'd never been anywhere else but Hawaii, so when they said there was a beach in Utah, we said 'Okay'."
When the Togiai brothers ventured out to the lake, they were disappointed to find no waves and nothing but brine, shrimp, and an awful smell. Not liking the way of living in Utah, especially the cold weather, Togiai and his brothers got back on the plane with their surfboards and moved back to Hawaii. For the next couple of years, they lived on the island while their parents lived in Utah.
At the age of 19, Togiai would return to the mainland on a mission for his church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He spent two years living on his own and was better able to put his life into perspective.
"When you come back from a mission like that, things change," Togiai said. "When I went on a mission and lived on my own for two years, it kind of taught me what life was really about, and what the real world was like."
Togiai signed with the University of Hawaii right out of high school and was supposed to play for the Rainbows once he returned from the mission, but decided Rick's College in Idaho was a better place for him.
"It's a non-stop party in Hawaii, and I didn't want to go back to that," Togiai said. "That's why I chose Rick's. I went there to take me away from all of that for a while, and it helped."
One of the most difficult adjustments Togiai had to make when he began attending school in Idaho was making the transition from "Pigeon," a broken form of English spoken in Hawaii, to correct English grammar.
"When I first came over from Hawaii, none of my teachers could understand me," Togiai said. "Not only do we speak the pigeon language in Hawaii, but our teachers do too, so it made it even harder to understand things."
Togiai continued to focus on his education, and began to get recruited by Division I schools. He hit the biggest hurdle of his career though during his last year of JUCO football at Rick's when one of the most influential people in his life, his mother, passed away. Her death was very difficult for Togiai, and at one point he was ready to quit football, and went away from the game for a while. But after remembering what his mother told him about always trying his hardest and to do his best, he turned back to the game and his education.
"One thing she stressed for me was to get my education," Togiai said. "I will be the first one from my family to graduate from college when I graduate next semester. I know she would be really proud of me because one of the biggest things she wanted me to do was to graduate from college."
Togiai now has a wife and two sons of his own, and they are a strong motivation in everything he does.
"All the stuff I do now has changed from being for me to being for my family and supporting them," Togiai said. "I know I have a role as a father to go and get a good education, so I can get a good job and support my family and give them everything they need in their lives. Having a family has really turned my life around for the better."
Togiai is in the process of laying down his plans for the future, and wants to move back to Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho upon his graduation and become a forest ranger. He also feels that the educational opportunities on the mainland will be better for his children than those in Hawaii.
"I'd rather my kids grow up here, because I had a hard time adjusting education-wise when I moved here," Togiai said. "I'll take them back to Hawaii and teach them the culture, but as far as education, I want them to learn here because I think it's better for them."
Starting a family, being a student, and being part of one of the nation's elite football teams all at the same time isn't an easy task, but it's one that Togiai is well up to.
"They're just special in my life," Togiai said. "I look forward to going home right after practice and being able to see them. They are what makes me continue and try my best."
