I received this recap from somebody I know who attended a fireside in Orem where Kalani spoke last Saturday evening. I thought that this was something the board would enjoy. These anecdotes reinforce to me how great a man we have in Coach Sitake. I know its long, but it contains info about Kalani that I was not aware of. Enjoy...

"On Saturday evening the Sharon Stake had a Father's and Son's banquet. The guest speaker was Kalani Sitake - BYU head football coach.

Travis Hansen, former BYU basketball star, is the one who got Sitake to come speak to us. He is in the stake as well. Sitake and Travis have been close friends since they both played at BYU during the same time.

Sitake's parents divorced when he was 6 years old. He didn't see his mother again until he was 24yrs old. So he was raised by his father. He was born in Tonga but lived in many places, Hawaii, California, Florida, Utah, Missouri... He served a mission in Oakland, CA.

I'll share a couple of stories that he told us.

When he was 7 he was a student at Cascade Elementary in Orem. He said they were dirt poor. His dad worked at Geneva. He said he was a broken kid. Didn't have any friends. His mom totally abandoned him. He was lost. He said one day a few BYU football players came to Cascade to visit the school. After the assembly they had recess and the BYU players went outside to play with the kids. He was in awe by how fast they could run and how far they could kick the soccer ball and throw a football. He sat and watched them play with other kids. He never played at recess, he just sat against the wall and watched. He had no friends. As he was standing there against the wall of the school watching the BYU football players play with the other kids something happened. One of the players saw him standing there alone and came over to talk to him. The football player came over and told him that God loved him and gave him some encouraging words. That short interaction w the football player may not have seemed like much to the BYU player, but it was a huge moment for Sitake. The player gave him attention, showed him compassion and love and told him he wasn't alone and that God loved him. He said that moment he knew he was going to play football for BYU. This was an epiphany and defining moment in his life. He later met that football player 20 years later and asked if he remembered doing that at Cascade Elementary. The football player didn't remember that particular moment, which didn't surprise him. But it was a HUGE moment to Kalani.

Another story: one day Sitake sat and watched the Ten Commandments, the one with Charlton Heston. After watching it he wanted to look up the ten commandments. He opened up in Exodus and read them. One of them stood out to him, the only one that came with a promise. Exodus 20:12 "Honour they father and they mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." This commandment was profound to him because he had a turbulent relationship with his father. He learned that his life got way better and easier when he listened and obeyed his father. His dad gave him curfews and had rules. He followed those rules and made sure he was home when his father asked him to be.

He also said his dad has been married 3 times. Yet, his father is the "go to" guy when it comes to marital/relationship advice. He said his dad is always "spot-on" when it comes to marital advice and advice in other areas of life.

He spoke about how important his wife is in his life. He said she is everything to him. They are truly a partnership/companionship. When he speaks, she always reads his talks and helps him make changes and gives him suggestions. She is his compass and he listens to her and holds her opinions and thoughts in very high regard. She has been a big influence on how he coaches and sees football as a whole. He used to think that winning was everything. Now he realizes that the competition is everything. To limit your marker for success only on winning the game is self-defeating. She has helped him open his eyes on this and other areas.

He played HS football at Timpview. When he was a junior they moved to Missouri and he played his senior year there. He was recruited all over the place. He committed to play for Iowa (Hawkeye's). When he told his dad that he committed to Iowa his dad said, "That's great that you committed to Iowa, but you are signing with BYU." Lol.

He said he never knew what true love was like until he held his first child in his arms.

When he was 18 he graduated from HS and was headed to BYU. He felt like he was a man. He went out with his buddies and his dad told him to be home by 11pm. He wanted to test his dad and was going to be home late on purpose. His buddies were afraid that his dad would be angry at them so they told Sitake to go home on time. Well, he waited and went home at 11:07pm. He walked through the door and his dad was there waiting for him. He was expected to get the wrath from his dad. His dad walked up to him, gave him a hug and said, "Son, I'm glad you made it home safe." That's it. As he was getting ready for bed he walked down the hallway and noticed his dad was on his knees praying. He heard his dad praying for him. This was another humbling moment in his life.

The entire evening was fantastic. It was so cool to be in such a small intimate group watching Sitake speak. Kalani is such a down-to-earth, humble guy. He is fun. He has so many awesome stories. He got choked up and cried a few of times during the talk. I walked away very humbled and strengthened by his words and a new found respect for that great man.

When Sitake finished the stake president went up and gave him a big bouquet of flowers to take to his wife. He was very grateful. Being that mothers day was the following morning. He said he was planning on stopping at Wills Pit Stop on his way home to get something for her. Lol.

I came away with a few themes that I learned. 1 - honor, respect, obey your parents. 2. show compassion/love to others and go out of your way to do something kind. You never know what a small act of kindness will have an impact on the life on another. Like that moment when he was 7."