The Pahukoas: the family that plays together

Published 10:29 pm Monday, January 2, 2012

LAKE STEVENS — In the months after their son Brady was born, Jeff and Debby Pahukoa waited eagerly for his first word.

Like most parents, they expected to hear “mama” or “dada.” But when the moment came, “he just looked at me and clear as day said, ‘Ball,’” Debby Pahukoa recalled. “That was his very first word.”

For anyone knowing the Pahukoas, then or now, it could hardly be a surprise.

Jeff Pahukoa was a standout football player at Marysville-Pilchuck High School and the University of Washington before going on to play five seasons in the National Football League. Debby Pahukoa was a volleyball player at Snohomish High School and Edmonds Community College.

And these days the Pahukoa offspring are making names for themselves at Lake Stevens High School. Brady, now an 18-year-old senior, was a standout wide receiver and defensive back on the Vikings football team in the fall, and is a starting forward on the basketball team. His sisters, identical twins Brittney and Brooke, are 16-year-old juniors who won a combined 12 varsity letters as freshmen and sophomores before dropping soccer this year to focus on basketball and track.

Seeing his kids excel in sports “is very enjoyable and very fulfilling,” said Jeff Pahukoa, whose younger brother Shane followed him to the UW and then to the NFL. “People are always coming up and saying, ‘Your kids are awesome. They’re just incredible athletes.’ And as people sometimes tell me, they’re living up to the names me and my brother established in this county.”

But along with their athletic gifts, “they’re also great students and they’re involved in leadership,” he said. “So it’s just a great feeling. Every day I appreciate the things they’ve done.”

“I’m so proud,” added his wife. “And I feel so blessed.”

Somewhere along the way, Jeff Pahukoa sat the three kids down for a fatherly chat. Sports would be encouraged, he told them, but never required. If the youngsters had other interests and chose not to turn out, that was OK.

It was a terrific speech, but it had little effect. Because as Brittney explained, being a Pahukoa means “you can’t not play sports. That wouldn’t happen. It’s like a family thing we do.”

And even though “it’s always been our decision,” Brooke agreed, “we were raised to be involved in sports.”

There was, of course, another issue and one felt mostly by Brady. As a football player named Pahukoa, he has felt the weight of expectations from folks outside the family who associate Pahukoas with football stardom.

“Even this season, I knew people were comparing me,” he said. “(They were) looking at me as a Pahukoa and not just as Brady.”

The three kids “can’t help people asking them about their dad or their uncle,” Jeff Pahukoa said. “And I know Brady has felt the pressure because people say, ‘Oh, you’re a Pahukoa, you should be awesome.’ But when you’re a teenager and you’re just trying to be you, that’s a lot of pressure.”

So it was time for another conversation. Jeff Pahukoa made it clear those expectations were not his own and in time, he said, “we overcame that hurdle.”

These days, the biggest challenges for the Pahukoa family are logistical. In a usual week of the basketball season, the Lake Stevens boys team plays on Tuesday, the girls team on Wednesday, and both teams on Friday. That means Jeff and Debby are at three games most weeks, and on Fridays they split up so one parent will be at each game.

“And then we text each other the whole time,” he said. “How are the kids doing? How’s the team doing? Thank goodness we have unlimited texting.”

Even on nights with no games, there are practices and other activities that keep the family on the go. Debby Pahukoa, who works full-time in Bothell, said it is not unusual for her to leave home at 6:30 a.m. and return at 10:30 p.m.

“We’re running everywhere,” she said. “But in our family we don’t know any better. We’ve always been busy. For us it’s normal.”

“We have multiple calendars,” her husband said, “and we try to fit everything in as best we can. Somehow we kind of make it work.”

Because the basketball teams took time off at Christmas, all five Pahukoas had several leisurely days together. “It was really weird,” Brady said. “Everyone was home because we didn’t have sports. It was fun, but that just doesn’t happen very often.”

Six months from now, all this will start to change. Brady will graduate in June and head off to college in the fall — he doesn’t know where yet, but he hopes to play a sport, probably football — and the twins will follow a year later.

“Debby and I have always talked about how at some point this is all going to end,” Jeff Pahukoa said. “It’s going to slow down next year, and then the next year it’ll be down to nothing. And Debby and I just laugh because we’re asking ourselves, ‘What are we going to do?’ We won’t have to be going to sporting events at some gym or field.

“But we’ve also talked about how it’s exciting that it’s coming to an end because it’ll be a new chapter for them. We’re excited for them to have a college experience, but at the same time we’re trying to soak in everything that we can right now.”

In other words, adding more great memories to an already great family legacy.

“Being able to be a part of what they’ve done in sports,” Jeff Pahukoa said, “I wouldn’t change that for the world.”