Football has always fascinated Keliʻi Kekuewa, who used to watch his father coach on Hawaiʻi Island. “My dad’s my hero,” Kekuewa said. So, “I knew I was gonna play football.”
At 31 years old, he’s now a coach himself, following in his father’s footsteps. But Kekuewa is also blazing his own path forward by establishing his family name in the National Football League (NFL).
He recently kicked off his first season as the assistant offensive line coach for the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C. Prior to that, he trained the Seattle Seahawks as both an offensive assistant and an assistant offensive line coach for four years.
Kekuewa has traveled around the U.S. to pursue his dream of stadium turf and pigskin. He attributes much of his success to his ʻŌiwi lineage; his ʻohana originated from Hōnaunau.
“I learned early on how important it was to be Hawaiian,” Kekuewa said.
Born in Honolulu, Kekuewa spent his early years living on-campus at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama where his mother worked as a high school dorm advisor, and his father was a food services manager.
His grandfather, Kahu David Kaupu, served as a pastor at both Kamehameha and Kaumakapili Church, so his faith in Ke Akua shaped Kekuewa from a young age. Every Sunday, he attended church.
When his mother accepted a position at the new Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi campus, 9-year-old Kekuewa and his family moved to Keaʻau on Hawaiʻi Island. With three sisters, he held his own as the only son.
He was accepted to attend Kamehameha Schools and his education there connected him with his Hawaiian culture and also sparked an interest in land management. Athletics was his other passion. In addition to football, he tried wrestling, baseball, basketball, soccer and judo. In 2006, Kekuewa made the junior varsity football team as a freshman.
Early on, his father told him that he’d be an offensive lineman. By the end of his first season, Kekuewa started to practice with varsity players – something he was very proud of.
Kekuewa dreamed of securing a scholarship to play in college and worked hard to make that happen. Throughout high school, he attended football camps on the continent, visiting Oregon, Washington State and Utah.
“That’s what kind of helped me grow in confidence to move up to the mainland and play and go to school,” he said. “I wanted the experience of playing big-time football.”
During his senior year, Kekuewa was offered the opportunity to walk on to Oregon State University’s football team, but he didn’t want to saddle his parents with hefty tuition fees. So instead, he opted to play junior college football at Arizona Western College in Yuma. There, he found himself around other Polynesian teammates, which eased the culture shock.
While Kekuewa earned his associate’s degree in environmental studies he played football, including in the championship game against East Mississippi Community College.
He graduated in 2011, and was then recruited to Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Kekuewa studied for a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy and analysis, with two potential dream employers: the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources or Kamehameha Schools.
Through football, Kekuewa became fast friends with another player named Nick Hager. Together, they spent a spring break working on Hager’s family farm in Ohio. After that experience, Kekuewa felt more deeply linked to his maternal grandmother’s North Dakota roots.
“I called my parents up, and I was like, ʻThis is the place I want to be,’” he said.
His time in college as a center on the offensive line made Kekuewa want to join the NFL. After graduating in May 2014, he trained through the winter, but, ultimately, didn’t get the call.
After returning home to Hawaiʻi, Kekuewa looked into land management jobs before deciding to pursue a master’s degree. His former college head coach – then a new hire at Wake Forest University in North Carolina – urged Kekuewa to help him train the football team as a graduate assistant.
Although he wasn’t sold on coaching at first, he slowly warmed up to it over three seasons. “I loved that I could still be part of the game,” Kekuewa said. “I was helping people live their dreams.”
During that time, he also maintained a long-distance romantic relationship with fellow Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi graduate, Namelelani Akiona.
In December 2016, Kekuewa graduated with his master’s degree, then landed a gig coaching at the University of Minnesota in 2017. When he and Namelelani got engaged, she moved to Minnesota too.
In July 2018, he and Namelelani were married on Hawaiʻi Island. That year, he also accepted a job at Arkansas’ Henderson State University where he ran his own position room. There, living in the small town of Arkadelphia, was the first place where he and his wife felt “othered” as Native Hawaiians.
Kekuewa’s next career opportunity was coaching defensive line at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He also started to train tight ends. A fellow coach recommended him for a job with the Seahawks.
In 2020, Kekuewa began working for the Seattle team. Although the COVID-19 pandemic hindered their plans, he and his wife eventually moved to Washington state and fell in love with it – largely because of the Hawaiian diaspora. Namelelani joined a hālau hula, and Kekuewa also danced occasionally.
“Seattle was way bigger for my wife and I than just football,” Kekuewa said. “It was a way for us to connect to home.”
But, in early 2024, with Coach Pete Carroll no longer leading the team, his staff was let go – including Kekuewa. He then joined the coaching staff for the Panthers, moving last February to the other side of the continent.
Although he and Namelelani miss Seattle, Kekuewa takes comfort in his consistent connection to Hawaiʻi: his wife. “She keeps me deeply rooted in my kuleana to our lāhui,” he said.
Eventually, Kekuewa knows he’ll happily return to Hawaiʻi Island. But, for now, he feels pulled to his profession, every day staying focused on representing aloha.
“My biggest driving force in my coaching philosophy and everything – and as little as it sounds – is always giving aloha,” Kekuewa said.
