Traditions Winter Issue 04-05.indd - Junipero Serra High School

ALUMNI NEWS
SERRA ALUM KEALA KEANAAINA (‘93)
FLOURISHING IN THE AFL
24
When the Philadelphia
Eagles released Keala
Keanaaina in 2001, the 1993
Serra High graduate didn’t
know where to turn for work.
When someone mentioned
to him the Arena Football
League, Keanaaina was
dumfounded.
“I had never heard of
it,” he said. “I was like ‘the
what’”
Keanaaina wasn’t the
only athlete in the states
with NFL aspirations who
had never heard of the AFL.
But that’s no longer the
case. Now in its 18th year,
the thriving AFL, buoyed by
record-breaking attendance
figures and a TV contract
with NBC, has proven to be
a solid platform for talented
football players who want
to make a living without
having to travel to Canada or
Europe.
The Hawaiian-born
Keanaaina, 28, is one of those
flourishing in the 50-yard
Indoor War. Keanaaina is in
his third-year with one of the
AFL’s model organizations,
the San Jose Sabercats.
Keanaaina doubles as a
fullback and linebacker. He
led the league in rushing last
year with 250 yards at 5.1
yards per carry, the former
the 12th highest total in AFL
history. He also recorded 25
tackles. Keanaaina attributes
much of his success to hard
work and a fearless attitude.
“I’m looking for
contact,” he said. “Some
guys shy away from hitting
and don’t like to get hit and
therefore not willing to do
what’s necessary to be at their
best. But to me, hitting is
the most exciting part of the
game.”
A ferocious hitter
and blocker, as well as a
tremendous short-yardage
runner, Keanaaina first started
playing football at age 9.
He played the game with
his friends on dirt fields,
grass fields, fields with rocks
everywhere, playing wherever
there was real estate.
But the biggest
challenge sometimes was
getting a hold of a football
itself. That’s when the kids
had to be somewhat creative.
Sometimes Keanaaina and
his buddies would make a
football by rolling up socks,
and other times they would
use their own shirts in
substituting for the pigskin.
All for the love of the game.
Keanaaina moved to San
Mateo when he was 12. He
was the West Catholic Athletic
League Defensive Player of
the Year during his senior
season (1993), and along with
Tom Brady should’ve made
the Padres into a high school
juggernaut.
Didn’t happen. In
Brady and Keanaaina’s last
two years, Serra went a
combined 11-10 overall,
4-6 in WCAL play. Up until
his stint with the SaberCats,
Keanaaina had the misfortune
of being in the wrong place
at the wrong time. His stint
at Serra preceded the Padres’
transformation from also-rans
to one of the Central Coast
Section’s best programs.
He played at the
College of San Mateo before
it became a junior college
powerhouse (his brother,
Kevin, was also a standout
player for the Bulldogs in
2001-02), then was at Cal in
the Tom Holmoe era, which
was one of the worst runs in
Golden Bears’ history.
That’s why playing for
a model organization like
San Jose has been out of this
world — Keanaaina finally
gets to taste what winning is
all about. In his rookie year
in 2002, when San Jose won
its first-ever Arena Bowl,
Keanaaina suffered a left foot
injury that sidelined him for
the majority of the season.
Last season the
SaberCats were eliminated in
the semi-finals, and this year
they’re back on the game’s
biggest stage as the No. 2
seed.
“I had faith and kept on
believing if I worked hard,
good things would happen,”
Keanaaina said. “Part of that
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