Linda Lee Fehoko and her husband Vili have raised four sons, all of whom earned scholarships to play Division I football. Being as three of those sons, Sam, V.J. and Breiden have chosen to be Red Raiders, the Texas Tech fan base has developed a special connection with the Fehoko family.
Photo Courtesy of Linda Fehoko
As first generation immigrants to the United States, Linda and Vili instilled a work ethic in their children that has become a way of life and which led each son to earn a free college education. The relationship between a family from Honolulu, Hawaii and the people of west Texas might seem odd and improbable at first glance. But when Mrs. Fehoko talks about why she and her family love Lubbock and Texas Tech, it becomes clear that the Polynesian and west Texan cultures are more similar than one might believe.
Below is part one of Wreck ‘Em Red’s exclusive interview with Mrs. Linda Lee Fehoko in which she reveals why a family from Hawaii came to feel like Lubbock, Texas is their second home.
WER: You live in paradise, in Hawaii…what was your first impression of Lubbock the first time you just cam into town. Was it like being on the moon?
"LF: Well…of course… without the beaches but we are originally from the North Shore [of the island of Oahu, Hawaii] so if you ever went to the north shore and saw the small communities Laie and Kahuku we lived there. The boys were born there so apart from not having the beach, when we first stepped foot in Lubbock we fell in love with the place because…It’s a nice small enough place where’s the community’s close and I think what attracted us was just the people. And the people were just so warm and accepting. And I think for us as Polynesians that’s just our, you know that’s very intrinsic for us. We always tend to be the kindest and the most loving people. So when we went [to Lubbock] and we were accepted, it just blew us away. You know people were just so nice, they knew we were the Fehokos. They would stop us and they would say thank you for bringing our son Sam to Tech, and they look for big things. And then of course, you know, Leach had him doing the Haka [dance] and we’d get a lot of feedback from that, so it’s just an awesome feeling that people have embraced our culture and have embraced us as their family."
WER: Do you see similarities between the west Texas culture and the Polynesian culture, even though they seem to be worlds apart?
"LF: You know, I see that a lot and I basically didn’t think there was a place in the mainland that would be similar to Hawaii, but the west Texas culture where people know each other, where people live in a community, what’s appreciative of that is that’s still there in the changing world today. And you can go from Hawaii to [west Texas] and it’s like “Wow, we love it,” I mean, just to land in a place that’s in the middle of cornfields and stuff like that… It reminded us, “we’re in the middle of the ocean, you guys are in the middle of the desert.” [Laughs] So that being a similarity."
WER: I’ve been a Red Raider since 1999 and I’ve never seen a family be more beloved and more embraced by a community than the Fehoko family. I heard a story that at the spring game one year the line to get your autograph that was longer than any other autograph line.
"LF: [Laughs] I don’t know what they were thinking [Laughs] but I think it was the coconut headband. I think it was free. That enticed them to stand in the line."
WER: I think it’s a little more than that. I think the city of Lubbock really does admire you because you have the values that are so intrinsic in west Texas, and I think people in Lubbock are really appreciative of your family as well.
"LF: You know, we appreciate [the people of Lubbock], but the same is here. We could not do enough for the city of Lubbock…You know, our family is so passionate about what we do; we would give the shirts off our back for the city of Lubbock. My entire family, you know it’s crazy; it sounds crazy, but I never would have thought of this 10 to 15 years ago but the Lord has his hand in a lot of things, you know, and we just believe our boys have their mission in Lubbock, Texas. And as a family we look at that like, we just feel that’s our family. No matter what, that’s our family. We brag about it, we brag about the Red Raiders. Everybody knows, you go on our Facebook and it’s like, we go crazy about the Red Raiders and the city of Lubbock. And unless people go there and feel what we feel, then they understand where we’re coming from. We get a lot of questions, especially my husband because he’s always in the public eye here, you know being the Warrior [mascot at the University of Hawaii home games], he’s often asked, “Why Texas Tech? Why the city of Lubbock?” And he says, “You know what? Those people are just like us here in Hawaii and they love the culture.” And that’s the honest truth; we’ve traveled quite a few states in the main land and quite a few cities and towns. And we’ve never seen anything like Lubbock. I mean that community is just like, oh, we would do anything for them. You know, please reiterate that, we just love the city and the community of Lubbock."
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