Surfriders Up!

Photo by Lawrence Tabudlo

Drop in on the Kailua High School campus these days and you’ll recognize that happiness is in the air. It’s a lingering feeling, likely a carryover courtesy of the varsity football team’s epic ride in 2025.

Eight months after the squad ripped off 10-straight wins, punctuated by its 13-9 victory over defending state champ Kapa‘a at John Kauinana Stadium in Mililani, Surfrider nation remains enthusiastically upbeat — and why shouldn’t it be? The win not only gave the tiny public school its first-ever Hawaiʻi High School Athletic Association’s Division I state title, but it also provided the Windward O‘ahu community with the most prep football excitement it’s had since legendary coach Alex Kane led an undefeated Kailua squad — buoyed by the standout play of Peter O’Sullivan, Eddie Chung and Hal Fitchett — to the O‘ahu Interscholastic Association football championship way back in 1965.

Of course, today’s source of happiness is ascribed, at least partly, to the towering 6-foot-6 figure who regularly patrols the campus field during the team’s summer training, strength and conditioning drills. That person is the aptly named head coach Joe Hauoli Wong, who certainly loves leading his teams to victory, especially when it culminates in a championship.

But most of all, the Surfriders’ commander relishes the challenge of turning boys into young men, and young men into leaders.

“When it comes to developing kids, they don’t necessarily begin as captains and leaders because they all come from different backgrounds,” Wong says. “But to watch kids start off not as every coach’s pick to be a starter or to be a captain, and then to see them develop into one by the end of their career because they bought into our system and trusted the process, that’s the most rewarding part to me of being a head coach.”

For Wong, happiness comes as his players embrace personal responsibility. It also occurs when they accept the call to help guide teammates toward common goals, an admirable quality that’s as important on today’s gridiron as it will be on tomorrow’s other fields of life.

“I hold them all accountable when they fill that role as a leader, so that when they go on in life, when they do graduate, whether they go to college or they start a professional career in something else, they have that leadership skill to be successful,” he explains. “We want them to be people who will work their butt off, who will remember when an assistant coach teaches them lessons like, ‘Hey, if you’re on time, you’re late. But if you’re early, you’re on time.’

“Hopefully, they remember those things in life.”

Yet despite all the positive energy that remains on campus, Wong can’t help but be mildly irritated that his team will have to relinquish its crown without a fight this coming season. Still, he’s finding ways to laugh off the reward for last year’s winning campaign: advancement to the league’s 2026 Open Division, where traditional powerhouses like Kahuku, Campbell and Mililani await.

“I just was joking around with some of my staff members because every division or state champion across the nation will be able to defend their title — except us,” Wong says. “And the only reason we won’t be able to defend our Division I title is because we have to move up to the Open Division.

“So, yeah, that kind of sucks.”

And yet, even he admits to looking forward to meeting the obstacle head-on.

“It’s a big challenge for us because we’re going into the top division of the state, and we are the third or fourth smallest school in the state,” he says. “But we’re up for it.”

The Surfriders will once again field a numbers-challenged roster (around 40, according to the coach) and few returning starters (four). But Wong also sees talent in the receiving and linebacking corps and believes his offensive line “will be pretty good, even though we won’t have as much depth along the line that I’d like to have.”

Fans can get a first-look at this year’s Surfriders when they kick off a three-game preseason schedule on Saturday, Aug. 8, at Moanalua, followed by contests against Kamehameha-Hawaiʻi (Aug. 15) and Wai‘anae (Aug. 21). The team will then get a break before hosting Campbell in its season-opener on Sept. 19.

“The key for us is how healthy can we be for the duration of the season?” says Wong. “If we stay healthy, we’ll compete with everybody. We have some good players and we have an awesome staff that will get these kids ready to play.

“But at the end of the day, it’s who can stay healthy and who can execute the plays on offense and defense,” he adds. “Those are the teams that generally will be there in the end.”

Wong grew up in Waimānalo and, like most youth from the rural, beach-adjacent community, chose to attend Kailua High School and play ball there. It would be his first opportunity at competing in pads because prior to his freshman year, he had only played one year of flag football.

“They didn’t have the big boys league back then,” he explains, “so I had to play flag football because I was too big, too heavy.”

As a Surfrider, he was finally able to show what he could do. Blessed with a no-nonsense, aggressive mentality and a powerful frame, Wong performed double duty as both an offensive and defensive lineman.

Much like today’s roster, Kailua’s teams back then suffered from few available players. However, the thin rosters didn’t prevent the Surfriders from making the playoffs each year, Wong recalls, and during his sophomore campaign, the squad played Wai‘anae for the 1991 OIA championship.

“We had probably 28, maybe 30 players on the team at the time, so we had to play both ways,” Wong recalls. “But we always competed and we always put a good product on the field.”

Following his time at Kailua, Wong attended University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa for two years before transferring to Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He played offensive tackle well enough at both stops that the pros, intrigued by his size and ability, came calling.

Drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the seventh round (244th pick overall) of the 1999 NFL Draft, Wong wound up playing seven years of professional football. During that period, he also suited up for the Philadelphia Eagles and the Oakland Raiders.

At age 28, however, he says he suffered a Lisfranc fracture to his foot, an injury that ultimately convinced him to walk away from the league while he still could.

“I knew I had some years left in me, but coming back from the injury like that took longer than normal,” Wong explains. “And although my body was still in pretty good shape — it wasn’t broken down and whatnot — I just felt that I had a good run and enjoyed my time in the NFL but that I was ready to move on to that next chapter of life.”

Wong is grateful for his time in the NFL, where he played under several top-tier coaches: Jim Harbaugh, Jimmy Johnson, Andy Reid and Jon Gruden. He also counts playing in Super Bowl XXXVII and earning an AFC Championship ring among his most cherished memories and possessions.

“Playing in the Super Bowl against Tampa Bay was special, even though it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to,” says Wong about the Buccaneers’ 48-21 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Jan. 26, 2003. “But it’s still a proud moment to be a part of that Super Bowl. You work your whole life to get to the NFL and then you reach the pinnacle, and I mean win or lose, it’s still etched in history, right? And I’m part of that team and I have a ring, but it’s just not the Super Bowl ring. But that’s still an accomplishment that I’m proud of. I mean, only 65 or so players can say that they have that ring and so that’s still pretty special to me.”

Following his NFL retirement in 2005, Wong returned to the islands and took a job at Hawaiʻi Iron Workers Local 625 (today, he serves as safety coordinator at the union). He also joined the staff of Gary Rosolowich at Kailua. Nine years later, Rosolowich resigned as head coach, paving the way for Wong to assume control of the Surfriders.

This year, Wong enters his 12th season at the helm and his no-nonsense, practical approach to the game remains.

“We’ll compete with everybody,” he promises. “That’s what we do here at Kailua; that’s our brand of football. We’re always going to give you our best on Friday or Saturday games and we won’t ever shy away from any competition.”

That attitude — coupled with Wong’s blue-collar lunch pail work ethic — resonates well with his players, including his own son, Esaiah Wong, a first-year offensive tackle for the California Golden Bears. If anything, they’re finding happiness while learning to model their approach to football and to life after their very determined coach.

“For me, it all started at Kailua. I knew what I wanted to be then and where I wanted to go, and I knew the work that it would take. A lot of people just don’t understand that. People think all you have to do is show up and you’re gonna be a standout high school player, and then you’re gonna go to college and then get drafted by the NFL. Well, it doesn’t work that way,” Wong says.

“There’s so much time and dedication and sacrifice that goes along with that. And, as I shared with my son, I told him that I worked hard all the time and put effort into everything, but as hard as I worked, I was still only drafted in the seventh round. So I told him, ‘Imagine how hard you’re going to have to work and how much more you gotta give than what I gave?’

“So I try to use that as a tool with my kids, hopefully to motivate and encourage them.”