Two famed Hawaii trees with lengthy branches: The Banyan tree and the Ah You football family
PHOTO: Leonard Ah You was a star and popular player at his grandfather’s alma mater, storied Kahuku High on Oahu’s North Shore.
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By TOM SHANAHAN
Leonard Ah You’s recent commitment to Michigan State out of Hawaii’s Kahuku High tapped more than the Spartans’ famed Hawaiian Pipeline under College Football Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty in the 1950s and 1960s. He is a link to a renowned family history, too.
Ah You is the grandson of Junior Ah You, the patriarch of Hawaii’s first family-of-football. “Papa” Junior lords over a clan of three generations of college football players.
Leonard, a 6-foot-4, 210-pounder who is ranked a three-star outside linebacker, is about to bump the family total to 20 – Junior followed by his sons, nephews, grandsons and grandnephews.
Waikiki Beach’s iconic Banyan Tree at the Moana Surfrider patio can’t match the Ah You branches.
“I’m proud of him,” Junior said. “Leonard has a strong mind and focuses on working hard. He’s quick and he’s strong and can drop back and cover. He’s a quick learner. He’s a good fit for Michigan State.”
Many Ah You family members have played for Kahuku, a Hawaii state power on Oahu’s North Shore. The Red Raiders won Hawaii’s Open Division State title Leonard’s junior and senior seasons, 2021 and 2022.
At Kahuku, they liked to say “And You” when listing the Ah You football alums.
The Ah You football destiny began when Junior’s father, a Chinese Samoan, moved his family from American Samoa to Hawaii in the 1960s. Junior, a 1968 Kahuku graduate, was recruited by Arizona State coach Frank Kush as the Sun Devils’ first Polynesian player.
Junior was an All-American defensive end his senior year, 1971, and three-time All-Western Athletic Conference pick. He earned defensive player-of-the-game honors in the 1970 Peach Bowl win over North Carolina and the 1971 Fiesta Bowl win over Florida State.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder went on to play pro football with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes. Montreal won the 1974 Grey Cup and Ah You was the Defensive MVP of the championship game. He played another three seasons in the U.S. Football League and was named to the all-time USFL team as a second-team choice.
Ah You has been enshrined in five Halls of Fame — Arizona State, the CFL, the Polynesian Football, Hawaii and the Hula Bowl.
Samoans and Polynesians now permeate all levels of American football, and the Ah You family has been part of breaking ground across the mainland. In addition to Junior at Arizona State, one of his nephews, C.J. Ah You, was the first Polynesian to play for Oklahoma, and a grandnephew, J.T. Mapu, was the first Polynesian to play for Tennessee.
“I was proud of my time at Arizona State,” Junior said, “and I’m proud of my nephews at Oklahoma at Tennessee. There are now huge numbers of Samoans and Polynesians in the world of football. Tongans are next large group of Polynesian players you’ll see. Tongans will be what Samoans were.”
When Leonard informed his grandfather one reason for choosing Michigan State was “to be a pioneer, to start something new,” Junior was happy for him. But he also knew he’d have to provide a history lesson.
PARADISE LOST
Leonard is not so much starting something new as renewing the Pineapple Express or Hawaiian Pipeline that Daugherty began when he recruited 10 players from Hawaii from 1954 through the early 1970s.
That younger Hawaii football players don’t know Michigan State’s history in paradise is a condemning statement about Daugherty’s successors and Michigan State administrations for failing to celebrate the school’s history. Daugherty’s diversity leadership includes college football’s first fully integrated rosters in the 1960s and the Underground Railroad that brought talent from the segregated South.
When Daugherty retired after Denny Stolz succeeded him in 1973, Stolz ended Michigan State’s recruiting Hawiian Pipeline through Daugherty’s old friend on the islands, Hawaii football legend Tommy Kaulukukui Sr.
Only Muddy Waters among successive Michigan State head coaches — until current head coach Jonathan Smith — returned to Hawaii. Waters, the head coach from 1980 to 1982, landed Carter Kamana out of Honolulu Kamehameha.
Daugherty’s most prominent Hawaiian recruit was Bob Apisa, the first Samoan college football All-American on the Spartans’ 1965 and 1966 national title teams. Daugherty’s success with recruits from Hawaii led to the state’s football fans adopting Michigan State as their team. This was in the years before the University of Hawaii was elevated to a Division I program, in 1974.
With the advent of space technogloy and satellites, the first live football game broadcast in Hawaii was the 1966 Game of the Century matching Notre Dame at Michigan State. Apisa was one of three Hawaii recruits on the Spartans’ 1966 roster along All-Big Ten kicker Dick Kenney of Honolulu Iolani and all-purpose player Charlie Wedemeyer of Honolulu Punahou.
“Michigan State was big time,” Junior Ah You said. “Those were great players Duffy recruited from Hawaii.”
PHOTO: Bob Apisa at his Michigan State Hall of Fame enshrinement.
Kale Ane, a Michigan State center from 1972 through 1974 who played six NFL seasons, said watching the Game of the Century was one of the reasons he chose Michigan State out of Honolulu Punahou.
But as Hawaii turned out increasing numbers of Division I prospects in the 1990s and into the 21st century, Michigan State abandoning Hawaii left the Spartans on the outside looking. There was quality and quantity prospects making their way across the mainland.
The list of lost opportunities is topped by Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o (Punahou), a 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist; Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariotta (St. Louis), the 2014 Heisman winner; and Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (St. Louis), a 2018 Heisman finalist.
Te’o was coached at Punahou by Ane, the school’s head coach for 21 years with two state titles and four state runner-up finishes.
PARADISE REGAINED
Leonard originally committed to Oregon State after graduating from Kahuku in 2023, but he delayed the start of his college career when he went on a two-year Mormon Mission out of high school.
In the meantime, Jonathan Smith left Oregon State after the dissolution of the Pac-12 for Michigan State in 2024. Leonard Ah You flipped his commitment to the Spartans for the 2025 class. Michigan State defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa, a Samoan from Oceanside, California, recruited Leonard as an Oregon State assistant and later for the Spartans. Prior to Suiaunoa joining Smith’s staff at Oregon State in 2018, Suiaunoa was an assistant coach at the University of Hawaii, 2016 and 2017.
The quick success of Smith and Suiaunoa recruiting Hawaii has underscored Michigan State’s abandonment of Hawaii 40-some years ago. Michigan State hasn’t featured a Polynesian coach until now, although they pepper college staffs throughout the country.
In Michigan State’s 2024 class, Smith and Suiunoa flipped offensive lineman Rustin Young (St. Louis) and defensive end Kekai Burnett (Punahou) from their Oregon State commitments. Both saw brief playing time last fall while retaining their redshirt season entering 2025.
PHOTO: Legi Suiaunoa at Michigan State’s football facility.
Michigan State’s incoming 2025 players include another player from Hawaii, linebacker Anelue Lafaele, a transfer portal addition from Wisconsin. Lafaele played at Farrington, Bob Apisa’s alma mater. Daugherty’s first Hawaii recruit was William Kaae in 1954 from Farrington.
Another Polynesian joining the program in 2025 is linebacker Aisea Moa, who arrived from Brigham Young through the transfer portal. Moa is from Utah, but his background adds to the comfort of Polynesians far from home on Michigan State’s campus.
Suiaunoa is active on the 2026 recruiting trail in Hawaii for future classes. He was recently on the Farrington campus after offered Koloi Keli, a 6-3, 290-pound offensive lineman ranked a three-star prospect in the 2026 class.
LEONARD THE LIONHEARTED
Junior Ah You is one of those community leaders with his hand in many civic events from Kahuku to Laie. He and his son Kingsley for many years operated a popular restaurant on the North Shore, Tita’s Grill.
Kale Ane calls Junior “The Mayor.”
Well, Leonard seemingly has a similar influence among his peers. Junior tells a leadership story about Leonard that has nothing to do with the football field.
“I called him one day and said, ‘Papa needs your help.’ I told him that I needed him to get a few friends to help put up a lot of tables and chairs. He asked me what time.
“I get out there the next morning he has an army of kids already out there waiting. People follow him. He’s that kind of person. He makes me so proud.”
Although Junior is accustomed to community members stopping him while about town to chat, when Leonard played at Kahuku, the conversations quickly shifted to his grandson’s play.
“He was the favorite player of so many fans,” Junior said. “He’s one of those guys that people gravitate to. Everyone wanted to talk about him. They’re going to love him at Michigan State.”
Junior said Leonard, unlike other family members, draws the fans’ attention as a demonstrative player.
“Off the field he’s a quiet kid who works hard,” Junior said. “But in the games, he’s a different kid. He can be a clown sometimes, and I ask him if he’s going to be serious about football. But he knows how to get into his opponent’s head. It’s funny. He gets a kick out of that. No one else in the family is like that.”
DUFFY’S DISCIPLE
Junior said Duffy Daugherty didn’t try to recruit him to Michigan State, but his journey to Arizona State to play for Frank Kush can’t be told without noting Kush was a Daugherty Disciple on diversity.
Kush was an All-American lineman for the Spartans when Daugherty and Dan Devine were assistants on head coach Biggie Munn’s staff, in 1952. Daugherty was named head coach in 1954, and he retained Devine on his staff. When Devine landed the Arizona State job in 1955, he brought Kush with him as an assistant coach. Kush succeeded Devine in 1958 when Devine left for Missouri.
As ASU head coaches both Devine and Kush followed Daugherty’s blueprint of ignoring the unwritten quota that existed in college football that limited Black players to a half-dozen or so on a roster. But Kush ventured into recruiting Hawaii only by chance.
PHOTO: Junior Ah You at a Hawaii civic event.
Bill Kajikawa was one of Kush’s ASU assistants, and Kajikawa learned about Junior through the father of a Detroit Lions player who was from Hawaii, Rocky Frietas (1968-77). Frietas’ father, who lived im Hawaii, and Kajikawa were old U.S. Army buddies.
“Frietas’ dad told Kaji that he needed to get out here and look at me,” Ah You said. “Frank Kush came out to Hawaii and grabbed me. It’s funny how it all happened.”
And that’s how steady stream of three generations began adding history to the annals of college football, including circling back to Daugherty’s famed Pineapple Express/Hawaiian Pipeline.
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Tom Shanahan is an award-winning sportswriter and frequent contributor to Spartanamag.com. His new book on Michigan State leading college football integration is, “THE RIGHT THING TO DO, The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s.” His first book was “RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans.”
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My books tell the true story of college football integration in the 1960s and address the myths and fiction that allowed a false narrative surrounding the 1970 USC-Alabama game to usurp the credit from the true pioneers. As I said when I spoke at the National Sports Media Association book festival, no two books provide an accurate portrayal more than RAYE OF LIGHT and THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
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THE RIGHT THING TO DO
The True Pioneers of College Football Integration in the 1960s
Foreword by Ruffin McNeill
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RAYE OF LIGHT
Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the 1ntegration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans
Foreword by Tony Dungy
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