Saturday, August 31, 2019 ● The Gazette 1B

GAMEDAY COLLEGE
FOOTBALL

Samoa
heart
IN HIS Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette
Epenesa “Eppy” Epenesa looks over the football field during the
Orange and Black Scrimmage at the District 7 Sports Complex
across from Edwardsville High School in Edwardsville, Ill., on Aug.
23. Epenesa teaches young athletes about hard work and family.

“It’s all about uniting

Iowa’s A.J. our family and friends
and trying to create a
Epenesa grasps community that’s as
nice as possible.”
family roots A.J. Epenesa, Iowa defensive end

By Mike Hlas, The Gazette

E
DWARDSVILLE, Ill. — In 2018,
the U.S. Census Bureau said
none of this city’s 24,969 citizens
were Native Hawaiians or other
Pacific Islanders.
As for the bordering city of Glen Carbon?
The Census estimated 0.1 percent of its
12,959 residents were of that race/origin.
“That’s me,” said Epenesa “Eppy”
Epenesa, a native of American Samoa.
It’s a pretty impactful 0.1 percent.
At last Friday’s Orange and Black
Scrimmage at Edwardsville High School
for football teams from the Little Tigers
tykes all the way up to the high school var-
sity Tigers, you could see the influence of
Samoan culture. That’s not just because
the best athlete in the school’s history is
A.J. Epenesa, a preseason All-America
junior defensive end at Iowa.
During the five-hours-plus event at
EHS, 20 miles from St. Louis’ Gateway
Arch, dozens of kids and adults alike
sought out Eppy for handshakes,
hugs and warm words. Some kids
in the stands chanted “Eppy!” as
he neared them. Many from mid-
dle schoolers to the varsity wore
shirts he designed for them.
They feature Samoan symbols
and words. “USO 4 LIFE” and
“AIGA from the ‘VILLA” are
on the 2019 edition.
“Uso” is Samoan for
“brother” or “sister,” de-
pending on the gender.
“Aiga” means “family.”
“It’s all about uniting
our family and friends and
trying to create a com-
munity that’s as nice as
possible,” A.J. said at the
Hawkeyes’ Media Day
this month.
That’s what Eppy knew
when he was a boy help-
ing his family fish and
farm in Pago Pago, the
capital of the island of
just 76 square miles that is
6,336 miles from Iowa City. The Gazette
That’s what he brought
with him when he left for
Iowa in 1992 to play college
football at Iowa Wesleyan
in Mount Pleasant, when
he went to the University
of Iowa in 1995 to walk on to Iowa defensive end A.J. Epenesa returns a fumble 19 yards for a
the Hawkeye football pro- touchdown during the second quarter of a Big Ten football game
gram, when he lettered as a against Illinois last year in Champaign, Ill. Many members of
senior defensive lineman in Epenesa’s family and community were at the game.
1997 before he graduated.
That’s what he and his
wife, Stephanie, took to Ed-
wardsville/Glen Carbon
when they moved here in VITAL STATS
1999. This is where her
family lived, where she
MIAMI (OHIO) AT IOWA UNI AT IOWA STATE TODAY’S BEST BETS
attended high school. l Records: This is the season l Records: This is the season l Mississippi at Memphis,
It’s what they instilled in
opener for both teams. opener for both teams. 11 a.m., KCRG
A.J., his older sister Sa- l Time/TV: l Time/TV: l South Alabama at Nebraska,
mantha, and his younger
6:40 p.m., FS1 11 a.m., FS1 11 a.m., ESPN
brothers Eric and Iose, l Radio: l Radio: l Duke vs. Alabama, 2:30 p.m.,
as well as the wide circles
WMT-AM (600), KGYM-AM KCRG
of teammates and friends l Northwestern at Stanford,
KXIC-AM (800), (1600)
they have helped form. l Did you know
KKRQ-FM (100.7) 3 p.m., KFXA
“It takes a village,” l Did you know l Georgia Southern at LSU,
... ... Cyclone QB Brock
© 2019 The Gazette

Stephanie said during a

the Hawkeyes led the Big Ten Purdy’s 169.9 passer rating 6:30 p.m., ESPNU
break from selling Tigers l Oregon at Auburn, 6:30 p.m.,
and ranked second nationally last year was the best by a true
shirts and caps from a merchan-
last year with 20 interceptions? freshman in NCAA history? KCRG
dise tent at the scrimmage. She was
the EHS Football Booster Board member
;; HAWKEYES, PAGE 9B

PICK
’EMS
OUR SO-CALLED EXPERTS
PREDICT THE BIG GAMES
MIAMI (OHIO) AT IOWA
Marc Morehouse (0-0, 23-13 last
year) — Iowa needs to adopt a beer.
Busch Light is Iowa State’s. I suggest
Hamm’s. You know I’m right. Iowa 34,
Miami (Ohio) 7
Mike Hlas (0-0, 23-13) — Usually, I
favor the MAC. Milk and Cookies, that
is. Iowa 45, Miami 21
Jeff Johnson (0-0, 23-13) — A 6:40
p.m. kick for this game? No. Just ...
no. Iowa 35, Miami 7
Beth Malicki (0-0, 24-12) — I
shipped off my oldest to college and
feel like a monster for not crying, not
even one tear, at the farewell. Perhaps
it’s due to the months worth of Pancheros wrap-
pers I found under his bed. Iowa 31, Miami 16
Ben Visser (0-0, 19-17) — Miami
(Ohio) is like a Scooby Doo villain.
When you first read the name you
think it’s the Miami Hurricanes, but
then you realize it’s just a dork in a mask that’s
a subpar MAC team. Iowa 38, Miami 17
Todd Brommelkamp (0-0, 25-11)
— The RedHawks do not like to be
referred to as Miami of Ohio. Whatever
you do this weekend, do not refer to
the school as Miami of Ohio. Got it? No Miami
of Ohio references. None. Iowa 41, Miami 10
UNI AT IOWA STATE
Morehouse — I hope everyone has gotten
“Iowa State looks awfully Purdy” out of their
systems. Don’t do that. Iowa State 28, UNI 10
Hlas — By the end of 2023, Highway 30
from Cedar Rapids to Ames will be entirely four-
lane. That will have been a few hundred round-
trips too late for me. I hope you spoiled-rotten
kids appreciate it, though. Iowa State 31, UNI
17
Johnson — I predict Iowa State will win more
games this season than Larry King has ex-
wives. Iowa State 31, UNI 13
Malicki — But I did track my college
freshman’s every movement through an app on
his phone he didn’t figure out how to disable
until two weeks into the semester. Then I had
what my doctor called a mild panic attack. Iowa
State 35, UNI 17
Visser — The days of Iowa State losing to an
FCS team are in the rearview mirror. Iowa State,
34, UNI 3
Brommelkamp — A defense led by Ray Lima
facing a quarterback who was lining up a date
to homecoming this time a year ago. What
could possibly go wrong here? Iowa State 35,
UNI 7
NORTHWESTERN AT STANFORD
Morehouse — OK, in an ’80s movie
breakdown of this game, it’s “Sixteen Candles”
vs. “Real Genius.” Val Kilmer gets the dub.
Stanford 24, Northwestern 17
Hlas — I’m placed second in this lineup and
Mike Trout bats second in the Angels’ lineup.
That doesn’t mean anything. I just mentioned
Trout for the halibut. Stanford 21, Northwestern
20
Johnson — It’s approximately 180 days until
indoor football season begins. Stanford 24,
Northwestern 21
Malicki — I’m considering home schooling
for his sophomore year he if continues to ignore
my FaceTime calls. That seems reasonable.
Perhaps crying during move-in would have been
a normal sign I was adjusting well. Stanford 27,
Northwestern 20
Visser — I’m trying to think of something
smart and witty to say about these two brainiac
schools, but I can’t. I guess that’s why I didn’t
go to either of those places. Stanford 24,
Northwestern 21
Brommelkamp — I thought the Wildcats
were supposed to be the smart ones of the
bunch. Everyone knows you don’t take a Big
Ten team west of the Rockies. Stanford 24,
Northwestern 17
TODAY ON TV
l Florida Atlantic at Ohio State, 11 a.m., KFXA
l Mississippi at Memphis, 11 a.m., KCRG
l UNI at Iowa State, 11 a.m., FS1
l South Alabama at Nebraska, 11 a.m., ESPN
l Akron at Illinois, 11 a.m., BTN
l Mississippi State at Louisiana, 11 a.m.,
ESPNU
l Indiana at Ball State, 11 a.m., CBSSN
l Duke vs. Alabama in Atlanta, 2:30 p.m.,
KCRG
l Idaho at Penn State, 2:30 p.m., BTN
l Holy Cross at Navy, 2:30 p.m., CBSSN
l South Carolina at North Carolina, 2:30 p.m.,
ESPN
l Georgia State at Tennessee, 2:30 p.m.,
ESPNU
l Northwestern at Stanford, 3 p.m., KFXA
l Boise State at Florida State, 6 p.m., ESPN
l Georgia Southern at LSU, 6:30 p.m., ESPNU
l Middle Tennessee State at Michigan, 6:30
p.m., BTN
l Oregon at Auburn, 6:30 p.m., KCRG
l Missouri at Wyoming, 6:30 p.m., CBSSN
l Miami (Ohio) at Iowa, 6:40 p.m., FS1
l Fresno State at USC, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
GAMEDAY
Epenesa “Eppy” Epenesa (right) talks to Julian Calloway (left), Yale Weaver (second from left) and Remy Tyrrell in the end zone Aug. 23 during
the Orange and Black Scrimmage at the District 7 Sports Complex across from Edwardsville High School in Edwardsville, Ill. The boys partici-
pated in Epenesa’s summer conditioning drills that he runs in his backyard.
Hawkeyes/Epenesa
all about family, friends
;; FROM PAGE 1B
responsible for much of the funding
of the Tigers’ football teams. She is
the board’s treasurer.
“It takes a village,” said Edwards-
ville varsity football head coach
Matt Martin in a separate conversa-
tion, but he was talking about some-
thing else.
“(The Epenesas) literally have a
village at their house a few times a
week,” said Martin, who coached
A.J. on the varsity team for four
seasons that all ended in the state
playoffs. “It’s not just about their
sons and daughter. They want to see
all these kids have success.”
“As good a football player as A.J.
is,” said his middle-school basketball
coach, Paul Johnes, “he’s an even
better person. ... It starts with his
mom and dad, his background.”
The Epenesas have a nice-enough
house in a nice-enough subdivision.
It’s not fancy, but it’s functional.
Most importantly, the backyard is
big enough to support a lot of hu-
manity at summer workouts and
autumn cookouts.
For the last several years, Eppy
has conducted summer conditioning
drills at his house for all Edwards-
ville kids who want to participate.
He began holding them when A.J.
was in middle school.
“I started doing this because if my
kids had to train by themselves, how
not fun is that?” Eppy said.
Eric, a senior linebacker/receiv-
er/long snapper on this year’s Ti-
gers and an excellent EHS volleyball
player, has done the workouts with
his friends. Iose (pronounced yo-
say), a middle school football player
who may grow up to be larger than
6-foot-6, 280-pound A.J., did them
this summer with his peers.
“It’s not necessarily 100 percent
about getting in shape for the sea-
son,” A.J. said, “though it’s obvi-
ously a big part of it because they’re
football players. But it’s mostly
about uniting that group or groups
of those kids into a brotherhood.”
Eppy is a ground operations
manager at St. Louis’ Lambert Inter-
national Airport for Southwest Air-
lines. He said the company lets him
work a night shift in the summer so
he can devote time to the kids during
the day.
“It definitely makes a difference,”
said Eric, who will decide between
playing college football and volley-
ball later this school year.
It’s about more than developing
stamina and upper-body strength.
It’s trying to affect the way they
think.
“My dad talks to them about re-
specting your parents, respecting
your family, how to act at home,”
A.J. said. “He doesn’t charge these
families anything (except for one
case of bottled water and one case of
Gatorade), doesn’t make any money
off it. He does it out of the goodness
of his heart ...”
Eppy uses the workouts to work
on the boys’ hearts, too, putting a
little Samoan in them.
“You’ve got to love and take care
of your parents, make your par-
ents happy,” he said he tells them.
“That’s pretty huge for me. In the
Samoan culture, we respect our el-
ders and our parents.”
Saturday, August 31, 2019
“Eppy” Epenesa poses for a photograph with athletes who participate in his summer condition-
ing drills. The drills are free and teach more than conditioning.
Edwardsville High athletics direc-
tor Alex Fox said he sees the effects
of Eppy’s messages in the school.
“Absolutely,” Fox said. “The kids
have embraced the Samoan culture.
The kids I see him working with,
they’re taking care of their grades,
they’re model citizens. There’s a
connection. It’s a total package. It’s a
great story.”
Stephanie works in finance for
The Boeing Company in St. Louis
County. She was a scholarship vol-
leyball player at Iowa Wesleyan
when she met Eppy there. Samantha
was the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s
All-Metro Player of the Year in vol-
leyball in 2011 and went on to be a
three-year starter at Purdue. She
now manages a restaurant in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla.
“Samantha was a hard-worker,”
Stephanie said.
“I remember when A.J. was in
sixth grade,” Johnes said. “His mom
came to me and said she was taking
A.J. off the team for a week. I said
‘You sure you want to do that?’ She
said his grade dropped a little bit in
one of his classes so she was taking
him off the team.
“It never happened again. And I
didn’t question his mom again.”
Back to that backyard. The work-
outs are for the summer. Then there
are those fall Friday nights.
“After home games my dad al-
ways cooks pork steaks and teriyaki
chicken, makes a lot of food we
always eat,” A.J. said. “But other
people bring side dishes, wings,
meatballs, buffalo chicken dip.”
Three grills are in the backyard.
Colored lights are strung. Torches
are lighted. Tropical music plays. A
sliver of downstate Illinois becomes
a sliver of Samoa.
“It’s not just my family,” Eppy
said. “We have an awesome group of
parents who cook together and help
make it happen.
“It brings the community togeth-
er. It’s a team environment.”
“Team” basically means anyone
the Epenesas know.
“It’s all about family,” Eppy said.
“It’s all about God.”
Samoa isn’t just a concept for the
Epenesa children. Eric and Iose ac-
companied Eppy there a year ago for
a wedding in which Eppy was the
best man.
● The Gazette 9B
Jim Slosiarek photos/The Gazette
“All my dad’s siblings live on the
West Coast or in Samoa,” A.J. said.
He has three cousins from California
who have played Division I football.
One (Jacob Tuioti-Mariner) is in
training camp with the NFL’s At-
lanta Falcons.
“I didn’t have much exposure
to (Samoa) growing up in Illinois,”
he said. “but my dad tried his best
to put his culture into our lives so
that I can really embrace it and take
pride in it, which I do.”
A.J. is tattooed with what he
calls “typical Samoan designs — the
birds, the tortoise shells, the fish,
the leaves. All of these just have
significant meaning in everyday life
in Samoan culture.” He has been to
Samoa twice, as a 6-year-old and a
sixth-grader.
“I got to experience the everyday
life of what my dad did as a child,”
he said.
It seems a given A.J. is NFL-
bound after this, his junior season.
His parents aren’t interested in the
topic right now.
“His dad mostly tells him how
much better he can be,” Stephanie
said. “I tell him ‘You’re not that guy
yet.’ That’s how we keep his feet on
the ground. He’s got to do the little
things. It takes a whole team.”
Eppy added: “We block every-
thing out like we did during recruit-
ing. I really don’t care what’s said
about him.”
The Epenesas put Edwardsville in
their circle, but the reverse is true,
too. Last November, Iowa rolled to a
63-0 win over Illinois in Champaign.
The weather was raw. Epenesa’s
performance included a forced
fumble, a return of that fumble for a
touchdown, a quarterback sack and
a blocked punt all within a two-min-
ute period of the second quarter.
“I think we had over 200 people
from Edwardsville there,” A.J. said.
“... People made the effort to come
and watch me, and it made me very
happy, to say the least.
“... I was almost in tears by how
appreciative I was of the people from
my hometown coming and support-
© 2019 The Gazette
ing. When I really thought about it,
it made me so happy and made me
really appreciate this is my town.”
There’s a word for that: Aiga.
Comments: (319) 368-8840;
mike.hlas@thegazette.com