David Niumatalolo made 84 tackles and seven sacks in his senior year of college football, ample opportunity to observe where the thigh bone can be separated from the hip bone.

But the collisional study of anatomy isn’t what drove the former Kahuku High and New Mexico State defensive lineman to a place in the incoming class at the University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine this week.

It was, instead, what he glimpsed during a two-year Church of Latter-Day Saints mission to Ghana.

"I knew I wanted some sort of a career in health, but seeing a lot of the suffering and misery people go through over there, I think it became concrete to me that I wanted to become a doctor and gain the competency and skills to help people," Niumatalolo said.

"I remember the first week I was there (in Accra), we were in a family’s home and saw their son throwing up," Niumatalolo said. "He looked like he was in terrible shape. They said, ‘Oh, don’t mind him he just has malaria,’ like it was a cold or something. I was 20 then and that really hit me."

The nephew of Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo redoubled his efforts to hit the books as hard as he did runnings backs and quarterbacks.

"That’s when I started to bear down and said, ‘If this is what I’m going to do, these are the steps I need to take,’ " Niumatalolo said.

There are reasons they don’t fit many former Division I football players for the traditional white coats at med school and, in fact, one longtime staff member said Niumatalolo is the first she can recall in the past six years. It isn’t because 6-foot-3 255-pounders require a special order, either.

There is, however, the matter of academic preparation and accomplishment, the kind that the demands of playing major college football can all but rule out. Which tells you something about the long-haul focus and perseverance of Niumatalolo, a biology major who achieved a 4.0 grade-point average over his career at New Mexico State while earning first-team Academic All-America honors in 2011.

Aggies teammates might forget No. 90’s biggest games but indelibly recall the guy who always seemed to have his head in some thick science textbook on team flights — no easy task when you’re sore, tired and downcast on the way home from a 63-16 thumping at Georgia.

Niumatalolo said it was a task made easier by the example set by Marc Shlachter, a longtime North Shore country doctor.

"There are certain aspects of family medicine — practicing in rural areas, for example — that appeal to me," Niumatalolo said. "(Practicing) in under-served areas is something that I would like to do. I always respected what he (Shlachter) did for the North Shore, helping so many people."

Trading shoulder pads for a white coat now comes without regret, Niumatalolo said.

"I feel more grateful than anything else for all the blessings, love and support from my family and friends for an opportunity to study medicine," he said. "Really, sports is a bit different in that although they were my passion and led to many great experiences and friendships, sports have always been secondary to my goal of serving others."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.