Marcus Mariota named top Polynesian pro football player of the year

TENNESSEE TITANS Quarterback, Marcus Mariota has been selected as the 2016 recipient of the Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year. The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame announced the Samoan/American's selection last week.

"It is an incredible honor," Mariota said in an acceptance video posted on YouTube, "and I look forward to representing not only Hawaii but the entire Polynesian community with this award."

The Polynesian Pro Football Player of the Year Award recognizes the most outstanding professional football player of Polynesian Ancestry, an award sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines. Arizona Cardinals Offensive Guard Mike Iupati was selected as the inaugural recipient in 2015.

The 6-foot 4, 220-pound, Mariota was born in Honolulu. He is in his second NFL season out of the University of Oregon, where he became the first player of Polynesian ancestry to win the Heisman trophy. That same year, he was named the inaugural Polynesian College Football Player of the Year by the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame.

RELATED: Promises and disappointments for Polynesian football players

This year, Mariota helped lead the Tennessee Titans to a 9-7 regular season record. He completed 276-of-451 passes for 3,426 yards, 26 touchdowns, and a 95.6 passer rating, while also rushing for 349 yards and two touchdowns. Mariota earned AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors in Week 10 after passing for 295 yards and four touchdowns in a Tennessee Titans victory over the Green Bay Packers. He was also named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month in November and an alternate to the Pro Bowl.

“On behalf of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame Board of Directors, we congratulate Marcus on a fantastic season,” said Polynesian Football Hall of Fame Chairman Jesse Sapolu. “He is a tremendous role model and a source of great pride for Polynesians everywhere.”

The formal presentation of the Award will be held at the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame Celebration Dinner on Jan. 20, along with being recognized during the Inaugural Polynesian Bowl the next day in Oahu, Hawai`i.

The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame honors Polynesia’s greatest players, coaches and contributors. It also serves as a resource for Polynesian football history, provides academic scholarships and supports educational programs for Polynesian youth. Its permanent home is located at the Polynesian Cultural Center (O’ahu’s North Shore) and was established in 2013 by Sapolu and Ma’a Tanuvasa. Other board members include Troy Polamalu, Vai Sikahema, June Jones and Reno Mahe. 

In Football We Trust: a film about football and the Pacific Islanders' dreams and disappointment

The Boomfield brothers are featured in the film that took four years to complete.

FOR THE NEXT two weeks after the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos winning their respective divisions Sunday (Jan. 24), football fans start zeroing in the ultimate sporting event, the Superbowl.

No doubt, there will be more than a few Pacific Islanders playing in that event, one of the most watched games in the world. For many Polynesians, playing in the National Football League has become their ticket to the American Dream. Even though Polynesians (Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders) make up only a half percent of the U.S. population, more than 200 Polynesians have played professionally in the National Football League (and in the Canadian Football League) — 28 times more likely than any other ethnic group. 

A documentary, In Football We Trust, will explore this phenomenon which some refer to  as a calling or a gift from God; others credit genetics, socio-cultural influences, or the push and pull of global sports capitalism. 

The reality is, though, only a few of them make it into the pros. For those who don't make it into the pro ranks, many face economic hardship. The lure of gangs becomes an attractive option out of poverty and disappointment.

UPDATE: The percentage of Pacific Islanders living in the U.S. has been corrected to .5 percent.

"I am first generation Tongan; born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah," says director Tony Vainuku. "My parents are both of Tongan descent, and followed their parents to Utah in the early 1970s, where their families practiced Mormonism. I didn’t have much growing up, poor was the norm, and education was never viewed as a 'better way' out of our circumstances."

The documentary transports viewers deep inside the tightly-knit and complex Pacific Islander community in Salt Lake City, one of the chief sources of the modern influx of Pacific Islander football players to the NFL. Shot over a four-year period, the film follows four young men striving to overcome gang violence and near poverty through the promise of American football. The film follows the Bloomfield brothers, Fihi Kaufusi, and Harvey Langi, both of whom like many Polynesian NFL players, had to face poverty, gang violence, and racism.

"The kids in my neighborhood looked up to notorious gang members and popular drug dealers," says Vainuku. "However, the Polynesians who played little league football with me found their role models in Junior Seau and Vai Sikahema, pioneers for our culture in the NFL. They made the “American Dream” appear reachable. We all relied on our size and speed throughout little league, hoping to one day play in the NFL."

Featuring interviews with current and former Polynesian NFL stars Troy Polamalu, Haloti Ngata, Star Lotulelei, and Vai Sikahema, In Football We Trust reveals how making it to the NFL is like winning the lottery: the odds are discouraging but the payoff can be irresistible.

Vainuku made the documentary with  award-winning filmmaker Erika Cohn. "In the film, we see our subjects strive for the promise (or at least the perceived promise) of the NFL," says Cohn in an interview. 

"The American Dream phenomenon fascinates our society and unfortunately professional sport plays a large role in this. I think we need to put our idealism in check. I believe In Football We Trust will illuminate how our country’s infatuation with chasing the American Dream can often leave people entrenched in the very conditions they are striving to overcome."

"We come from a line of warriors. Football embodies what our culture is," says Vainuku.

In Football We Trust will air on PBS stations, Monday, Jan. 25. Check local listings for times.

For more news about Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, go to AsAm News.

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