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BYU President Dallin H. Oaks charged the school’s new football coach, LaVell Edwards, “to change the impression that returned missionaries couldn’t be productive, effective, contributing football players.”
The Cougars had a single returned missionary at the time, but Edwards ran headlong at the assignment and made it his own.
He was fulfilling that charge in 1994 when he called a freshman fullback named Kalani Sitake (who was rostered under the name Kalani Fifita) to his office seven games into the season.
Sitake had just made several good plays in BYU’s 21-14 upset win at Notre Dame, but he was worried about what had happened right after the game ended. Several older players — Jack Damuni, Stan Raass and John Raass — told the rookie to stop Edwards before the legendary coach could leave the sideline when the game ended.
“I was obedient,” said Sitake, who now is in his 11th season as BYU’s head coach. “I did what those guys told me. So I stopped him.”
Sitake put a paw right on Edwards’ chest as the coach started to make his way onto the field to shake hands with Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz. Then the older players dumped Gatorade over Edwards’ head.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I just do?’” Sitake said. “I was nervous about that, because the (Gatorade) was really cold.”
On the flight home, Sitake worried the coach was mad at him. Sure enough, Edwards called his excitable young player into his office on Monday. Sitake was nervous Edwards would chew him out but hoped the coach would praise him for his good blocking. Instead Edwards threw him a curveball.
“Kalani,” he said, “I think you’d be an amazing missionary.”
“I didn’t want to have this conversation,” Sitake said this spring, when he told other former BYU players the story during an alumni event. “It was weird timing, because I had just decided before that, that I wasn’t going to go on a mission. ... I was playing as a true freshman, and I thought, ‘This is what I was brought here to do.’”
Edwards shared why he felt a mission was right for Sitake. The coach said he wished he had served one himself.
“By the time he was done,” Sitake said with emotion, “I didn’t realize it but he’d borne me his testimony, and I thought it was super special. After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and then next thing you know, I’m in the (Missionary Training Center) in January, and I don’t even know if I was ready for that.”
Edwards went on to complete a Hall of Fame career and serve a mission with his wife, Patti.
Sitake became his successor, steering a BYU team this fall with 64 returned missionaries.
President Oaks is the 18th president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which this summer set a church record with more than 88,500 missionaries.
Edwards remained a mentor to Sitake until the coach died at the end of 2016. Sitake’s first season as BYU’s head coach that same fall began with three losses in four games. Edwards left him a voicemail while Sitake was on the bus to the fifth game feeling the weight of heavy expectations.
“Hey, Kalani,” he said, “this is LaVell, and I just want you to know you’re doing a great job, and I feel really encouraged about the future of football at BYU and I want to wish you good luck tonight.”
Sitake asked Edwards why he left the message.
“Don’t worry about the record,” Edwards said. “You worry about the boys.”
Sitake told the former players they all are special, even if their teams weren’t BYU’s best.
“I see it in the fathers that you are,” he told them, “the grandpas that you are, the husbands and the brothers and the friends and more importantly the examples and the disciples of Christ that you are.”
To watch Sitake tell the story, click here:
Our Dave McCann also recently told this story as part of a larger piece in a series about the leadership legacy of LaVell Edwards.
My recent stories
- Embrace the awkward: It can create ‘honor code-appropriate sparks,’ BYU president tells students (Sept. 8)
- 1 million reservations: America’s hottest ticket is the Salt Lake Temple Celebration (Sept. 2)
About the church
- President Dallin H. Oaks delivered a major speech on faith and religious liberty at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
- More Salt Lake Temple Celebration open house tickets will drop on Sept. 15 and Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. MDT each time. Here’s how to get yours.
- Elder Quentin L. Cook taught missionaries three “keystones of faith” to anchor each testimony.
- Elder Ulisses Soares ministered in Mexico, inviting thousands to center their lives on Jesus Christ.
- Elder Clark G. Gilbert testified of Christ in his first apostolic visit to West Africa.
- Jasmin Rappleye wrote a great history for us on the history of changes to the church’s worship services and schedule.
- The Montpelier Idaho Temple open house begins Thursday and runs through Sept. 26, except Sundays. Here are the first photos from inside.
- The church launched an initiative with UNICEF to help mothers and children in South Asia.
- Five keys to make the most of new Latter-day Saint Sunday meeting schedule.
What I’m reading
- This is a really sweet reminder, especially as a new school year is beginning, to look outside of yourself.
- I’m really enjoying the trend highlighted in the following social media post. Several Boston Red Sox players are wearing “Jesus won” T-shirts made with the official Red Sox font.
- A researcher says preventing child sexual abuse is possible if we work together.
- All-encompassing conspiracy thinking can undermine faith.
- ‘A right to a good childhood’: Virginia mother convicted of crime after letting her child walk to a pond.
- For the anniversary of Sept. 11th, please consider reading this short essay about remembering humanity.
- For the anniversary of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, three of our excellent reporters talk about interviewing him and witnessing the shooting. Watch their 20-minute conversation here.
- My fingers are crossed: Utah’s governor spoke to a Major League Baseball insider about expansion. Here’s what he shared about the possibility of a team in Salt Lake City.
- BYU’s Jason Carroll says he is “finding hope in the modern dating landscape.”