A 39-Year-Old Former Golden Bears Football Star Graduates from Cal

The list of 12 names of Cal football players who graduated over the weekend had one name that requires special mention: Tyson Alualu.

Our 2026 graduates from the #1 Public University in the world 🎉#GoBears pic.twitter.com/M6WgHZoutf
— Cal Football (@CalFootball) May 16, 2026

Alualu is a 39-year-old father of six, including a 20-year-old son.

He was also one of Cal’s best defensive linemen in history, recording 26 tackles for loss in his four seasons with the Bears from 2006 through 2009, earning first-team all-Pac-10 honors in 2009 and second-team all-conference recognition in 2008.

Alualu left school to participate in the 2010 NFL draft and was the 10th overall pick in the first round. He played 14 NFL seasons before retiring after the 2023 season, earning more than $40 million in career salary. He was picked up late in the 2023 season by the Lions and helped Detroit's playoff push before calling it quits

So what does he do? He returns to Cal to get his degree.

He walked across the stage on Saturday to get his diploma, nearly 16 years after playing his final game at Cal – a 37-27 Poinsettia Bowl loss to Utah on December 23, 2009, when Alualu had 1.5 tackles for loss.

Alualu’s road to a Cal degree requires some background.

He enrolled at Cal in the summer of 2005, but, with the blessing of Cal head coach Jeff Tedford, the 18-year-old Alualu missed his true freshman season so he could return home to Hawaii, marry Desire Pomele and be present for the birth of his first child.

Desire had discovered she was pregnant before graduating from high school, and she told her feelings at the time to the Florida Times-Union in 2016, saying:

"I get emotional thinking about it all the time because if it were any other guy but Tyson, I would have been nervous," said Desire. "The only thing I was nervous about was being so young and having to be a parent, but I never doubted my relationship with Tyson. We were meant to be together."

Alualu returned to Cal after the 2005 season, enrolled at Cal in January 2006, lived with his wife and child in student housing, and the rest is history.

The fact that his father had been convicted several times and was in and out of prison during Alualu’s youth is a footnote to Alualu’s journey. It was important because Tyson said his father changed his ways and became a strong father figure.

Alaualu was on hand to provide a promotional video for Cal spring game:

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