NFL players show teens a way to avoid gang life

A crowd of Sharpie-wielding fans hounded Maake and Chris Kemoeatu as soon as they were spotted Friday evening.

That's life for a professional football player.

Sign autographs. Pose for pictures. Shake hands.

And "show them there's another way," Maake Kemoeatu adds to the list.

As role models go, the former University of Utah standouts are about as big as they get. Six-foot-five and 340 pounds apiece, the brothers know they have the ability to help lift up a community that has been hit hard by recent gang violence.

"Most of the time, Polynesian kids only listen to other Polynesians," said Maake Kemoeatu, who plays for the Carolina Panthers. "Whether it's a doctor, a lawyer, a football player, I want to show them there's another way to do this."

At the Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake Friday, the Kemoeatus, along with former BYU Cougar Naufahu Tahi, now of the Minnesota Vikings, chatted up kids and signed autographs as part of a fundraiser for Stand a Little Taller.

The program aims to keep at-risk youth — many of them Polynesian — out of gangs.

The main deterrent: football.

"It keeps them off the streets," said Stand a Little Taller's Jacqueline Anderson. "After they've been in a bad situation, we can get them back in school and show them they do have a future."

More than 30 players, ages 18 to 25, play for the group's Strippling Warriorz, part of the semi-professional Rocky Mountain Football League.

Many of the players have had problems with gangs or drugs and have spent time in jail. All of them are looking for a second chance.

"Your enemies back in the day are your friends out there," said halfback and team captain Soni Kinikini. "When it comes to football, we're brothers."

Weber State University football coach Ron McBride has been recruiting Polynesian players since the mid-1960s. Friday night, he emphasized the importance of getting an education.

"Your grandparents brought you to the United States for an education and a future," McBride told the crowd. "You owe them that future."

Football, the players said, has put them back on that track.

"A lot of these guys got in trouble or got kicked out of school," said tight end Steve Kinyon.

The Bountiful man did not play football his senior year of high school and joined the team hoping to have another shot at college ball.

A handful of former Warriorz have gone on to play football for junior colleges, officials said.

In any case, the game has brought them and their community hope.

Teens who once followed their elders' footsteps into trouble now have a new path to walk, Kinikini said.

"Everything is changing."

E-mail: afalk@desnews.com