David Augustus Hughes III (born June 1, 1959) is a former professional

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 wi ...

player from

Kailua Kailua () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. It lies in the Koolaupoko District of the island of Oahu on the windward coast at Kailua Bay. It is in the judicial district and the ahupua'a named Ko'ol ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. He played six seasons 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 ...

(NFL), the first five with the Seattle Seahawks (1981–1985) and the final one with the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a fullback he was primarily a blocker, gaining just over 1,000 yards in his pro career.

Early years

The son of David Hughes Jr. and Dorothy (Kim-Kruetter) Hughes, Hughes was born in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

and raised in

, on the windward side of

Oahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O� ...

. He has two sisters (Debbie and Diane) and one brother (Dean). When Hughes was eleven, his father died.Kaopuiki Hughes said his father's death had an impact. "I fell away from my family," said Hughes. "In junior high and high school I got involved with drugs and alcohol. I thought I was pretty cool. But inside I was very unhappy." Hughes attended the Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu and graduated in 1977. He was a standout athlete at Kamehameha, receiving letters in football, basketball, and track. In football, Hughes was a member of three consecutive Oahu Prep Bowl and

Interscholastic League of Honolulu The Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH) is an athletic activity league whose membership is primarily private secondary schools in Honolulu, Hawai'i. The ILH has 24 member schools with over 13,000 student athletes participating in 37 differ ...

championship teams. As a senior in the fall of 1976, he was named football offensive player of the year for the state of Hawaii.

Boise State

Hughes played college football at Boise State from

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

to 1980, starting at fullback all four years and tallying 1,826 rushing yards (5.2 yards per carry). As a sophomore in 1978, he was named to the All

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...

first-team, and also received honorable mention on the AP Division II All-America team. Hughes,

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Joe Aliotti, and halfbacks

Cedric Minter Cedric Alwyn Minter (born November 13, 1958), is a former professional football player, an award-winning running back in the Canadian Football League. After his playing career, Minter became an educator and is currently a junior high school assis ...

and Terry Zahner were christened Boise's "Four Horsemen," and the quartet played key roles as seniors on the

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for rod ...

team that won the NCAA Division I-AA title in 1980. Minter and Hughes were also chosen to play in the 1980 East–West Shrine Game. Hughes is a member of the Boise State University Athletics Hall of Fame and in 2005 was named the first-team fullback on the Boise State Bronco 35 team, which honored the top BSU football players from

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

to 2005.

NFL career

In the 1981 NFL Draft, Hughes was picked in the second round (31st overall) by the Seattle Seahawks. He was a member of the

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

team that made it to the NFL playoffs for the first time in franchise history. He was second on the team in rushing that season with 327 yards. In his six years in the NFL, Hughes totaled 1,041 yards rushing, 864 yards receiving, and 663 yards in kickoff returns. He has seven career touchdowns. While playing for Pittsburgh in 1986, a knee injury ended his playing career.Romero

After football

In 1983, Hughes met Kalua Kaiahua from Napili and had a spiritual experience where there was an "opening the doors of faith in God.". After his NFL career ended, Hughes became active in religious ministry. In 1994, he and his family returned to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

and settled in

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

, adjacent to

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...

. There he pursued his ministry and served as running backs coach for

Eagle High School Eagle High School (EHS) is a four-year public secondary school in Eagle, Idaho, USA, a suburb northwest of Boise. EHS opened in August 1995, the third of five traditional high schools in the West Ada School District. The school colors are hunt ...

, the Class A-1 (Division II) state champions in 1998. Hughes and his ''ohana'' (family) relocated to the

Seattle area The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state—King, Snohomish, and Pierce� ...

in 1999 to accept a position on staff at Antioch Bible Church in suburban Redmond. He also volunteered as an assistant football coach at Eastlake High School, where he taught his players the "highest values… of sportsmanship, team play and doing heirbest in sports as in life." Hughes served as the Mission

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

for Antioch Bible Church (a non-denomination church) in Redmond for almost 14 years before stepping away to start a ministry in the inner city area of Seattle. He currently assists the football team at

Rainier Beach High School Rainier Beach High School is a public secondary school (grades 9-12) in the Seattle Public Schools system. It is located in the Rainier Beach area, in the southeastern part of the city of Seattle, Washington, United States. The school historicall ...

, and still is in the weight room every day. His ministry, Paraclete 46, focuses on urban student athletes and their families in providing resources and guidance

Personal life

While a senior at Boise State University, Hughes married Holly Ann Mahealani Haleamau on February 14, 1981. They have five children: Lahela
Kela
Keoni, Kaniela, and I`okepa.

Notes

Sources

*"David Hughes: Who's the most important person in your life?" ''TheGoal.com''. 15 March 2004. http://www.thegoal.com/players/football/hughes_david/hughes_david.html *Kaopuiki, Danny. "The David Hughes Story, from Football star to Ambassador of God…" '' Northwest Hawai'i Times, Northwest Hawaii Times''. Oct 2005. http://www.northwesthawaiitimes.com/kpoct05.htm *Romero, Jose Miguel. "Catching up with David Hughes." ''The Seattle Times''. 8 Nov. 2003. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20031108&slug=oldhawk08

External links

*
Database Football.com
– David Hughes
NFL statistics
– David Hughes
Boise State University Athletics Hall of Fame
– David Hughes {{DEFAULTSORT:Hughes, David 1959 births Players of American football from Honolulu American football fullbacks Boise State Broncos football players Kamehameha Schools alumni Seattle Seahawks players Pittsburgh Steelers players Living people Sportspeople from Redmond, Washington People from Eagle, Idaho