Underneath the pure competitor, the All-State honors in football and basketball, Leonard Ah You has always been, at heart, an entertainer.
Kahuku’s sack machine and relentless rebounder brought a flair to the field and hardwood.
When he wasn’t leading his teammates in performing the haka, he sometimes wore black electrical tape on his arms, looking to some like a professional grappler who happened to be a high school kid on the gridiron.
From his constant reverberations to a YouTube channel, the Oregon State football signee has thrived in a life almost entirely on the biggest stages of prep sports in Hawaii.
Last Sunday, Ah You gave up that stage. Following a ceremony to officially become a missionary for his LDS church, he surrendered his phone.
No more YouTube channel, and aside from periodic emails with his family on a church-issued phone, it will be all Leonard, all the time, on his holy quest — just face to face.
“You’re not supposed to have social media at all. In Western Samoa, you have to pay for a SIM card and you only have a certain amount of time,” he said.
Ah You will be there, however, for the Hawaii Hall of Honor banquet.
“The guy called me when I was at my seminary graduation. I’m going to Western Samoa for my mission. My grandpa, the one I’m named after, went on that mission,” Ah You said.
The scholarship money will help significantly.
“That’s probably going toward my mission. It costs like $8,000 to serve,” he noted.
Two years without football, let alone four sports, may seem like quite the dry spell. There will be flashbacks, of course.
“The Saint Louis game, I blocked that punt and that was the happiest I was playing football in high school,” said Ah You, recalling the touchdown return by Liona Lefau off his block.
Kahuku ended Saint Louis’ state-title run in the fall of 2021, Ah You’s junior year.
“We finally beat them after all these years,” he said.
Kahuku repeated as state champions in ’22 with one of the greatest defensive units in state history.
Ah You has been an integral part of the renewal up north, a movement to stay home and play for Kahuku rather than join private-school powerhouses in the ILH, or mainland juggernauts. Skill alone didn’t build Kahuku’s back-to-back state championship run.
“He’s vocal. Leonard was one of our alpha dogs, the leader of our haka. Almost by default, everybody’s at his command while we do the haka,” Kahuku football coach Sterling Carvalho said. “On the field, ‘Coach, I’ll take care of it.’ When he says, ‘Bring it up,’ they bring it up.’ He pushes them.”
“Wasn’t afraid to put people in their place. ‘What’s wrong with you? Boys, let’s bring it up.’ ”
For Ah You, it’s simply family legacy.
“When I was little, I always wanted to be as good as my brothers, what it’s like to be my family, mom and them,” he said.
“My first memory of him is big boys football. He was always big and lanky. For him, the kind of community comedian he is, he was always funny, making people laugh, keeping things light,” Carvalho said.
Ah You did it in his own unique way.
“He has a natural knack for the ball. The guy is so unorthodox. Football, volleyball, he might not do things like how you draw it up on the board,” Carvalho said. “Or do a drill the way you do, but man, he just produces with his size, his height, everything that he has. He wows us at times. Basketball, I don’t know how he gets all those rebounds every single time.”
By senior year, he and teammate Brock Fonoimoana got permission to play two sports during spring season.’
“My goal was to be All-State in at least four sports. I only got two. They always had us play only one sport (per season), so I chose track. It was really busy. I don’t know how Brock did it. He did hurdles. It’s nuts. All I did was jump. I wish I could’ve played baseball, or golf.”
Carvalho never imagined any limits for Ah You’s goals, aside from restrictions due to the pandemic.
“Last year, they had to choose (one spring sport) because were were still kind of coming out of COVID. They had to choose because if you get it, you expose two teams,” Carvalho said. “If Leonard could play six sports, he would play six. He is game for anything. Seven, eight sports, he would. He thinks he is good in everything he does.”
Like some other elite athletes, Ah You regrets not digging into the nuts and bolts of his sports sooner.
“I would have taken it more serious, train harder than I did going into high school,” he said.
In two years, the mission to Western Samoa will conclude. Ah You was 6 feet, 3 inches and 201 pounds last fall. He expects to stay in that weight range.
“Oregon State wants me to play middle (linebacker), but it depends on what my weight is. I’m a very picky eater, so I think it won’t matter anyways. I don’t really like Samoan food.”
Ah You has never shied away from big moments. Risk is a feature that he embraces.
“I’m not ashamed of messing up,” he said. “But I have been too prideful at times. Sometimes when I know people are more experienced and I don’t care. I tell myself I’m going to beat them when I should show them how I play instead, and be humble.”
After all the accolades, Ah You has one simple hope.
“I want to be remembered,” he said. “For being the nicest football player on the field.”
—
Hall of Honor inductees
>> Milan Ah Yat of University Lab and Pac-Five
>> Elijah Dinkel of Kamehameha-Hawaii
>> Brock Fonoimoana of Kahuku
>> Taryn Irimata of Campbell
>> Liona Lefau of Kahuku
>> Solomone Malafu of Kapaa
>> Tatum Moku of Kamehameha
>> Keala Montgomery of Lanai
>> Raya Nakao of Punahou
>> Zola O’Donnell of Mililani
>> Marley Roe of Kamehameha
