How do you say goodbye to your first love?
Pupualii Sepulona hasn’t found the words yet. Basketball used to be everything for the two-time Star-Advertiser All-State Player of the Year. It’s so hard to say goodbye. It is, however, not too hard to say hello to the future. The two-sport standout returned from an official football scholarship visit to Utah on Sunday with memories of snowy weather and a potential means to help his family while getting a college degree.
“For me, it was so exciting. I enjoyed every second of it. It was my first time in Salt Lake City. Nice, icy mountains I’ve never seen before. One of our hosts took us all around Utah. I felt so comfortable,” Sepulona said a few hours after touching down in Honolulu.
He met a wide range of Utah’s staffers for academics, conditioning and nutrition, and several coaches, including head coach Kyle Whittingham.
“Everybody was so welcoming to me and my family. The surprising part was there are so many Polys. So many Samoans. They’re going to push me if I go there. I know I’ll thrive and succeed on and off the field there. I got to meet people from the engineering program,” he said.
Saint Louis football coach Tupu Alualu played three sports in high school.
“I think Pupu can play at a big college in both sports. I think he could play at UH, but making money (NIL or collective) would be playing football elsewhere,” Alualu said. “As a tight end, fullback, running back, depending on what scheme teams have with his talent, his work ethic will carry him along as far as he wants. He’s playing both ways for us.”
The road from the hard courts of Kalakaua District Park to the next level took a detour for Sepulona. Basketball instantly gripped the 7-year-old. Though he had already shown potential as a first baseman and was learning to pitch — the tallest and strongest southpaw in his grade level — the passion for baseball was nonexistent. Fun, but not love. Not sustainable.
“I did love baseball. Hitting the ball over the fence at Kalihi Valley Park,” he said. “One of these teams wanted me to play basketball because of my size and length. Running up and down the court, scoring baskets, locking down on other kids, it was so much fun.”
Basketball, basketball, basketball. His mother, Valasi Sepulona, had just bought baseball equipment from Sports Authority, one week before the store closed down.
“I think we gave away all my new stuff to my friends who played baseball. My mom wanted me to play baseball again in middle school, but I didn’t want to. Baseball was too boring,” he said.
At a half-inch above 6 feet, 2 inches tall, Sepulona’s prep career at Saint Louis is largely decorated. Three-time state champion. An astounding 27-point game against the nation’s top team, Montverde Academy, at the ‘Iolani Prep Classic two years ago as a sophomore.
“He’s had a lot of big moments,” Crusaders basketball coach Dan Hale said. “Getting off on Montverde, that was really something to see, Cooper Flagg (now a freshman at Duke and expected to be the No. 1 pick in the next NBA Draft) gets in foul trouble trying to guard him. Along with that, it was neat to see after the game Cooper giving him props. Just the look at this guy, who’s this guy? By the end the game, straight respect from the Montverde guys.”
Hale’s first significant memory of Sepulona on the court was a year earlier. Sepulona was a sixth man while Aiva Arquette and AJ Bianco powered Saint Louis to its first state title in decades.
“In the state championship game, a few seconds left in the first half. Mililani’s best scorer (Trey Lieb) had two fouls. I put Pupu in because he’s so good at taking charges,” Hale recalled. “They gave Lieb the ball and he puts his head down and goes. Pupu took the charge, giving him his third foul. That was the sacrifice he made for the team.”
Hale coached two future NFL players, Manti Te‘o and DeForest Buckner, during his previous coaching stint at Punahou. The similarities are there. Sepulona has the same inner drive and coachability.
“The No. 1 thing is Pupu’s work ethic. He’s such a hard worker and his work ethic applies to the weight room. You can see it on the basketball court and the football field. That’s just a testament to him,” Hale said.
For college basketball recruiters, a 6-2 power forward with range hasn’t been appealing enough. Sepulona’s burst and arsenal of offensive weapons — nobody has a more dangerous spin move in the islands — are a tough sell to hoops coaches who dream of rostering 6-6 shooting guards.
Two seasons of varsity football, however, have put Sepulona on the map. During basketball preseason as a junior, he talked about football as a future career for the first time. All the chats with his uncles — former Saint Louis and Utah standouts Chris Fuamatu-Ma‘afala and Roy Ma‘afala Sr. — began to rub off. Fuamatu-Ma‘afala played in the NFL from 1998 to 2004 but didn’t push football on his nephew.
“With kids, especially when they’re your blood, the one thing you want to do is encourage them to do what they want. With him, basketball is his first love, just like me, but I stopped growing.”
Sepulona was 225 pounds when Saint Louis won its third state title in a row last February. Now, with Saint Louis preparing for battle with Kahuku, with an Open Division football state championship on the line, Sepulona is all in. He is listed at 255 pounds, but his coaches say he is 265 and probably more while playing tight end, H-back and defensive end.
With two uncles and their Utah ties, the potential for NIL partnerships and more, Utah could be the frontrunner to sign Sepulona. The coaching staff certainly got their share of input from their fellow Utes.
“I’ve been in contact with the Utah guys. Once they found out he’s my sister’s boy, they took a look at his stature. He’s only been all-in for this season. Even last year, his junior year, he was doing pretty good even without knowing technique,” Fuamatu-Ma‘afala said. “Once the Utah guys found out he’s a basketball player, they came and watched him play. Ho, man, 6-3 with his agility. The kid is special.”
The amazing part of it is the explosion and speed are there more than ever. Sepulona and his mates on defense have wreaked havoc on some of the greatest offenses the state has seen. He has barely scratched the surface. That spin move hasn’t been regularly used as a pass catcher. Yet.
“He’s been training with our strength and conditioning coach, Drew (Kaufusi). I think Pupu is 260, 265,” Fuamatu-Ma‘afala said. “The crazy part is he’s not lifting heavy yet. When he gets to Utah, he’s going to get to 285, 290. “Pupu’s going to realize, ‘I don’t need all this weight, then come back to 280, 275. The Utah linemen, they don’t need the 1-technique (nose tackle) anymore. He’s going to be an active lineman.”
When he gets to Utah? Maybe Boise State, Hawaii and San Diego State have something to say about that. All three have offers to Sepulona.
Opponents on the hardwood will, without a doubt, try flopping when a bigger Sepulona attacks the paint. Saint Louis has a basketball game scheduled on Saturday at Kailua. Hale said the team will wait until Sepulona is ready.
This is how deep the family bloodline runs. When Fuamatu-Ma‘afala signed his rookie contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1998, he knew teammates and rookies on other teams were showing up at car dealerships buying pretty new vehicles. He wouldn’t do it. To this day, he borrows his daughter’s used Honda to get to Saint Louis practice, where he and Roy Ma‘afala Sr. are among a stacked crew of assistant coaches.
“What’s funny is some of the kids were asking about my car. ‘Coach, did we just see you in a Honda?’ Yeah. It’s easy. Good gas mileage. My first car in the NFL was a 1989 Nissan Altima. Dented. Right side missing a hubcap. $2,500. The guy at the dealership said he’d take care of me, tow for me if I ever got stuck in the snow,” he said. “I wasn’t buying a Navigator for $48,000.”
The money Fuamatu-Ma‘afala saved made an impact on his family. He feels the same way about his nephew’s plan for college in a new NIL and collective world.
“I would sign with the people who are going to help my mom and my dad. Whoever can help so my family doesn’t have to stress,” he said.
Sepulona would love to stay home and play in front of his family and community, but he is eager to make his parents’ lives better.
“It’s not just about the atmosphere and playing time, but also who’s going to give me the most money. This is a business,” he said. “The best fit matters because Utah gave me the exact number. Boise State and UH didn’t give me a number. Utah stood out.”
Valasi Sepulona was happy playing rugby. A mainland trip with her team, the Kalihi Raiders, was around the corner. At 28, she was free. She and Siona Tiapula had no children. Simply free. That never lasts, of course.
“I went to the doctor and he said, ‘Did you know you are five months pregnant?’ I was losing weight. I had a flat stomach. Then around eight months, everything came out. I was carrying everything on my back. I had to stop rugby. That was the first year I made the team,” she said.
The couple had gone back and forth about naming their child. They settled on Isaiah, which was the name suggested by a close family friend, Randy Morris. He remains close as a conditioning trainer to Pupu.
They agreed on giving their child Sepulona as a last name.
“How it came about is, me and Valasi, I never got to meet her mom and dad. It was her and her sister, no boys in the family, so we decided just to keep that name alive,” Tiapula said.
As they wheeled Valasi into the birthing room of the hospital, Siona stopped them for a moment.
“Pupualii is actually Valasi’s dad’s name. At the last minute when they pushed her in the room, I told her to switch the name. Just name him after her dad,” he said.
Isaiah Sepulona has a cool ring to it, but Pupualii runs deep. He didn’t know the story of his name until high school.
“I was like maybe a freshman or sophomore. It was pretty nice, just my dad naming me after my mom’s dad. … It’s royalty. It goes way back in Samoa, when we used to have kings and queens. When they gather together as royal people, the would call it a Pupualii. It’s a sacred name,” he said. “Nobody else can carry it but someone in the family. It’s like my mom’s name, Valasi. It’s a sacred name.”
With just a few more months until graduation, Pupu Sepulona has a 4.0 grade-point average and an affinity for engineering, working with his hands. He wants to major in civil engineering. He wants to learn how to weld. Whatever happens in college and beyond, there are life skills that he wants to master. He keeps it all inside most of the time, and converts any measure of doubt into fuel.
“I wasn’t a normal little kid. I was different. I remember my mom getting emotional. A lot of teachers didn’t have my back. Doubted me. Looked down on me. I wanted to make friends with the other kids, but I didn’t know my own strength at that time,” he said. “Go to the dean’s office every week in elementary.”
He’s a gentleman and a Crusader now.
“Looking back at those times, I wish I could go back and tell them I proved them all wrong. I’m successful and it’s all for the glory of God. Everything happens for a reason and a purpose. That was fuel for me growing up,” he said. “I am different. There are guys out there who have criticisms of me. I don’t worry about it. I take it as fuel to prove all of them wrong.”
Q&A
PUPUALII SEPULONA
Saint Louis • Senior • Basketball, Football, Volleyball
Top 3 movies/shows
1. “Rambo” film series
2. “Halloween” (1978)
3. “Transformers” (2007)
TOP 3 DRINKS
1. Vitamin Water
2. Powerade
3. Prime
TOP 3 FOODS
1. Steak
2, Oatmeal
3. Ahi poke
TOP 3 HOMEMADE FOOD
1. Spam
2. Corned beef
3. Cereal
TOP 3 MUSIC ARTISTS
1. BET
2. Yeat
3. Rod Wave
>> Favorite athlete: LeBron James, Tom Brady
>> Favorite team: Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Broncos
>> Funniest teammate
Basketball: Corey Bailey, Keanu Meacham
Football: RJ Reynold, Davis Brown
>> Smartest teammate: Stone Kanoa, Adruen Meredith
>> GPA: 4.0
>> Favorite teacher: Mrs. (Nicole) Shigeta, adviser; Mr. (John) Hasebe, math/college prep; Mr. (Lonny) Lee (P.E.).
>> Favorite class: Algebra III
>> Favorite scripture: Faith without words is dead (James 2:14).
>> Hidden talent: dancing
>> New life skill: cooking
>> Bucket list: skydiving
>> Time machine: Israel, when Jesus was alive.
>> Shoutouts: Mom and Dad, coach Randy Morris, my uncles, aunties and cousins, and all the coaches that were a part of my journey.
