{"id":160642,"date":"2022-06-14T14:19:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T00:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=160642"},"modified":"2022-06-15T13:50:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T23:50:09","slug":"in-memoriam-rockne-freitas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/06\/14\/in-memoriam-rockne-freitas\/","title":{"rendered":"In memoriam: Pioneering Native Hawaiian educator and athlete Rockne Freitas"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"Rockne<\/p>\n

A powerful voice, once-in-a-generation, sports phenom\u2014just a few of the superlatives used to describe the former pro-football standout and University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> leader Rockne Freitas<\/strong>, who died on June 8, 2022, at the age of 76.<\/p>\n

Freitas, who towered over others at 6\u20196\u201d, was a pioneer in Native Hawaiian advancement in both higher education and professional sports. He graduated and played football at Kamehameha Schools and Oregon State University and had a stand-out career with the NFL<\/abbr>\u2019s Detroit Lions.<\/p>\n

\"Rockne
John Freitas was proud when son Rockne finished his dissertation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After returning to Hawaiʻi<\/span> he served in multiple roles in the 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa Athletics Department, including a brief stint as athletics director and then as vice president of University Relations. Along the way, he earned master\u2019s and doctoral degrees in education from 东精影业<\/abbr> M\u0101noa. <\/p>\n

“Rockne is truly one of a kind. Someone like him comes around once in a generation,” said former 东精影业<\/abbr> President Albert Simone<\/strong>, who hired Freitas to serve as vice president for university relations in 1990. “I recalled him at the State Capitol, often several times a week at 11:00 p.m. and later, meeting with key legislative leaders, assisting them in their work and me in our work together at 东精影业<\/abbr>. I concluded then, and this conclusion was reinforced multiple times, that he would add remarkable benefit to the 东精影业<\/abbr> mission and that my own work would be so much improved with him at my side.”<\/p>\n