Tuinei, Cowboy Pro Bowler, Has Come A Long Way From Troubled Past

HONOLULU, Hawaii - While some of his NFC Pro Bowl teammates loosened up on the Aloha Stadium turf, Mark Tuinei huddled with two Honolulu police officers, talking about plans for a No Hope in Dope public-service announcement, one of several he would be doing.

Once upon a time his conversations with the police were not so congenial.

They did not often end with an appreciative pat on the back. He was not someone they envisioned as a role model for the community enlisted for TV spots, speeches and benefit appearances.

People who watched Tuinei play football for Punahou School and the University of Hawaii say he has come a long way as a player, from a raw free-agent defensive tackle to two Pro Bowls as a 6-5 acclaimed performer on the Dallas Cowboys.

Few performers in today's Pro Bowl game have come as far in their lives as this humblest of giants from Waianae who will be back playing in his own backyard.

"If you know Mark, you know he richly deserves everything he's getting now," said Col. Bill Olds, a former professor and Tuinei's mentor. "I can't think of anybody who has worked harder to get where he is."

Fourteen years in the NFL are testament to what his talents and tenacity have accomplished on the field.

"The beauty of what Mark has accomplished is that it shows it is never too late to take control," said Doug Bennett, his high-school football coach at Punahou.

"It's like they say in football, it isn't where you line up, but where you finish up. Here is somebody who has not only changed for the better but has found so many ways to give something back to the communities around him. He's a positive role model that young people can look up to."

There was never any doubt that Tuinei had the ability to be a success on the football field.

At Punahou, he was the league defensive player of the year, helping lead the Buffanblu to the 1977 Prep Bowl. There was a football career divided between UCLA and the Rainbows.

But a bigger, more troubling, question through his college years was whether he'd stay out of trouble long enough to see how far his talents could take him. For a while he seemed destined to appear in mug shots instead of national television.

He was expelled from Punahou (though later granted a diploma in recognition of his community service) about a month before graduation, declared persona non grata at the UCLA dorms and suspended at Hawaii. He served time in jail on an assault conviction.

"Basically, I was carefree and irresponsible when I was younger," Tuinei said. "I didn't think about the consequences."

I'm just glad I was surrounded by so many people who cared about me as a person and not just as an athlete.

"People like Col. Olds and my wife, Pono, who really got behind me. They helped me come to the realization that I was getting older and I had to straighten."