Eagle Mountain Reaches Out to American Samoa

 When America Samoa was hit by a tsunami in September, Ifo Pili wanted to help.

"My first thought was to send containers of food and bottled water down there," said Pili, Eagle Mountain's assistant administrator and former Philadelphia Eagles lineman. Pili was raised in American Samoa, and his father still lives there.

But when he took a trip to this homeland with former BYU football teammates Reno Mahe and Gabe Reid to deliver a donation from the NFL, Pili saw a greater need: jobs.

Having raised $5,000 on his own, Pili is looking to do more to help with American Samoa's long-term recovery from the killer waves and a depressed economy.

"What they really need is money and materials to rebuild," Pili said.
On Sept. 29, American and Western Samoa were lashed by a series of tsunamis triggered by a magnitude 8 earthquake off the coast. More than 100 people were killed.

Pili said his relatives in Samoa were safe, as they were living on high ground. But he said the waves washed away buildings. When Pili arrived on the island, most of the damage was cleaned up, but from the empty foundations and the vacant land he knew were once occupied by buildings, the devastation was clear.

He said the Samoans, like Utahns, are a self-reliant people who had already rolled up their sleeves and started recovery work by the time aid workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency arrived on the scene. Pili said the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Red Cross were also involved in relief efforts.
After the tsunami, Pili worked with Project Reach Out in Utah to raise money for relief efforts. The fundrasing included a charity golf tournament at The Ranches Golf Course in Eagle Mountain.

Mayor Heather Jackson said she was pleased the city could help Pili with his fundraising. In addition to offering The Ranches, the city also allowed Pili to take the time he needed.

"Eagle Mountain is a city that is all about community and helping people in need," Jackson said.

After the city fundraisers, Pili got a call from Mahe, his former teammate from BYU and the Philadelphia Eagles, inviting him to go down to American Samoa to present a check from the NFL for tsunami relief efforts. They were accompanied by Reid, who had gone on to play with the Chicago Bears. Pili said the NFL contribution was a recognition of the number of Samoans and
Tongans who play professional football.

Pili's first instinct was to bring food, but he used the trip to investigate, instead. And that is when he learned two things.

First, bringing food and water would have been the worst thing to do. Samoan stores were already full of food and water, and relief supplies would have hurt those businesses.

Second, the tsunami wasn't the only disaster to strike American Samoa at that time.

Pili said one of American Samoa's major industries, a tuna cannery, closed on Oct. 1, two days after the tsunami, for reasons unrelated to the natural disaster, and that left 3,000 Samoans out of work. The cannery workers represent almost 5 percent of the territory's population.

"That was just as devastating to Samoa as the tsunami," Pili said of the cannery closing. In a way, the tsunami was a blessing in disguise, as it brought aid money and hotels full of aid workers to the island at a time when its economy was taking a hit. Otherwise, he said the world would have taken little notice of the island's financial woes.

He used $1,000 of the $5,000 he raised for goods in Samoa to help rebuild. The rest he gave to American Samoa Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, a coalition of aid agencies.

Pili came home with the idea for doing more fundraising to encourage micro-credit loans to help Samoans get back on their feet and rebuild not just their houses, but their businesses.

His next fundraising idea is to organize the world's largest luau. He hasn't set a date yet, but is looking forward to getting in the records books and helping Samoans as well.

He's not alone in helping Samoans rebuild their economy. Paul Alan Cox, a former BYU ethnobotanist and chairman of the Seacology Foundation, has raised $76,000 to help Samoan communities affected by the tsunami establish eco-tourism businesses in return for preserving rain forests and other natural resources.

Cox said the tsunami is scaring off tourists, creating a one-two blow to the Samoan economy. But he said Seacology's grants should help.

"[Samoa] is a delightful place," Cox said.

He said Samoa's non-voting congressional representative is lobbying to get the tuna business back as well.

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Project One Hope

The University of Utah Student-athlete Advisory Committee, the Utah Alumni Association and the Polynesian Coaches Association are teaming up for a project called "Project One Hope" during Saturday's Utah-Air Force game. Members of each group will be collecting donations for families affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami that devastated the islands of American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga.

Many of Utah's football players have ties to the islands and some lost family members in the tragedy.

Sopoaga Savors More Than a Win

The shutout was important to Isaac Sopoaga. The phone call was vital. The call arrived Saturday afternoon, roughly 24 hours before Sopoaga put on his 49ers uniform to play the St. Louis Rams.

All week long, Sopoaga had been waiting for word from his family in American Samoa. Tuesday morning, a tsunami had slammed the island nation. Sopoaga's village of Fagasa is an isolated fishing community. Communications were down.

"I was worried," Sopoaga said. "Not sad. Not scared. Worried. Worried."

Finally, while Sopoaga was at the 49ers' walk-through practice Saturday, his mother reached his wife. Everyone was safe.

"They're good," Sopoaga said Sunday. "The water stopped, like, 15 yards from their house. It hit one building where my cousins worked, but they escaped. The water didn't touch them."

Worried no more, Sopoaga celebrated by doing what he does best. He lined up at defensive end Sunday and — with his teammates — made the St. Louis Rams' lives completely miserable.

How miserable? In the 35-0 rout, St. Louis' offense never made it inside the 49ers' 20-yard line.

In other words, the tsunami surge came closer to the Sopoaga home in Fagasa than the Rams' offense ever came to the goal line at Candlestick Park.

And, no, Sopoaga did not mind the somewhat flip analogy.

"I feel great about today," Sopoaga said. "We got to do what we do. We were out there having fun."

In this young 49ers season that has provided several unexpected story lines, Sunday actually was one of the more predictable outcomes. The winless Rams are a very bad football team. But the 49ers made sure the Rams stayed very bad, from start to finish.

Sopoaga and his defensive colleagues deserved most of the credit. As the 49ers' offense continued to search for an elusive groove, their defense held the Rams to 177 net offensive yards and nine first downs — resulting in the first 49ers shutout victory since the 2001 season.

"A shutout is the ultimate for any defense," said linebacker Manny Lawson.

"Once we got to the fourth quarter," said lineman Ray McDonald, "we needed to get a goose egg and show everybody we were for real."

McDonald helped cement that real-ness by picking up a fumble and scoring a touchdown. But to show you what kind of game it was, that play didn't even qualify as the day's best defensive highlight.

Nope. That one belonged to linebacker Patrick Willis, who snatched an interception and sprinted 23 yards for another six points. Also, as usual, Willis continued to tackle every moving object in his field of vision. For the 49ers, this strategy seems to be working well.

Willis wasn't truly everywhere, of course. It just seemed that way. Over and over, Willis hauled down steamroller St. Louis running back Steven Jackson. Three times, Willis reached quarterback Kyle Boller behind the line of scrimmage and sacked him. Then came the pick-six capper.

"Today was one of the better games that I have had since I've been in the league," Willis said. "But it wasn't just me. It was our defense altogether. "... It was just a day where you just say, 'Wow.' "

That "wow" factor began in the trenches with Sopoaga and McDonald, then spread back through the linebackers and the safeties.

As you might expect, this still wasn't "wow" enough for coach Mike Singletary.

"Don't misunderstand me," Singletary said. "I'm excited about our defense. But because I know them and know what they're capable of, I just don't want our guys to go, 'Hey, we're there.' We're going in the right direction. But there's so much more that we can do."

Imagine, then, what Singletary must think of the offense. Clearly, running back Frank Gore is missed. However, quarterback Shaun Hill keeps managing the ball safely enough. He had no interceptions Sunday and threw for two touchdowns. And he was properly grateful for his defensive teammates.

"I love watching them play," Hill said.

For now, at least, the 49ers have indeed found a formula that works. Namely: If the defense plays relentlessly wicked football, the offense can give them just enough oomph to win. It's why they are 3-1 for the first time since 2002, their last winning season.

Sopoaga, a quiet man, probably exemplifies the 49ers' team mojo as much as anyone. He is serious about building a new reputation for the team. Serious enough that he could compartmentalize his concerns for his family in Samoa and concentrate on the game plan.

"Isaac is a high-spirited guy," said McDonald. "He's not too big on bringing his personal life into his football. But we want to support him any way we can."

Sunday, they supported him by supporting each other and slamming the Rams. It's why Sopoaga could leave the locker room with a smile on his face. For many reasons.

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Seahawks' Tatupu to Donate to Tsunami Relief

Seattle Seahawks defensive star Lofa Tatupu is donating up to $10,000 to aid disaster relief efforts in the Pacific Rim region.

Coach Jim Mora said Wednesday his three-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker is volunteering to match the first $10,000 that fans donate in a collection drive started by the Seahawks and Medical Teams International.

Tatupu's father, former NFL player Mosi Tatupu, was born in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Lofa Tatupu says he still has family there. Last week, a deadly tsunami hit the U.S. territory, as well as neighboring Samoa and Tonga.

The Seahawks are inviting fans to donate on their way into the stadium for Sunday's home game against Jacksonville.

Spartans Coach Loses Family in Tsunami

San Jose State defensive line coach Joe Salave'a got a phone call just as a football staff meeting was breaking up last week. Much of his village, Leone, on the island of Tutuila in American Samoa, was destroyed by a tsunami.

"As they were telling me the bad news my heart was breaking," the former NFL player said Monday. "I had three aunts get caught in the waves and a cousin's body was later found. By some miracle, my brother was found alive."

Salave'a left home in 1989 to play football at the University of Arizona under Dick Tomey. His father was visiting San Jose when their village was hit last week by tsunami waves that resulted from an underwater earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.3.

The disaster killed 177 people in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga.

"After that came more phone calls and I tried to remain calm," Salave'a said. "I knew a lot of people there."

In 2001, when he was playing with the Tennessee Titans, Salave'a created the Joe Salave'a Foundation to promote sports programs in his native land, hosting a series of free football camps among other things.

Salave'a, one of eight children, is in the process of revamping his foundation toward relief efforts. His goal is to personally deliver, along with some of his current San Jose State players, whatever he can raise before the end of the football season.

"When you're faced with tragedy, you retreat to your family," Salave'a said. "Sometimes we get caught up in our own lifestyle but something like this puts things in perspective. The hardest thing I've had to do is call relatives the past couple of days. Those were hard phone calls to make."

Tomey, in his fifth year at San Jose State, coached Salave'a at the University of Arizona.

"This hits you in so many ways," Tomey said. "It's a part of the world that is precious to me. It's such a tight-knitted community. Joe was a pleasure to coach and an outstanding student. He exemplified all the characteristics you look for in football player both on and off the field."

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Trends Continue

A couple of trends that emerged in the Bengals’ first three games kept going Sunday in the 23-20 overtime victory.

The defense kept coming up big inside the 20. After the Browns got the ball in the red zone in the second half on Bengals wide receiver Andre Caldwell’s fumble on a kickoff (the 18) and Browns wide receiver Josh Cribbs’ 50-yard punt return (the 14), the Bengals allowed field goals instead of touchdowns to fall behind 20-14 instead of 28-14.

“We just weren’t going to let them get anything; we played better,” said rookie SAM linebacker Rey Maualuga, who played all the way despite his sprained MCL. “No easy games in the NFL, I guess that’s what I’m finding out.”

It was a bit of an emotional game for Maualuga. Like his fellow Samoans Domata Peko and Jonathan Fanene, he wore a native skirt and a shell necklace during the road trip to show solidarity with his fellow countrymen coping with the devastating earthquake on American Samoa. Maualuga wore the skirt of his late father whom died of cancer while the younger Maualuga was in college.

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Dolphins DT Soliai Mourning Deaths in Samoas

Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Paul Soliai mourned the deaths of at least two relatives on the disaster-stricken Samoas, and fears the toll for his family could get worse.

The number of causalities among relatives of Soliai and his wife was unclear. He said virtually all of his family lives on the Pacific islands, where an earthquake and tsunami Tuesday killed at least 150 people.

"It's a pretty tough time," Soliai said Thursday. "I've been talking to some of my family members. They say there's too much damage. They're still finding more bodies.

"There are still people missing — cousins, relatives. They keep me updated."

Soliai said he has been able to reach his family by cell phone. He grew up in the hard-hit port of Pago Pago, and attended college there before being drafted by the Dolphins in 2007.

Soliai said he hasn't been home since the spring of 2008, when he visited American Samoa for four days for a football camp. A backup lineman, Soliai said the disaster will be on his mind Sunday when the winless Dolphins play the Buffalo Bills.

"This is going to motivate me," he said. "I'm going to play for my people back home and my family. It's going to be a special week for me."

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