BYU Golfers use NIL to Help Maui Youth Impacted by Wildfires
It feels like once a week a heartwarming story of charitable student-athletes seems to fall through the cracks of the national discourse of Name, Image, and Likeness. While the current instability of college athletics is noteworthy, highlighting the good that has stemmed from the NCAA’s 2021 NIL policy change is imperative to painting a full picture of the new era of college athletics. At BYU, two brothers encapsulate NIL as force for good.
Keanu Akina, a senior on the BYU golf team is utilizing his athlete status and NIL earnings to help those in his home community. In August of 2023, devastating wildfires ripped through Maui, leaving many families in this region left with nothing. Akina’s lineage had lived in the areas affected before his grandparents’ departure to Oahu, where Akina was raised. Keanu and his immediate family moved to Utah during his high school career, however, he remained very connected to his Hawaiian roots.
Akina and his family felt compelled to help their ancestral community during their time of need. Keanu thought that leveraging his position as golfer at BYU is the best way to make a difference. With the help of his NIL representatives at Oncoor Sports Marketing, Akina was able to connect with &Collar, a company that is no stranger to NIL endorsement deals. In 2022, the company worked with then BYU quarterback Jaren Hall, in a series of commercials.
When the Akina family spoke to those impacted by the fires, one thing was constant: the children in the area wanted nothing more than a new shirt to be able to wear to Church. The &Collar NIL deal looks to fulfill this need and will send a new white shirt from &Collar to every young boy at the two Mormon Tabernacles in the region, 165 in total.
Keanu included his younger brother Kihei into the deal as well. Kihei, a senior at Lone Peak High School, in Highland, Utah is currently committed to follow in his brothers’ footsteps and join the BYU golf team. Kihei will enter the BYU program with much different expectations than his older brother. While Keanu began his BYU golf journey as a walk-on, his little brother is an extremely highly touted recruit, being ranked in the top 25 of his graduating class and was named the 2023 USA Today High School Boys Golfer of the Year. Together the brothers will promote the &Collar brand and bring new shirts to children who have unfortunately seen more loss, sadness, and heartbreak than anyone at a young age should have to.
Without the support from local businesses this NIL deal would never have happened. This endorsement is the perfect illustration of why Kihei turned down offers from many top programs in the country to follow in his brothers’ footsteps at BYU. When interviewed by KSL.com, Kihei stated that he chose to play for the Cougars because of “support from the program and the people around BYU. It's in college and when you're playing you see the support, but especially after — whether golf works out or not. That support was really important for me."
It is this support from the BYU community that is going to help those in dire need. With a bright future ahead of both brothers on the golf course, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more philanthropy coming out of the golf team in Provo.
