For Hawaiian-born ASU members, matchup with Rainbow Warriors means more

Arizona State’s upcoming game against Hawaii is important for a number of reasons. The team is coming off one of the worst losses in the Kenny Dillingham era, a 55-19 drubbing courtesy of Baylor. But for the ASU players and coaches born and raised in the Aloha State, this game means a little more than just the scoreboard.

Running backs coach Shaun Aguano was a year old when the Hawaii football program first started in 1971. Aguano, who was born in Kauaʻi and attended Kapaa High School, grew up going to games in Honolulu.

“At that time, Hawaii against BYU was the biggest rivalry,” Aguano said. “They used to fill Aloha Stadium with 60,000 people. It used to rock. There are a lot of Polynesians that play at BYU as well, so I think that was the biggest clash. The stadium used to be rocking and swinging and everything else like that. Those are great memories.”

Football is embedded in the Polynesian culture. 

The Polynesian Hall of Fame estimates there are around 80 players of Polynesian descent currently in the NFL, despite making up only 0.5% of the United States population.

“It’s a huge cultural point,” Aguano said. “Especially a lot of those Polynesian kids moving and going to play at the next level and having success at the NFL level. It's a byproduct of the football there and the love of football. Born and raised there, played football there. There's a huge importance there. 

“In the fall in Hawaii, it's all football at the youth level. I think there's a multitude of sports in the mainland that anybody can play, but we know from July till December, it is football season. Year in and year out, that's the importance of it. When you're small, at 5 years old, you play flag football, and then when you get your pads on, you're playing (tackle) football. Everybody plays football.”

Aguano, with most of his family leaving the island for the mainland to attend college, ended up going to Linfield College in Oregon, where he was a running back and a four-year letter winner. 

He then returned to Kauaʻi and coached high school level until moving away in 1999. Despite being away for more than 25 years, the ASU-Hawaii game still carries significant meaning for him. Aguano is close friends with Hawaii coach Timmy Chang.

“It's surreal,” Aguano said. “I know a lot of those guys on the staff. From being from the state of Hawaii, there's pride there, but it's going to be a game. Shoot, now I've lived in Arizona more than I've lived in Hawai'i, but all my family is still back home. So yeah, it is very important on a bunch of levels. I'm excited to play them.”

Aguano’s mother will be flying in for the game, and the rest of his family will be there as well. Back in Hawaii, Aguano said that “all the guys will be watching.”

Chang isn’t the only Hawaii staff member Aguano personally knows. Aguano is also close with running backs coach Anthony Arceneaux, passing game and wide receivers coach Jared Ursua and associate head coach and linebackers coach Chris Brown.

“When they're not playing against us, I'm rooting for them," Aguano said. "And Timmy knows, cause I texted and called him after games when they had big wins. But now it's against us. That's a whole different ball game.”

There will be no texts or calls this time around. 

“I might give him a hug after the game, but that’s it,” said Aguano.

Fifth-year defensive lineman Blazen Lono-Wong was nearly a Rainbow Warrior himself. Coming out of Kailua High School, Lono-Wong only had two offers: Hawaii and Boise State.

Until Aguano got in the mix.

“It was late notice,” Lono-Wong said. “Within like a week, my high school coach reached out to coach Aguano, and he was like, ‘Hey, we got this kid, check it out.’ A couple days later, I got a text from Aguano. He flew out here, he met my family, came to my house.

“It just felt more homey. I honestly wanted to get off the island, and this was like — especially when I visited this place — this was the place that I really wanted to stay, and I could see myself living, even after football.”

Hailing from Waimanalo, Hawaii, Lono-Wong is eager to play against the hometown team. 

Lono-Wong will have a considerable travel party flying into Tempe for support, with 15 to 20 people expected. And that’s on the low end, as Lono-Wong said the rising price of airfare prevented more people from coming.

“It'll be cool because especially I have a lot of family that is on the Hawaii team,” Lono-Wong said. “So it's like a thing where if I see them, I can talk a little crap to them. But yes, it will be a great experience, especially to tell my kids later on.”

Outside of needing a win after last weekend’s big loss to get back on track for ASU, this game is valuable for the Sun Devils and their recruiting efforts. 

While Arizona State is trying to establish a presence in Texas with its “Texas2Tempe” slogan, which even has its own logo, Hawaii is also an area of focus for the player personnel department. ASU wants to create what it calls a “Poly Pipeline.”

“It's gonna make the movement a lot better,” Lono-Wong said. “We have a lot of Polys on our team. I feel like everybody's pumped to play these guys because there's also a lot more Polys on that team. Seeing a lot of Polys just going at it, playing football, is a good thing to see.”

A convincing win for ASU could go a long way for a team that wants to target the state for recruitment.

“It’s the trust level of us being able to take advantage of winning that game and getting those kids off the island to school,” Aguano said. “And I get it, Timmy is a good friend of mine, and he wants to keep all of his guys there. Everybody understands that situation, but I think it's big for us for recruiting wars too.”

Logan Stanley is a sports reporter with The Arizona Republic who primarily focuses on high school, college and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human-interest stories and other news, reach out to Stanley at logan.stanley@usatodayco.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @RLSscribe.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: For Hawaiian-born ASU members, matchup with Rainbow Warriors means more