Hall pass: Kamuela Borden

Perhaps the most impressive part of Iolani’s football dynasty is that the Raiders have seemed to have done it without the types of elite athletes who are inducted into the HHSAA Hall of Honor each year.

Iolani has put five football players in the Hall of Honor in its dynastic run when it won seven of eight Division II state titles since 2007, but Kamuela Borden is the first to break through since 2010. Most of those made their greatest strides in other sports.

Iolani Hall of Honor members since 2007:
Breland Almadova, 2009
Kela Marcial, 2009
Jarrett Arakawa, 2010
Andrew Skalman, 2010
Kamuela Borden, 2015

That leaves off excellent players like Reece Foy, Tanner Nishioka, Reid Saito, Sealii Epenesa and Lionel Fujioka, but some classes are harder to crack than others.

That’s what makes it so fitting that Borden broke through this year. The offensive lineman was part of two state titles in three years and never played in a year without an ILH crown. He is committed to Hawaii and plans on majoring in mechanical engineering but will probably take a two-year mission trip before he suits up for the Warriors.

Borden played left tackle for the Raiders, but Iolani coach Wendell Look says he is so gifted that his future might be as an NFL long snapper if he chooses to pursue it. The coach is certainly never going to underestimate him.

Look says Borden’s algebra teacher once told him that the captain is the only student to receive a perfect grade on every homework assignment in a year, and she teaches four classes. Borden has been on the honor roll throughout his entire academic career.

Borden didn’t limit his championships to Division II, providing a valuable post presence for the Division I state champions in basketball in his junior year and following it up with another ILH title as a senior.

The only time Borden was on a team that failed to win an ILH title was his sophomore year in basketball.

He punctuated his candidacy earlier this month in track and field, where his excellence could be quantified with hard numbers. He repeated as the state champion in the shot put, something only six other athletes have done. Among those, Shane Brostek, Joe Siofele and Bern Brostek are in the elite club that inducted its first class in 1983.

After slipping to third in the discus as a junior, Borden won the event at the state meet on Maui this year.

Only six other boys have swept both events in a single state meet in the Hall of Honor era, led by the Brosteks and Joe Siofele (twice).

Borden’s father, Russell, was on Pac-Five’s 1982 Prep Bowl squad.

Hall of Honor Members