Alema Fitisemanu hit the trifecta at BYU, and even 36 years later, he still can’t quite believe it. During his time on campus, his Cougars pulled off three major achievements that hadn’t happened before and haven’t happened since.
“It was such a privilege to play at BYU,” the former All-WAC linebacker told the “Y’s Guys” livestream show this week. “How I even got to BYU was a big miracle in and of itself and to get those results during those times were so special.”
During Fitisemanu’s Cougar career, BYU won a national championship, upset No. 1 ranked Miami and quarterback Ty Detmer won the Heisman Trophy.
“In 1984, I look at the guys who were playing at the time. I was just a freshman learning how to play and how to practice — so a lot of learning,” Fitisemanu said. “In 1990, my last year, we let it rip a little bit. Our defense was doing really well.”
‘Put me down!’
Upsetting Miami 28-21 on Sept. 8, 1990, was especially sweet for Fitisemanu because of all the noise the top-ranked Hurricanes had made throughout the week.
“That’s just their MO — saying they were going to do this and that to us,” he said. “When we had them at our elevation, we knew we’d have a shot at them. Everybody was just turned up another notch to play that game.”
What happened afterward was another memory-maker that the 6-foot-1, 240-pound defensive captain did not see coming.
“As everybody started storming the field, a few of my cousins ran down, and these were girls, they came and grabbed me and lifted me up on their shoulders and paraded me around,” he said. “I told them, ‘Put me down! Put me down!’ but they didn’t want to put me down!”
Hawaiian punch
As a sophomore at Campbell High in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Fitisemanu competed against future Cougars Lakei Heimuli, Thor Salanoa and Kurt Gouveia.
“That was the golden age of Hawaii football. You have Lakei out there killing guys. You had Thor out killing guys. Kurt was the offensive and defensive player of the year,” Fitisemanu said. “My team would always lose to (their) teams.”
One defeat against Heimuli’s Kahuku Red Raiders left a lasting impression.
“They smashed us at Kahuku and then while we are leaving, they would stone our bus. They would stone our bus,” Fitisemanu said. “We are already beat up and wondering, ‘Why are you beating us up even more?’ It was hilarious. It was a great time to play during those years.”
Plantation to Provo
“My route to BYU was through a plantation,” Fitisemanu said. “It literally was.”
Following his sophomore season, Fitisemanu’s father moved the family from Hawaii to Western Samoa to work a 60-acre plantation.
“He said, ‘Son, I want you to go on this plantation. This is your job,’” Fitisemanu said. “I started learning how to plant and provide for my family. That was my focus.”
Fitisemanu was convinced his football days were over, but he caught the eye of former Washington State star Samoa Samoa and everything changed.
“He saw me playing in a basketball game and said, ‘Come play for me in American Samoa,’” Fitisemanu said. “So, I caught a boat over to American Samoa and enrolled at Samoana High and started playing football.”
Following a spectacular senior season, Fitisemanu received word that BYU head coach LaVell Edwards was on his way with a scholarship offer.
“He comes all the way to American Samoa and does camps and meets all the high school coaches,” he said. “He was the first (college) coach to ever come down. If you go to American Samoa today, you will see all the big teams there getting players. Back then, it was LaVell. He was the first one.”
Sitake’s strengths
Edwards was also the coach that traveled to St. Louis and changed the trajectory of Kalani Sitake’s life by offering him a scholarship to play at BYU. Forty-one years later, Sitake is preparing for his 11th season as the Cougars head coach.
Fitisemanu, Sitake’s former director of player personnel (2019-20), has watched college football’s first Tongan head coach take command of the program.
“I think a lot of things had to happen to really bring out Kalani’s strengths and right now we are seeing it,” Fitisemanu said. “Back in the day, it was more transactional. ‘What do you have to offer, let me have a look.’
“I think these days (players) want a transformational experience — ‘I need to become something after I’m done.’ He has set up the environment so that could happen. Now, you are working with the spirit, you can accomplish more things. It just opens the door for more possibilities.”
BYU’s boys
Fitisemanu reflects proudly on the big hitters of his day, but he looks at BYU’s current stable of linebackers with admiration.
“Our years were (when we wore) big horse collars to stabilize our necks so we could make that big hit. It was more downhill all the time,” he said. “These guys (Isaiah Glasker, Siale Esera, Cade Uluave, etc.), they can do everything. They are rangier, they are lengthy. They just see the game, not to just make big plays, but they are always thinking ball, strip ball, intercept ball — all that kind of stuff and that takes it to another level.”
FSY
Tackling quarterbacks is long over for Fitisemanu. Today, his arms are wrapped around another major project as administrator of recruiting and training of the For the Strength of Youth, or FSY, weeklong summer conferences for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“This is where the church sends their youth. They go and learn. They have classes in the morning and fun things in the afternoon, but really the point is to bring the youth closer to Jesus Christ,” Fitisemanu said. “We do that by solidifying their existing testimonies.
“They already want to be there. They love to feel the spirit. Our job is to help fill in some of the gaps and make them even stronger in their faith and resilient to their challenges.”
Fitisemanu’s office is charged with staffing 3,400 young single adults each year to facilitate FSY conferences in 47 states and Canada. He is still looking to hire 400 male young single adults in the next few weeks (fsyemployment.byu.edu).
It’s quite the challenge for the man who was once a boy working on a plantation in Western Samoa with no idea of the life that was out in front of him — including a wife (Geraldine), five children and a master’s degree; and when it comes to football, a national championship, a win against No. 1 Miami, and a Heisman Trophy for his quarterback.
Truth be told, Fitisemanu hit much more than a trifecta at BYU, and the hits keep coming.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.