Tilini Livai and Jordan Loeffler first met at Hilo High and found themselves together again on the Fresno State football team though vastly different circumstances.
Livai, a freshman offensive guard, battled though more than enough adversity that would make for a feel-good Hollywood movie.
Loeffler, a Bulldogs graduate assistant, moved up through the coaching ranks in a Kevin Bacon six degrees of separation way.
Livai, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound mountain with the wheels of a Toyota Tundra, played for the Vikings for three seasons, including the school’s first Division I state championship team in 2017.
Then he moved to Narbonne High in California with his father Teniosi Livai, who died on June 24, 2018 in Hilo.
One difference between the Big Island and the mainland was made clear on Livai’s first day of practice.
“As soon as I moved to California, I got five offers on the table,” he said. “I didn’t really expect five offers off the bat. I noticed that cars would pull up. Coaches would hop out, and it went from there. It turned out to be a good move for me.”
In December 2018, Livai signed with USC, but his father’s death was too great a burden, and he didn’t qualify academically.
He lived with family in Kahuku, the football factory on the North Shore, and graduated from there in 2019. (He was ineligible to play because he had completed his final season of eligibility at Narbonne.) Livai then went to a prep boarding school in Connecticut to raise his grades. But after two games, he tore the ligaments in his right ankle.
Through all the tears and tribulations, Loeffler, a 2009 Hilo and 2014 UH-Manoa graduate and former O-lineman, had kept in touch with Livai. Like Livai, Loeffler took the long road to Fresno State and was helped by a link in the Kevin Bacon chain.
Loeffler coached at Hilo from 2014 to 2016, leaving to take a job at a Minnesota junior college. He spent two years at Pacific University, famous for its import of Hawaii kids. His best friend is former UH teammate London Sapolu, whose brother is Roman Sapolu, a Fresno State assistant.
Here’s the Kevin Bacon connection: Jesse Sapolu is their father. Sapolu’s old quarterback was Joe Montana, who knows sportscaster Dan Patrick. Kevin Bacon was once on Patrick’s radio show.
Loeffler is now part of a parlor game linked to Bacon, who starred in the iconic movie“Footloose.”
Livai has his own happy ending. His mother, Anaise, remarried, and with his five siblings and six step-siblings in Utah they’ve formed a bigger version of the Brady Bunch. Livai credits Loeffler for his signing in June after he fell off the recruiting map and no other Division I school extended an offer.
“It was heartwarming. It was pretty fun. We had a whole BBQ. It was rewarding as well,” Livai said. “My old coach looked me up and got the ball rolling through him.”
Livai and Loeffler live in apartments with one roommate each. They live the life of Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day,” a rinse and repeat cycle of virtual classes, Zoom meetings, small-group workouts and homework. The Bulldogs keep practicing while waiting to see when their season and Mountain West schedule, which includes rival Hawaii, will finally start after it was postponed.
Livai wants to major in business so someday he can return to Hilo and help youngsters pursue their dreams like he did. When Loeffler talks about Livai, he mentions character first then talks about the guard’s skill-set.
“He’s got good character. Usually in recruiting you have to build relationships,” Loeffler said. “But we had a strong bond from Hilo. We needed offensive line help. He’s big and can move people. He’ll have a chance to compete for a starting spot.
“I brought his name up, and he was under the radar. They said, ‘Let’s see his film.’ After five seconds, they were, ‘Let’s get this kid.’ He felt at home at Fresno. We’ve got a lot of Hawaii people here.”
Of course, Fresno is not paradise or blessed with the beauty of Hawaii. It gets hot there as Livai discovered.
“I like it a lot, but the weather is too hot,” he said. “I thought Hawaii was bad. Last week, it was 112 degrees. It’s too hot. Other than that, Fresno is good.”
But how does one pick himself off the floor when a parent, who pushed to see his son’s dream come true, suddenly dies?
“It was heartbreaking,” Livai said. “When my dad passed, I stopped going to school. But I knew that’s not what he wanted and why we moved from Hawaii. I started to work out again, get mentally in it again, get my head back on right. It took a while.
“Connecticut was in the middle of nowhere. The people were loving and knew my story. They took me under their wing and helped me get my grades right.
“After my dad passed, I took that adversity and looked at it as motivation. You have to find the good in the bad, I guess. It motivated me. You can’t take life for granted. You have to live, learn and love. If you do that, hopefully you’ll be fine.”
Loeffler also found his passion after a bout of uncertainty.
“When I came back to Hilo, I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life. I had a degree but no job,” he said. “I volunteered my time coaching at Hilo High. Then I realized what I wanted to do in life.”
Two old friends, player and coach, are in the same place and find themselves together again.
