Albert Lolotai (June 22, 1920 – September 30, 1990) was a Samoa-born

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Weber Junior College. Lolotai was the first

Samoan American Samoan Americans are Americans of Samoan origin, including those who emigrated from the Independent State of Samoa or American Samoa to the United States. Samoan Americans are Pacific Islanders in the United States Census, and are the second l ...

and Polynesian to play professional

. Born in the

Western Samoa Trust Territory Western Samoa Mandate, then Western Samoa Trust Territory, officially Territory of Western Samoa was the name of Western Samoa during its civil administration by New Zealand between 1920 and Samoan independence in 1962. Six years earlier, Germ ...

, Lolotai grew up in

Laie, Hawaii Laie ( haw, Lāie, ) is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the Koolauloa District on the island of Oahu () in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, means " leaf" ( is a climbing screwpine: ''Freycinetia arborea''). The p ...

. He attended

Kahuku High School Kahuku High & Intermediate School, located in Kahuku CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, on the island of Oahu, serves approximately 1,850 students in grades seven through twelve and is part of the Windward District on the is ...

and graduated from 'Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawai'i. He then attended Weber Junior College (now

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founded ...

) in

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

, playing on the Weber Wildcats football team from 1941 to 1942, and served in the

Hawaii Territorial Guard The Hawaii Territorial Guard ( haw, O na La kiai) was the state defense force of Hawaii during World War II. As a result of the National Guard of Hawaii being federalized for the duration of the war, the Hawaii Territorial Guard was created to ser ...

during World War 2. From 1945 to 1949, Lolotai played professional football, first in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in 1945, then the

Los Angeles Dons The Los Angeles Dons were an American football team in the newly formed football league the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1949, and played their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Dons were the first profes ...

in the

All-America Football Conference The All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League (NFL) from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the ...

from 1946 to 1949, playing in 59 games with 32 starts and making one interception with Washington in 1945. Lolotai would eventually graduate from

Colorado A&M Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

, and with the founding of

Church College of Hawaii Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

in 1955, serve as its Athletic Director. He mentored many of the young Samoan football players coming up in the Laie community to keep up with their studies, get into good schools, and helped set them up for their future. One of his sons, Tiloi, also attended 'Iolani School and then went to play football for

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

as a defensive tackle, lettering from 1974-76.

References

External links

Samoan Bios: Al Lolotai
1920 births 1990 deaths Samoan players of American football American football offensive guards Los Angeles Dons players Washington Redskins players Weber State Wildcats football players American sportspeople of Samoan descent Players of American football from Hawaii Junior college football players in the United States Samoan emigrants to the United States {{offensive-lineman-1920s-stub