POLYNESIAN FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME ENSHRINES CLASS OF 2026 AT PCC
By Mike (Mikaele) Foley
“On behalf of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame, it is our privilege to welcome and celebrate the Class of 2026,” said PFHoF co-founder (and himself an inductee), Jesse Sapolu, at the organization’s permanent display at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie on January 17, 2026. “Their accomplishments on and off the field have inspired generations.”
As usual, the Center turned the occasion into a Polynesian celebration with an honor guard, dancing, speeches, and a luncheon banquet.
The PFHoF established its permanent hall of fame in partnership with the PCC in its Welcome Center near the front entrance in 2014, and usually in January each year, enshrines a new class of inductees. The Class of 2026 inductees are:
■ Rey Maualuga (LB, of Sāmoan ancestry) was born in Oklahoma, raised partly in Hawaii and California, and played at Eureka High School in Eureka, California. At USC, he was named Pac-10 DPY and a unanimous All-American in 2008 and was also named a three-time first-team All-Pac-10 selection. In his nine years of pro football, Maualuga started 108 of 120 games: CIN, MIA.
■ Chad Owens (WR, Hawaiian) is from Honolulu, graduated from Roosevelt High, and played for the University of Hawaii as a wide receiver and return specialist. He played 13 years as a pro first in the NFL, then in the CFL (Toronto Argonauts) where he became a Grey Cup champion and was named the leagueʻs MVP. He was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2024, and currently works in sales and marketing in Hawaii.
■ Brandon Manumaleuna (TE, Sāmoan), grew up in Harbor City, California, and played at Narbonne High School. After playing for the U. of Arizona, Brandon played 10 years in the NFL (SDC, CB), and now coaches high school football in Los Angeles, California.
PCC President and CEO Alfred Grace, who is originally from Turangi, New Zealand, and was a former rugby scholarship student at BYU–Hawaii, also congratulated the latest inductees.
Sapolu indicated that this year the PFHoF selection committee narrowed a field of over 100 nominees for the honor to eight finalists. Members of the committee included Jack “The Throwin’ Samoan” Thompson (Chairman, former NFL player and PFHoF inaugural inductee), Coaches Ron McBride and Dick Vermeil, former NFL player and PFHoF inaugural inductee Olin Kreutz, inaugural inductee and past NFLPA president Kevin Mawae, former NFL player and Class of 2015 inductee Ray Schoenke, sportscaster Neil Everett, NFL Network Chief National Reporter Steve Wyche, and former NFL Player and Class of 2023 inductee Manti Te‘o. In addition to the Selection Committee, Sapolu pointed out all living PFHoFinductees also cast votes to select the class.
Sapolu and Manumaleuna are known to have ‘āiga in Laie, while Te‘o partially grew up in the Laie area, graduated from Punahou, and then Notre Dame in graphic design. Te‘o played professionally for SDC, NOS, and CB briefly. He is currently an on-air analyst for the NFL Network.
In addition to honoring Polynesian professional football players, the PFHoF also usually selects a pro, college, and high school Polynesian player of the year, sponsors the annual high school Polynesian Bowl game in Honolulu, and intermittently presents its Founders Award for outstanding service to the sport and players.
For example, the PFHoF presented its 2024 Founders Award to former Honolulu mayor Muliufi “Mufi” Hannemann, who has numerous ‘āiga in the Laie area; its 2018 Founders Award to former BYU football head coach LaVell Edwards.
Other former PFHoF leaders with ties to Laie and the Polynesian Cultural Center include Elder Vai Sikahema, a General Authority for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the first Tongan to play in the NFL; and Reno Mahe, a 2024 inductee and PFHoF founding board member. (Other inductees also have ʻohana ties to Laie and the PCC.)
For more information on the the PFHoF, go to https://polynesiafootballhof.org.
