Family and friends of Laie natives Alohi Gilman and Bradlee Anae awaited the draft picks on the NFL’s first virtual draft held on April 23 to 25. Joining the Dallas Cowboys, the celebrations in the community of Laie started off with Anae taken as the final pick in the 5th Round followed by the LA Chargers selecting Gilman in the 6th Round, according to KITV4.
Shortly after the televised draft announcements, community members in Laie organized a parade that circled around the community and extended to Kahuku and Hauula in celebration of the draft.
In an interview with KITV4, Gilman and Anae said the community knows how to celebrate their own. The quiet streets of small North Shore towns were bustling with sounds of car horns and cheering.
Gilman said, "I think that's why the community came around it, and it's a pretty crazy moment for us in such a small town. Pretty cool accomplishment for us, as well as the community. They kind of notified us like 15 minutes prior and our community works in fun ways so they were able to put it together pretty quick."
Anae said the parade was led by a semi-truck with a big trailer full of community members followed by a train of at least 10 cars. By the time the parade reached Hauula, he said the number of cars in the parade doubled.
"What we saw … just the love, unconditional love that this community has and how close we are" was shown by the parade, Anae said.
The relationship between the future Charger and Cowboy goes back to their days together playing football for the Kahuku Red Raiders. According to KITV4, both Anae and Gilman received encouraging words from Gilman’s father, Asai Gilman, about their future football careers.
"My dad told Brad and I that [we were] going to be in the NFL someday," Gilman said.
Anae added, "He told me that I will be drafted four years from now or three years from now and when that day comes, I want you to call me. To this day I still remember that. I actually didn't call him. I went over there myself and gave him a hug and said, ‘Hey, it happened.’"
Alohi Gilman’s journey to the NFL
In a YouTube video posted by Gilman prior to the NFL Draft, he said his competitive nature is a result of his upbringing.
“We are a community that is raised very competitive. I wasn’t raised with TV, video games, stuff like that. I was raised outside, so the things that were around me was my playground. We didn’t really have much so being competitive was a big thing in our community.”
Gilman said his football journey started as a child playing with other youth and future athletes at Laie Park. “This is the park that groomed little boys into men. When I was younger, guys like Manti Te’o, Robby Toma and Leonard Peters, great guys that came before me, came to compete.
“This is where it turned me, as well as all my friends and family, into men. This is a place I have a lot of respect for and was a big part for who I am as a player.”
From there, Gilman said he was able to establish himself as a Red Raider playing football for Kahuku High School. “[Kahuku High School] is a very under-privileged school, not the most resources, but a lot of great people and great athletes, doctors [and] successful people come out of that high school.”
Following high school, Gilman was presented with an offer to play collegiate-level football for Ken Niumatalolo, the head football coach of the Naval Academy and Laie native. “[It was] such a crazy experience. It’s a different world, different universe.
“Some people think they know hard until they go through something as hard as that. That experience shaped me to who I am. The person that I am, the leader that I am and the core of who I am.”
New regulations from the Department of Defense announced in 2017 requiring service academy athletes to serve at least two years of active duty prior to applying for a waiver to play professional sports changed Gilman’s path to the big league, according to the NFL website.
Gilman decided to transfer over to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. “I decided I wanted to play on the highest level. Notre Dame gave me a great opportunity to play there on a scholarship. That’s where I made my name for myself there. I embraced every opportunity, worked my butt off and I’m here where I am now,” Gilman said in his YouTube video.
Gilman became a leader for the Irish with 169 tackles, six for loss, three interceptions, eight pass breakups, six forced fumbles and one sack during his junior and senior years, according to the NFL website.
Earlier this year, Gilman was invited to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis and continued to train on the mainland before COVID-19 brought widespread closures across the country, reported Hawaii News Now.
“I was actually in Dallas, Texas, training there before the city got shut down and I ended up flying home,” said Gilman. “It’s been a different process.”
Brandyn Akana, the head of Seasider Sports and Activities at BYU–Hawaii, said of Gilman’s journey, “We know the Gilman Family very well and also we were their neighbors for many years in the BYUH Faculty Townhouses. Our family got to see Alohi grow up as a young boy and also followed his progress through high school and college.
“Alohi was always a young man who showed hard work and passion. Our family witnessed his hard work and dedication to the sport of football. It’s great to see Alohi flourish on and off the field and achieve his goal of making it to the NFL.”
Gilman said, “It’s a crazy journey … started from something like this in a small town. [There’s] not much to do, people told me I wasn’t going to make it and now I’m here doing my thing. I’m so grateful [and] so blessed. I’m excited for the future.”
Akana said Gilman has been a shining light example of “setting a goal and making it come true. He has a great support of family members, friends and the entire community of Laie. We are all so proud of him and his family. We wish Alohi and his ohana the best in the future.”
Bradlee Anae’s big day
Anae said his call from Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones was the highlight of the draft for him. According to KITV4, Anae said Jones told him on the phone, “Brad, my name is Jerry Jones, and I am sure happy to tell you we just drafted you and you going to have a big star on your helmet.”
Recalling that moment, Anae told KITV4, “I was just star struck and all I could say was ‘Yes sir. Thank you sir.’ Those were the only words that came out of my mouth.”
Anae said he watched the draft with family at his grandma’s house. In an interview with Pac-12 Networks’ Yogi Roth, Anae said, “It was a very unreal feeling when I picked up the call, and just to be able to get that call in general and playing in the NFL is such a blessing.
“[Jerry Jones] wished me good luck and that he hoped that the game treated me like how the game has treated him. To see someone say that is very special for me.”
Anae’s father, Brad, played football for BYU and later went on to play in the United States Football League, according to the NFL website, but young Bradlee Anae chose to go with the Utah Utes.
In 2017, Bradlee Anae started 10 of 13 games during the season and lead with seven sacks and three forced fumbles. Leading the league with eight sacks in his 51 tackles, The NFL said Pac-12 coaches voted Anae first-team all-conference in 2018. Anae extended his first-team All-Pac-12 nod in 2019 and also added third-team Associated Press All-American notice to his portfolio after his 14 tackles for loss among 41 stops in total.
When asked by Roth about how his final year playing football for Utah had prepared him for the Dallas Cowboys, Anae said, “It has taught me a lot. Just being patient and not trying to rush anything, especially this draft. Just relax and put in the work.”
What the NFL Draft could have been
The NFL Draft was scheduled to feature multiple sites and venues in Las Vegas including the newly minted Caesars Forum and the Bellagio fountains. However, due to complications arising from the spread of COVID-19, the Sin City draft was canceled.
Jesse Merrick of News 3 in Las Vegas said the city was preparing for one of its largest sporting events of the year. “They were estimating I think 800,000 to a million people coming for the draft alone. It was going to be crazy.
“All of the players were going to be on the red carpet and they would come to the red carpet on these gondolas, basically like you see at the Venetian, and then they would go to the other side of the strip where the new Caesars Forum was built,” said Merrick on an interview with Hawaii News Now.
According to Samoa News, the 2020 NFL Draft was the largest Polynesian draft class ever selected, with 11 Polynesian players entering the league.