Chris Fleck

Photo courtesy Jack Cione

Business veteran Jack Cione lives by the mantra of “repotting,” as he has always been willing to make a professional change if a business venture is not as profitable as he wants.

Cione is comfortable entertaining the public, he knows his audience and is not afraid to stray from the uncommon, generating popularity regardless if his showcases are unheard of or taboo during their time.

“I started out as a musician and actor, but then I said to myself there is no chance for me in Hollywood, so I changed careers,” says Cione, who was featured in MidWeek April 22, 1987.

After running 14 dance studios in Phoenix in the 1940s, Cione and his newlywed wife Maydelle took a flight to Hawaii and found the Islands too enticing to leave.

After a profitable stint buying and selling real estate, Cione came to the conclusion that the real estate industry didn’t light his fire, so on a whim and almost accidentally he was thrust into the nightclub business, which he continues to do with flair, even today at the vibrant age of 85.

“After sitting in a nightclub that had more employees than customers in it, I spoke to the owner about getting rid of the show. He asked me if I would be interested in running a show. That is when I got the idea for an All Black Revue and Ice Revue,” says Cione, who at one time owned and operated 12 nightclubs in Honolulu during the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, including the infamous Forbidden City.

His clubs hosted dozens of celebrity appearances including Judy Garland, Pearl Bailey, Wayne Newton and Redd Fox.

Even with those headliners, what brought Cione and his clubs the most attention were his nude waitressing and revue acts, which were basically an untapped market at the time.

“All of the laws that were written for the liquor commission had to be written because of me. There were no restrictions before statehood. Nothing ever mentioned anything about nudity, so I challenged them all the time,” adds Cione, whose most profitable acts were the secretary lunches and bottomless waiters at the Dunes Club in the ’70s.

Although a bit more toned down now, Cione still has a knack for hosting and entertaining. As a resident of Arcadia Retirement Residence, he organizes trips for several residents to see live shows such as Lani Misalucha at Waikiki Beachcomber or Society of Seven at Outrigger Waikiki. This June, Arcadia will perform its annual Arcadia Follies show, produced and directed by Cione.

“When I moved in we put a little show together called Skool Daze, with residents dressed as little kids, but now it has evolved into a full revue. This year’s theme is ‘Come To The Cabaret, Old Chum.’”

Jack Cione

Chris Fleck

Nathalie Walker photo nwalker@midweek.com

Dr. Thomas S. Kosasa has a resume unlike many others. His has to include summaries explaining his experience as a doctor and professor, sandwiched between details of his enthusiasm and participation as a pilot and race car driver. On many occasions, he has been pegged as a modern day Renaissance man, but he has one main focus, and that is simply to help people.

“The one thing that is most close to my heart is just helping people have babies,” says Kosasa, who has worked for most of his career as a reproductive endocrinologist helping to give birth to close to 4,000 babies who otherwise may not have been born.

An independent physician, Kosasa works closely with Pacific In Vitro Fertilization Institute, assisting mothers from a wide age range who, bothered by difficulties of conceiving a child through traditional means, still have the desire to give birth.

“In the beginning we had about a 20 percent pregnancy rate, which was high for that time. Now, with the technology and knowledge we have, we can pretty much say that every woman can have a baby as long as she hasn’t had a hysterectomy and has a uterus,” says Kosasa, who was featured on MidWeek‘s cover Feb. 5, 2005 and is pictured above (left) with Jacquelyn Low, Hawaii’s first “test tube baby,” and PIVFI co-director Carl Morton.

“Recent technology is increasing to help women get pregnant with their own eggs even though they may be older,” he explains. “If not, we can use donor eggs and the husband’s sperm, so it is his genes.”

With all of his accomplishments in the medical field, Kosasa has been highly recognized throughout our community. In 2009, he was named honorary professor emeritus with the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and is a division head at the John A. Burns School of Medicine.

“I am still teaching at the UH OB/GYN department literally every day. That is really important to me because we are teaching the physicians of the future. I feel I should carry on everything that was taught to me. That is tradition that I am excited about,” says Kosasa, who, after piloting airplanes on the weekends for more than 40 years, recently retired.

“I’d had enough. I clocked 5,000 hours of flying, so now I can devote most of my time to teaching,” he says.

Kosasa and wife Mi will be honored April 20 at the 14th annual Monsignor Charles Kekumano Benefit dinner for the services they have provided to Maryknoll School, helping to build their state-of-the-art community center and gymnasium.

“We wanted to make it the very best. It is a fantastic facility, if you drive by at night it looks like a museum,” says Kosasa, who still finds time on the weekends to tinker with his small collection of sports cars.

Dr. Thomas Kosasa

Chris Fleck

Nearly 15 years after departing Hawaii for personal and global ventures, Kona Carmack has returned to the place she calls home. She couldn’t be happier.

“I have been back for two years now, I love it. I’ve been surfing, which I don’t get to do as much I’d like because I don’t have a lot of time off. After being away for so long, it is just so nice to be back,” says Carmack, who is pictured above with her pug Malia.

Carmack jumped into the limelight in 1996, posing as a centerfold for Playboy magazine. From Hugh Hefner’s notorious mansion Carmack took to traveling, exploring Europe and living in Tokyo for some time. After returning to the U.S., she earned her degree in cinematography from USC and put it to constructive use almost immediately, obtaining a production assistant position on the HBO series Deadwood. From Deadwood, Carmack began to get more comfortable in Los Angeles, transitioning to a position on the popular Monk series, starring Tony Shalhoub as the obsessive-compulsive detective, on USA Network.

“I pretty much had all-access to every aspect of those shows because I worked for the executive producers. On set I was involved with costumes, props, hair and make-up, and a lot of it became casting work with some of the heads of the studio,” says Carmack – who was featured in MidWeek‘s cover Jan. 17, 1996.

After Monk’s conclusion in 2009, Carmack decided to head home where she got involved in the one-season series Off The Map, which depicted Hawaii as the stand-in for the location of a remote South American medical center.

“I was asked to jump on board in casting after they were in a tough spot. I was asked to fill in and help cast the show, which I had never really done on my own before,” adds Carmack, who since Off The Map‘s ending has been working in casting for Hawaii Five-0, specifically assisting in the selection of background and extra performers. “Anyone can sign up to be an extra, we look for so many different types of people all the time.”

Aside from her work, for the past seven years Carmack has been studying the Japanese stress-reduction and healing practice of reiki.

“I started in L.A. and worked up to the master level. When I came to Hawaii I began working with another reiki master. He ended up becoming my teacher here, so now I have two masters from them,” says Carmack – who in 2010 took a reiki service trip to select sacred valleys in Peru, close to Machu Picchu.

“I feel drawn to reiki, I have some clients, and probably it will be something that will evolve naturally in years to come.”

Kona Carmack

Chris Fleck

Photo courtesy Verena Mei

From drag to drifting to rally car racing, it is safe to say that after a decade, Verena Mei is not just dabbling in the car race scene. Racing, which she began as a way to enjoy taking a risk, has transitioned into a fully engaged profession for Mei, who currently is living in New Hampshire while she trains at Team O’Neill Rally School and Control Center.

“Throughout the past 10 years, my career has included everything in the automotive industry,” says Mei, who got her start as a model for Toyo Tire company.

“Racing has become a huge part of my career, but outside of that I have hosted many shows, worked for plenty of automotive manufacturers and been involved with product launches working on the consumer level.”

After getting a feel for racing in the drag race scene, Mei got involved with drifting, which is a controlled slide type of racing on an asphalt course, which led to her role in motion pictures such as Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift and Rush Hour 2.

Currently, Mei is motivated by the thrill of rally car racing and devotes herself tenfold to that field.

“I still love drifting, but wanted to get into something where I could really start engaging my progress, which isn’t based on someone else’s judgment (drifting is a judged sport, not timed). Road racing was OK, but I didn’t get that rush that I get in rally. I love it, bombing through the woods or whipping around dirt tracks,” says Mei, who was featured on MidWeek‘s cover April 18, 2008.

Mei is one of only a handful of women competing in the Rally America series, which has competitions throughout the U.S. including Oregon, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Michigan. A rally race consists of a series of stages that are run on closed courses. In between stages, racers will transit to the next on open public roads, obeying the speed limits, of course. Each driver has a co-driver, who, with a stage map, instructs the driver about what lies ahead.

“I am still a rookie in rally racing, and just concluded my third rally ever. We race on all types of different terrain. The hardest part is concentration, visualizing and anticipating what is coming up so you can plan and set up your next move. It takes a huge amount of trust between you and your partner,” says Mei, who partnered with Leanne Junnila to make up the only all-female rally race team in the Rally America circuit.

Mei also is one of six female drivers involved in the Women Empowered Initiative a TrueCar Racing sponsorship, which funds and supports these women who race in an industry that has predominately been run and competed in by men.

“Women Empowered has changed my life, and now I am able to give 100 percent,” she says. “It is empowering to see my other teammates do the same. We stick together and push each other.”

Verena Mei

Chris Fleck

Photo courtesy Yasmin Dar

One of the toughest growing pains a young adult can endure is handling the internal tussle of truly figuring out what path you’d like to walk on a professional level. Even heightened intellect, beauty and motivation can’t help alleviate that personal paradox.

Take Yasmin Dar, for example. She was raised to be that next brilliant doctor. She put years into her studies, but at that almost-certain point of commitment she realized it just wasn’t for her.

“Just before the MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) I got this panic attack, and I knew right there it wasn’t the career for me. It was heartbreaking. I worked very hard and knew it would crush my parents, but said to myself, ‘I’m going to prove to them I can still be very successful,’” says Dar, who has been a member of the KITV4 This Morning team as traffic anchor since 2009. “When I was younger I used to idolize woman anchors on television and secretly desired to be like that.”

After her decision to default on the MCAT examination, Dar took a couple years to soul search. She then began to utilize her strengths in the communications field, as she had been a member of the speech and debate team at Aiea High School, and also gained modeling and acting experience in college, as well as co-hosting with Jordan Segundo, Destination Groove Dance Hawaii in 2007. While obtaining her master’s degree in communications at UH-Manoa, Dar was hired by KITV4.

“After interning at a television station, I knew this is where I needed to be. I loved it. It didn’t feel like work,” says Dar, who was featured on MidWeek‘s cover Sept. 21, 2007.

Expanding her role as traffic anchor, Dar also has helped create her own segment, which highlights the growth of social media as it balloons into a foundation for news reporting and marketing functionality. Social Wire, hosted by Dar, focuses on new emerging technologies and their practical use in our daily lives. Social Wire also features trending technological topics, an app of the week, and entertains live interviews with students and start-up company representatives promoting unique and original projects and initiatives.

“The whole social media movement has helped us (news media) get our second wind back and take that spotlight where people really need us. It’s there to service the people in everyday life, and certainly my job,” says Dar, who encourages commuters to check her early-morning traffic tweets on twitter: @YasminDar.

With the help of entertainment manager Nancy Bernal, Dar has landed appearances on LOST, Off The Map and Hawaii Five-0. “Acting is definitely still an interest of mine. I continuously go out to audition. We’re really lucky to have these Hollywood productions in Hawaii, allowing local talent to exercise what they’ve learned all these years,” adds Dar, who has plans to marry Sal Fasi, son of the late Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi, in December.

If you can’t catch Dar on the KITV4 morning show, you can keep up with her on virtually every social media platform including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with which she proudly professes she is obsessed.

Yasmin Dar

Chris Fleck

Photo courtesy Raiatea Helm

Raiatea Helm plays a dynamic role in the current state of music in Hawaii. She bridges the gap between modern musical development and the traditional Hawaiian style, the latter she wishes to preserve, knowing its sound and legacy can be celebrated through new variations.

With a childhood surrounded by traditional Hawaiian music, her heart gravitates to the voices of Myrtle K. Hilo, Leina’ala Haili and many other musicians of the ’50s and ’60s. Helm’s 2011 album Sea Of Love was intended to have elements of rich, full grandiosity, sounds which relived the art of playing with an accompanying band.

“Sea Of Love is an album I’ve always wanted to do using a bigger sound, most of the recordings consist of an eight-piece band, which we recorded at Mamiya Theatre,” says Helm, who was featured on MidWeek‘s cover June 10, 2005.

“Also my love for traditional Hawaiian music goes back to that period when they used to play in Waikiki. Leina’ala Haili is a huge influence of mine; my father introduced me to her when I was young. A lot of the songs are done in the generation style of the late ’50s.”

A two-time Grammy-nominated artist, Helm just finished performing with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra in its recent Pops series.

“It was a great success. It is really neat to play for them and it is a great venue. For some reason it makes Hawaiian music so classy,” says Helm, who is currently wrapping up a tour in Tacoma, Wash., with Keola Beamer. “I know a lot of folks, especially on the West Coast, have a great appreciation for Hawaiian music, and they always come out and are very supportive.”

Through her musical prowess and dedication to Hawaiian culture, Helm also has received a $20,000 Fellowship In Music grant from Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, which focuses on and is dedicated to revitalizing indigenous cultures including Native Americans, Eskimos and Native Hawaiians.

She also still performs in many benefit concerts for charities including Maui United Way, and Aloha Medical Mission, which offers free health care to underserved communities in many South Pacific and Asian regions.

“I’m trying to create my own path of giving back,” adds Helm, who has been nominated for 2012 Na Hoku Hanohono awards Female Vocalist of the Year and Island Music Album of the Year. On May 28, the day after the Na Hoku Hanohano awards ceremonies, Helm will perform at the 14th annual Lantern Floating at Magic Island starting at 6 p.m.

Raiatea Helm

Chris Fleck

Photo courtesy Perry & Price

The term “posse” was associated with the lawmen who chased the gangs of the Old West, those bands of scoundrels who rode with Billy the Kid, Jesse James or Wild Bill Hickok. Flash forward to 1987, when two local KSSK radio deejays – Michael W. Perry and Larry Price – were able to put a local spin on the posse label, using radio airwaves as a platform to band our community together against crooks and criminals.

“What happened in the mid-’80s is the cell phone caught on and sort of reached a critical mass. We had a large audience, highest penetration of cell phones in the country, so by 1987 or so that was the critical mass that allowed the posse to exist,” says Perry about the formation of the KSSK Posse, which is comprised of listeners calling into the show as they view suspicious or criminal activity, such as car theft happening in their area.

“It is the eyes and ears of HPD,” adds Perry, “and that is always what it was about.”

Perry and Price are two personalities who differ in many ways, yet they’ve remained together for nearly 30 years and continue to host the top morning drive show in the state. In recognition of their commitment to the community and for helping to pioneer the posse, which enjoys weekly success in helping the Honolulu Police Department track down criminals, they are being honored May 18 by the Honolulu Police Community Foundation at its fifth annual gala at the Sheraton Waikiki Ballroom.

“Mike Perry and Larry Price have served this community in so many ways, it’s impossible to quantify their value to our islands,” says HPCF board president Lee Donohue. “Their posse has helped track down stolen automobiles, solve crimes, and bring a sense of safety and solidarity to our state. They demonstrate what service to the community looks like in all walks of their lives, and we couldn’t be prouder to have them as our 2012 honorees.”

They’ve heard it all – stories about stolen pets to West Point Academy graduation rings being returned, but one of the most unusual or, as Perry says, “stupidest” crimes they remember helping to unravel is when their own KSSK radio van was stolen from the studio parking lot just before their morning program began.

“The first thing we did was run upstairs to tell our audience. They started calling back and we tracked it. It was one of the stupidest things to do. Our faces are all over that van. They found it on Likelike Highway still running with the door open and the radio blaring our station,” says Perry, who adds that the original members from the first posse bust will be on hand at the gala.

“People just love getting involved. They love busting bad guys almost as much as HPD does.”

For ticket or sponsorship information, call 942-3873 or visit honolulupolicecommunityfoundation.org.

Perry & Price

Chris Fleck

Chris Fleck photo cfleck@midweek.com

Throughout the past quarter century, the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center has cemented its importance in our community and state. The center has expanded from a 5,000-square-foot donated facility in Dole Cannery to its present 38,000-plus-square-foot, brightly and creatively painted location at Kakaako Park. Still, Loretta Yajima, president of the board of directors, knows the center has just scratched the surface of its growing potential, but takes time to be appreciative of the value it has for both children and families.

“When we first opened we were in our storefront facility because we needed to demonstrate the need in the community, and at the time most people in Hawaii didn’t know what a children’s museum was,” says Yajima, who was featured on MidWeek‘s cover Jan. 7, 2009.

“It was an instant success. We had long lines of children outside our doors and a waiting list. When Gov. Waihee said we were going to be a part of the 30-acre development at Kakaako, I said I couldn’t ask for a better location.”

Children as young as toddlers along with their parents and families have a place to learn and build memories in a positive environment.

“It’s important for adults and parents to get involved in children’s learning, and that’s exactly what we believe in. Here, there is family learning, so the children have the best possible opportunity to learn things about themselves and the world around them,” adds Yajima.

There are now five learning exhibits at the center, including Tot Spot, Fantastic You, Your Town, Hawaiian Rainbows and Your Rainbow World exhibits. Each of the exhibits uses interactive features to engage children, incorporating all our human senses as part of the learning process.

“We have some really important key concepts. We have a gallery about your body, cultural galleries. Hawaiian Rainbow exhibit is where children can learn about their Hawaii ancestors. Those are really important things for our children to learn, to appreciate the generations who came before them and sacrificed to make life better for them,” says Yajima, who also is on the board of directors of the Association of Children’s Museums.

Adding to its learning depth and projected to open this summer is the center’s Rain Forest Adventure exhibit, which focuses on teaching children the components of a natural ecosystem, and the importance of conserving and preserving our natural world.

“The rainforest exhibit is really exciting for us,” Yajima says. “We want to nurture a generation of stewards of the environment. We want to start at a very early age teaching the importance of the rain forest, how to protect and to preserve. We want children to understand the life cycle and how it is all interdependent for the survival of the rain forests.”

For more information about Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center, visit discoverycenterhawaii.org or call 524-5437.

Loretta Yajima

Chris Fleck

Photo courtesy Howard Dashefsky

After decades of tightening stories and compressing sound and audio bytes to fit the few-minute segments he had time to air at his previous anchor position at KHNL, Howard Dashefsky is now embracing his ability to take the time to capture an overall essence of each story he now helps to produce and create. After nearly 10 years at KHNL, Dashefsky was let go when the KHNL, KGMB9 stations merged in 2009. Since, he has kept quite busy in expanded opportunities with both OC-16 and OC-Sports, which broadcasts UH-Manoa sporting events.

Teaming up with veteran award-winning photojournalist Sila Luaifoa, he hosts, writes and co-produces Hawaii Sports People, which airs Wednesdays at 7 p.m. on OC-16.

“We’re just two guys with a hand-held camera – it’s kind of funny because we shoot a lot of the video with a GoPro and track our audio in the car. It is just bare bones. We have 50 combined years of experience, and we do great stories and have the privilege to share with the public,” says Dashefsky, who was featured on MidWeek‘s cover Sept. 30, 1987.

Dashefsky and Luaifoa have found so much of a groove working together over the past two years that their work has been nominated for seven regional Emmy awards, including two stories that are competing against each other for “Best Sports Feature” at this year’s award ceremonies held in San Francisco.

“When people watch the Olympics, some watch for the competition and others watch for the background stories. This show is not really a sports show. It is great stories about great people with a sports theme,” adds Dashefsky, who also does play-by-play coverage for many high school sports events on OC-16, as well as pre- and post-game coverage of UH sports, including football, basketball and Wahine volleyball.

“The stories are not about X’s and O’s,” he says. “We are about people overcoming adversities who are inspirations.”

Two extremely influential stories are Heart of a Champion, which features Kapolei High School football player Papu Uti’s transition from the football field. The other, Running For Cover, highlights Campbell High School cross-country star Keahi Inay and the escape running provides for him as he wakes up each morning with autism.

Both stories can be found at youtube.com/watch?v=MdBB4d4oCg0 and youtube.com/watch?v=aNu1kJ4nEto.

Dashefsky also is thrilled with the work his consultation company DNA Communications is doing to help promote and support the newest professional golf tournament to head to Hawaii, The Pacific Links Hawaii Championship, slated for Sept. 10-16 at Kapolei Golf Course, now owned and operated by Pacific Links Hawaii.

“It’s kind of perfect because all of the Hawaii sports are winding down,” he says. “My focus is hammering this down and getting it going. We had a press conference with Greg Norman and are going to have a great field.”

He also notes this is a “double-Dashefsky” issue of MidWeek, as his daughter Kylee is one of the swimsuit models in our cover story spread.

Howard Dashefsky

Chris Fleck

Yu Shing Ting photo yting@midweek.com

Many words can be used to describe fashion firecracker Kimora Lee Simmons. She’s eccentric, bold, stunning, beautiful …and after 20 years in the beauty and fashion industry, she’s exceptionally knowledgeable.

Raised in the American heartland of St. Louis, Mo., Simmons early maturity and sound ethics helped propel her career early on as she got her start in her mid- to late teen years. After her initial discovery in modeling school, Simmons, at 14, moved to Paris to work and learn under world-renowned Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld.

She abstained from many of the pitfalls to which many aspiring models succumb. She kept to her studies, listened to her mentors and began to find her own identity. Yes, she may have started on runways throughout the world with the likes of Tyra Banks, but there’s more to her and her career than that.

While married to hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons she extended her projects to fashion design as creative director and president of Baby Phat, an offshoot of Russell’s Phat Farm clothing line. Kimora also has expanded into jewelry and fragrance sales, as well as reality TV, continuing since 2007 to star with her daughters Ming, Aoki and son Kenzou in the Style Network show, Kimora: Life In The Fab Lane.

“With my life, I say that fashion and beauty go hand-in-hand. I think that everything I do whether it is fashion, design or creating a product, fragrance or even a TV show is an offering to people, and hopefully it will help enhance their lives,” says Simmons, who at 6 feet tall walks with a presence of grace and gleaming confidence.

In 2011, she created KLS Design Group, a creative and progressive outlet for her and her team to hone and collaborate their continuing fashion and beauty ideas. Visiting Honolulu recently at Nordstrom’s annual Cosmetic Trend Show, Simmons introduced her new performance skincare line, Shinto Clinical, designed to enhance and invigorate the complexion regardless of skin tone or age.

“Shinto Clinical is clinically proven to increase hydration by 400 percent. This is all about anti-aging, which is caused by dehydration and inflammation,” says Simmons, who was featured on MidWeek’s cover Aug. 4, 2010. “It is East meets West – the East being the botanicals that come from our diets and the ocean like wakame kelp. The West is the science, it is the delivery, the efficacy of these ingredients, how effective they are, how they are delivered, how your skin, body and face absorb it and use it to fight wrinkles and keep you toned. That makes it superior.”

It looks promising that the firefly mother, businesswoman and mogul will continue to help the public look and feel good about themselves, something she takes great pride in.

“Anytime someone says something I put out, whether it’s a product or book or TV show, has made it a little better than they knew before, then it makes me feel good.”

Kimora Lee Simmons

Chris Fleck

Lance Tominaga photo

They grow up so fast. Can you believe Manti Te’o, the highly touted and dominant linebacker who graduated in blue and gold from Punahou in 2009, will enter his senior year at Notre Dame this fall? Te’o, who, in the opinion of many college and NFL analysts, would have been a first-round draft pick in this past April’s NFL draft, opted to return to Notre Dame to earn his degree, work on his leadership abilities and hone in on perfecting his trade as one of the nation’s most ferocious linebackers.

Te’o, a 6-foot-2-inch, 255-pound defensive specialist, is excited to wrap up his degree in graphic design, as he has had aspirations of becoming an architectural engineer.

“I always wanted to be an architectural engineer, but the engineering program is a six-year program, so I wouldn’t have finished on time with football. The next closest was to be a design major. I am a graphic design major, but also taking industrial design classes,” says Te’o, who was on MidWeek‘s cover March 18, 2009. “I love having the ability to design and create – to have an idea and to be able to create it into a three-dimensional object.”

Even with his tough demeanor and tenacious ability to get after opposing ball carriers, Te’o had his difficulties – as thousands of young college students do – in finding a comfort zone while acclimating to campus life at Notre Dame.

“It was hard coming from a place where you know everybody and you’re in a comfort zone. Then you go to a place that’s a whole new environment. For an 18-year-old, that can be a little overwhelming at times,” says Te’o, who couldn’t be more thankful in having his best friend Robby Toma with him throughout this maturation process.

“I don’t think I’d be able to transition as I did without him. He didn’t notice it, but just him being there made it not as difficult as it could’ve been. He helped me realize there are a lot of people who depend on me,” he adds.

Going on four years later, it appears Te’o has transitioned extremely well, especially on the football field. An All-American linebacker, he has a sound grasp on infusing both his natural athletic ability with leadership qualities. As coaches, analysts and the public have expectations for Te’o this year, he too has expectations for himself.

“I want to be a leader, make sure everyone is on the same page and playing beyond the interest of themselves. If we have 11 guys playing for each other, there shouldn’t be a team that can beat us,” says Te’o, who follows the leadership examples of some pretty reputable NFL greats.

“I definitely grew up watching Ray Lewis, I really like the way he plays; Sean Taylor and the way he attacked the ball. Troy Polamalu and Jerry Rice’s work ethic I look up to. I’ve always respected Junior Seau and how he always portrayed the Samoan culture. All these guys, I try to carry what they’ve already done and incorporate that in my game.”

Manti Te’o

Chris Fleck

Roy And Kathy Sakuma

Chris Fleck

Wally Amos

Chris Fleck

Jan Brenner

Chris Fleck

Ron Jacobs

Chris Fleck

Jack Aaron

Chris Fleck

Chuck Furuya

Chris Fleck

Jonathan Hee

Chris Fleck

Kristin ‘K.C.’ Carlberg

Chris Fleck

Gabe Baltazar