The first person Troy Polamalu thanked by name during Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech on Saturday night was Kennedy Polamalu, the Vikings' running backs coach.
"My uncle Kennedy instilled in me an authentic respect and passion for the game," the former Steelers safety said. "His intensity has inspired not just me, but countless athletes, to revere and love the game, at all costs. Uncle, you're a true coach, not just in sport, but in life."
The salutation came about three minutes into Troy Polamalu's speech. By that point, Kennedy Polamalu had been misty-eyed for about ... three minutes.
"Man, I couldn't stop crying," Kennedy Polamalu said Tuesday. "When he got on stage, I couldn't stop crying, he didn't have to say anything about me, it was just the moment. Not only for him, but for my family, my culture. Just wish that my mom and dad, my older brother Salu — who he lived with in Oregon — were around to see it."
The Polamalu family hails from American Samoa, where Kennedy was born. When they moved to California in the 1970s, they shortened their last name to Pola. Kennedy changed his last name back to Polamalu in 2011 before returning to his native country to help with Troy's football camp. When Troy talked early in his speech about "proudly representing my family's lineage" as a first generation American Samoan, TV cameras cut to Kennedy giving him a standing ovation.
"You know, it's a very poor country," Kennedy Polamalu said. "It's very family-oriented, the village pretty much. It's a Matai system. My dad was the Matai [or chief] and basically, you took care of the whole village. And that culture has continued all the way through our lives. The humility and the service, that's part of the culture. You take care of your family, you stay humble and you put your head down and go to work. You don't have to talk about it, you don't have to brag about it, you just do your job."
Kennedy Polamalu was at USC for three of his nephew's four years with the Trojans, and the two still talk football regularly. The fact he made it into Troy Polamalu's speech, though, was a surprise.
"I did not [know ahead of time]," Kennedy Polamalu said. "He's just, he's been that way his whole life. Very passionate, very determined, he was a very coachable kid when I had him at a young age. We talk ball all the time. It was a nice mention."
