Secret to Marcus Mariota Reflected in His Hawaii Roots
PASADENA, Calif. — If you've been to Sandy Beach on Oahu's south side, you know it has dual personalities. It is at the base of Koko Crater, the only sand beach along a rocky coast between the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve and Makapuu Point. It's a small beach, but the sun seems to be born there in the morning, creating the soft, awesome calm between the rocks.
What you don't see is that just as you walk into the water, the sand drops off, and you suddenly find yourself in over your head. That cliff creates a late and rough break in the waves, too. It is tough and dangerous if you're not careful, so the locals have nicknamed the place "Breakneck Beach."
That's where Marcus Mariota and his friends hung out regularly when they needed to get away, looking out into the water, bodyboarding. Unlike the tourists who find the place, Mariota's friends say, he would wait his turn politely and not jump someone else's wave.
"I grew up on that beach," Mariota told Bleacher Report on Monday. "Whenever I go home, I try to get there as much as I can. I was able to go when I went home (for Christmas) once, which is nice. As long as I get in the water, for me, it's always nice to relax."
The beach is a perfect metaphor for Mariota, the Oregon quarterback: outwardly calm with a ferocious undercurrent.
Mariota and Oregon will face Florida State in a College Football Playoff semifinal Thursday at the Rose Bowl. It's another major step for Mariota with meaning much bigger than just one good kid doing big things.
He is the face of college football, and when he won the Heisman Trophy last week, wearing Hawaiian leis, he spoke about love and commitment, specifically to Polynesian kids from Hawaii. He spoke briefly in Samoan. And to him, it wasn't just a shout back to the people he knew but also to a place he carries with him. The people and the place and the way of life that are inside of him, made him and are his structure and belief and fabric.
Mariota has been cast as the ultimate student-athlete: respectful, quiet and selfless. Those things are true. But they are also a reflection of where he is from. With Mariota, everything comes back to that. And the strange thing is that the things he is praised for from his culture are the same things that have led to doubts following him. Respectful, quiet and selfless are fine personal traits, but people wonder if that means the undercurrents they don't see—of fire and leadership—really aren't there at all.
His success can stand as an overwhelming example to American Samoan people on Hawaii that their beliefs can be a way out of financial troubles and into educational opportunities that are missing from their children. At the same time, even some of Oregon's own coaches weren't sold on him at first, questioning whether he was too calm and quiet to be a leader. And even now, some pro scouts are whispering the same questions.
"He was a very quiet guy," Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said. "He was a naturally quiet guy. The first time you're around somebody like that, you get that feel for someone. It might not be an immediate attraction, and that's understandable."
Everything about Mariota traces back to his Hawaiian roots, but the conflict remains as to whether those roots hurt or help him.
In Hawaii, they know the answer. He's the one they've been waiting for. They are celebrating now. You walk into the front office of Mariota's Hawaiian high school, Saint Louis School, and are greeted immediately by a sign that says, "Sign in With a Message to Marcus." Underneath is a book where people share their feelings about him. They packed the school auditorium on the day of the Heisman ceremony and watched him win on the giant screen.
"To the Polynesian community, I hope and pray that this is only the beginning," he said in his speech. "Young Poly athletes everywhere, you should take this as motivation and dream big and strive for greatness."
A minute later, he said this: "Fa'afetai tele lava." Thank you very much.
Last week on the Saint Louis campus, Mariota's high school quarterback coach was running a camp, and some of the Oregon star's former teammates just happened to be around.
"It means a lot for someone, especially from here...to be our brother and hold that, his mannerisms," said Derek Nakasoto, a friend of Mariota's who played running back. "To keep a straight head. To be himself.
"You've seen what it can do to some players like Johnny Football and Jameis Winston—all this negative publicity. For him to do it and just represent us so well on that stage with all those greats, represent us like no other. He's the first Polynesian to win the Heisman, the first guy from Hawaii. He has touched territory that no one has touched before. For him to continue to be so humble and represent us so well. It's unreal. It's unreal."
During the season, Mariota told Bleacher Report that in Hawaii, "It's definitely a culture of respect. Certain traits that you kind of [learn] growing up. I guess you're taught as a kid. Some of which are being humble and respecting others, especially elders, being quiet, letting older people speak."
He credited his parents—a Samoan father, Toa, and Hawaii-raised mother, Alana—for instilling that in him. But it came from all over. Back in Hawaii last week, Vinnie Passas, Mariota's quarterback coach in high school, talked about his rules for players: Hug and kiss your mom every day and tell her you love her. Brighten someone else's day. Take out the garbage and do the dishes. When you hear a fire truck or ambulance siren, stop and say a prayer.
"By showing the aloha spirit we have here, doing good things for somebody else," Passas said. "The more good stuff they do, the more good things will happen."
Understand that these are traits he taught in trying to build a good quarterback. They are not the traits we usually connect with football.
What is the prototype for a quarterback? Not just the size, strong arm, foot speed, ability to see the field and read a defense, which Mariota has plenty of. But it's an overconfidence that demands respect, right? A fire inside. An edge that commands the ball.
And there's a prejudice against a culture that doesn't show those things, an assumption that any other way won't work. In some ways, the feeling that people of Samoan culture lack a necessity inside is similar to the old feeling that black quarterbacks were lacking something too.
Sione Thompson, the assistant headmaster of Mariota's high school, also was an assistant coach on Mariota's junior varsity team. He talked about the quarterback's freshman year, when he was a second-stringer on JV, and the starter broke his hand during a game.
"Now you have to remember, Marcus is coming from Pop Warner to high school," Thompson said. "The coach turned around, looked at Marcus in the face and goes, 'You ready?' "
This is where the legend starts, right? Mariota took his chance, ripped off a touchdown drive and never looked back?
Well, actually, Thompson said, Mariota didn't have his mouthpiece. His helmet wasn't on. And he stared back at the coach without saying a word.
"So [the coach] said, 'Nevermind,' " Thompson said. "And he went on to the next guy. [Marcus] was just a deer in the headlights."
By the time Mariota was a junior, he was sitting on the bench behind All-State quarterback Jeremy Higgins. Mariota's dad, concerned his son would never be looked at by top college coaches, started taking Marcus to different camps, including Oregon's.
In fact, Oregon originally wasn't recruiting Mariota. Helfrich, then an assistant at Oregon, was scouting Higgins when he saw Mariota winning all the team sprints. Then, he saw him throw the ball. Immediately, Oregon was interested, and after Mariota went to the Ducks camp, he was offered a scholarship.
While he went on to win the state championship as a high school senior, even the American Samoans in Hawaii had no idea what he would end up meaning to them. Certainly several Oregon coaches had their doubts, too, because of his passive demeanor. They didn't see the undercurrent.
Lisa Uperesa, an assistant professor of ethnic studies and sociology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, has studied Polynesian athletes and Hawaiian culture. In a phone interview, she said, " 'Aloha' is not just something sold to tourists but is in everyday actions. Humble. Fair. Contribute to the larger group."
Does that help in football?
"It's also," she said, "about hard work and getting the job done."
She said that American Samoan athletes in Hawaii have turned heavily to football, the way mainlanders in big cities have turned to basketball, as a hope to find a path to improve lives. She pointed to a story in the October 2013 issue of Hawaii Business titled "Which Ethnic Group Makes the Most Money?" It looked at the main groups in Hawaii and found Samoan families averaging the lowest amount, $57,826. The next lowest group, native Hawaiians, was averaging more than $70,000.
She said large portions of American Samoans are working class in Hawaii's service economy, so "football is important for access to private schools, access to college."
The thing about Mariota's success is that Samoans from Hawaii are stereotyped as large linemen and not agile skill players. Mariota winning the Heisman as an agile quarterback who is well-behaved could change how college coaches view Samoans and open doors to more kids.
"It's progress for us,'' said Jesse Sapolu, a four-time Super Bowl winner and two-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers. Sapolu is chairman and founder of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame in Hawaii. "It's the biggest award in college football, and my position now is that we continue to thrive as a Polynesian community, especially in the way of football.
"It's a game we migrate towards because we have an instinct for it. It helps get kids education. For Marcus winning the [Heisman] award, it puts us at another level."
Sapolu said there are now roughly 60 Polynesian players in the NFL, but Mariota brings a higher profile.
The community thought it had its breakthrough two years ago with Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, but his stellar college career ended shockingly when it turned out his girlfriend—in a relationship entirely by telephone and emails—was a hoax. Then, he was manhandled in the national championship game against Alabama.
Nakasoto, Mariota's former high school teammate, said Te'o's situation put Samoans in a negative light and was embarrassing for a while. Uperesa said that some of her sociology students were saying the same thing.
Now, Mariota has climbed one more step with the Heisman. But does he have the necessary fire to go on and star in the NFL?
Mariota told Bleacher Report in the fall that leadership is not about digging into somebody. The New York Times reported that when he was in high school, a coach once told him he had to get in someone's face and yell, and if he didn't do it, he had to run extra drills.
Mariota chose to run.
But Helfrich said that after all Mariota has achieved, he has clearly proved that he has the necessary passion. Asked if he's competitive enough, Mariota started to say that's about other people's opinion of him.
Yes, but what about your opinion of yourself?
"Of course, I think you wouldn't be playing this game if you didn't have the competitiveness. Yeah, I don't know how to answer that question. ...And I'm a competitive person when it comes to anything. If it's video games, cards, you know I hate losing. Doesn't matter what it is."
It might just be that Mariota has everything: the calm exterior with the treachery right there, but out of sight. Like Sandy Beach, Breakneck Beach. It's not only a place but also a people and a way of life.
Bleacher Report Featured Columnist Sean Frye contributed reporting from Hawaii. Greg Couch covers college football for Bleacher Report.
.jpg?w=600 "Full Eagles-Cowboys Trade 🤝")
.jpg?w=600 "Fans React to Simpson Pick 😱")
.jpg?w=600 "Brady Reacts to Mendoza Pick")
