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This year’s Super Bowl LVIII was the most viewed one up to date. 49ers, Chiefs, and Taylor Swift fans spent their Sunday evening with eyes glued to the screen as the Chiefs narrowly won the game in overtime.
Much of the media coverage regarding the game centers around celebrity sightings, the halftime show, or the best commercials. However, there are many aspects of the carefully organized event that deserve recognition as well, this year’s honorary coin tossers being one of those aspects.
This year’s honorary coin tossers happened to be four football players from Lahaina, Hawaii, accompanied by three of the team’s coaches. The players and coaches stepping out onto the field not only represented high school football, but they represented one of many Hawaiian communities that has faced tragedy over the past year.
In Aug. of last year, Hawaiian wildfires mercilessly tore apart the island, destructing thousands of buildings and taking the lives of over a hundred civilians. The unprecedented disaster enveloped Hawaii in grief, and communities fell into mourning for the dozens of loved ones that had been lost.
Lahaina is one of many communities in Hawaii that has faced hardships from the wildfires. Students and faculty who lost their homes and loved ones were forced to continue navigating life amidst the aftermath of what happened.
Around six months after the tragedy, the NFL reached out to the Lahainaluna High School football team, the Lunas, giving them an opportunity of a lifetime to make an appearance and be recognized at this year’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas.
The Lunas football team had found support within one another since the tragedy. In the tribute video that was featured before the coin toss, the coaches and teammates shared how the team banded together, continuing to play their sport for their community, and for one another. The team’s close connection and respect for the sport revealed the way that joy can be found even after the worst of tragedies. The Lunas football team continued to represent their community as they persevered through the fall football season.
Now, half a year after the fires, the football team has been highlighted in a stadium with over 60,000 people watching from the stands, not to mention the 100,000 people watching from home.
The four Lahainaluna football team co-captains were students Teva Loft, Morgan Montgomery, Kaulana Tihada, and Kuola Watson. The other four Lahaina representatives were coach Dean Rickard, co-coach Garret Tihada, Lahainaluna athletics director Jon Conrad, and veteran coach Bobby Watson.
Not only would the team be represented at the Super Bowl, but the Lahainaluna High School has been promised that all their football equipment be replaced, and that they will be provided new equipment, such as mouthpieces and tackling sleds, to help support their team.
The NFL Films team also released a documentary on the team, spotlighting their efforts over this past football season.
Standing proudly out on the field, the eight Lahainaluna representatives not only illustrated the connection that the sport of football can bring, but they also illustrated the strong sense of community that Hawaii carries, even in the face of tragedy. They represented strength and perseverance as well, being a face for all of the island’s civilians that had dealt with grief since that day in August.
Sources:
Gough, C. (2024, February 13). Super Bowl attendance 2024. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1362951/super-bowl-attendance/
Lahainaluna football players, coaches reveled in Super Bowl spotlight. Lahainaluna players, coaches reveled in Super Bowl spotlight. (n.d.-a). https://spectrumlocalnews.com/hi/hawaii/news/2024/02/14/lahainaluna-football-coin-flip-super-bowl-2024
Lahainaluna football players, coaches reveled in Super Bowl spotlight. Lahainaluna players, coaches reveled in Super Bowl spotlight. (n.d.-b). https://spectrumlocalnews.com/hi/hawaii/news/2024/02/14/lahainaluna-football-coin-flip-super-bowl-2024
Ava Stockstad is a Dakota Student General Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].
