KALAHEO — For the last three years, 81-year-old Betty Ihara of Kalaheo has fashioned a ti leaf lei for Naval Academy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo to wear during the rivalrous Army versus Navy football game. In 2010 and 2011,
KALAHEO — For the last three years, 81-year-old Betty Ihara of Kalaheo has fashioned a ti leaf lei for Naval Academy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo to wear during the rivalrous Army versus Navy football game.
In 2010 and 2011, Niumatalolo could be spotted on the sideline wearing the garland as he led the Midshipmen to victory.
The 2012 matchup on Saturday was no exception.
For the 11th straight year, Navy came out on top, defeating the Army Black Knights 17-13 in a nail-biting, emotional finish. And, once again, the lei — made 5,000 miles from where the game was played in Philadelphia — hung boldly around Niumatalolo’s neck from start to finish.
“I always put a note that it’s for the safety of his team,” Ihara said. “As for luck, who knows?”
Lei-making is Ihara’s passion. Although she has made hundreds, if not thousands, over the years, the ones made for the Navy coach are extra special.
“I do 11 strands of rope … for the 11 players on the field,” she said. “The big knot is what brings the team together, so the knot is (Niumatalolo).”
This year’s lei took Ihara several hours to make, including picking the leaves, cutting, clipping, ironing and weaving.
“I put a lot of love in it as I twist the leaves,” she said.
Ihara’s daughter Sharlyne Fallon, who works as a teacher in Orlando, Fla., has been attending the Army-Navy game for approximately 10 years with her husband Michael, who works in pharmaceuticals for Johnson & Johnson in the military division. The tradition of the lei started in 2010 when Sharlyne asked her mother if she would like to make one for Niumatalolo, a native of Laie, Hawai‘i, and a 1998 University of Hawai‘i graduate.
“I said, ‘Oh, I would be honored,’” Ihara recalls. “I fashioned the lei and sent it to (Sharlyne).”
Through a former student of hers, Sharlyne was able to give the lei to one of Navy’s assistant coaches. He told Sharlyne he didn’t think Niumatalolo would be willing to wear it during the game.
“I told (the assistant coach), ‘You don’t understand people form Hawai‘i,’” Sharlyne remembers.
Sure enough, Niumatalolo ran onto the field that day with the lei around his neck. Since then, Sharlyne has stayed in close contact with Niumatalolo’s secretary, each year setting up a time and place to hand over the special Hawaiian gift.
Last year, a cadet from the Naval Academy met her in the stands to accept the gift on behalf of the head coach. On Friday, a day before the 2012 game, Sharlyne delivered the lei — wrapped inside a copy of The Garden Island newspaper — to the coach’s hotel in Philadelphia.
“He welcomes it,” she said Thursday. “He has worn it every year. You have to watch closely because he kind of wears it under his jacket.”
On Saturday, the lei was not under his jacket, but in plain view.
According to Ihara, Niumatalolo was interviewed on the field last year by members of the media, who asked him about the woven garland.
“He said fans from Hawai‘i sent it to him,” she said.
In addition to the lei made for Niumatalolo, Ihara always fashions one for the coach’s wife.
“Got to remember the better half,” she said.
Ihara, a self-proclaimed “football nut,” said she was looking forward to watching Saturday’s bout and to catch a glimpse of her creation on TV.
Those who tuned in caught more than just a glimpse of Ihara’s creation, which stood out during both Niumatalolo’s half-time and post-game interviews. And as for luck, the lei certainly seems to be working.
Ihara was born and raised in Kalaheo, where she still lives. She has four daughters, two in Orlando and two in Kalaheo.
