Los Angeles Rams first trip to Maui in 1972 spurred a generation of fans, including Mayor Bissen

Longtime Maui News sportwriter Rodney Yap was 11 years old in 1972 when the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams sent some of their best players to Maui for a youth camp at the behest of Haleakalā Dairy marketing director Charlie Nalepa and president Peter Baldwin.

There was NFL MVP quarterback Roman Gabriel, star wide receiver Jack Snow, running back Les Josephson who was known as the “Blond Bull,” and defensive end Deacon Jones and tackle Merlin Olsen, part of the “Fearsome Foursome.”

“These were stud players,” Yap said. “I mean, Roman Gabriel. And then the swag that they gave us. Oh my God. We’re talking T-shirts, footballs, mugs. I have a mug with Roman Gabriel’s name on it still. An autographed mug,”

Yap said: “All of us became Rams fans. I’m talking about this full generation of people.”

The Rams were back on Maui this week for their 2025 mandatory minicamp — dubbed the “Mauicamp.” The one workout session open to the public on Wednesday drew 6,000 fans, the limit set by organizers.

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen was in attendance at the Rams camp on Tuesday at War Memorial Stadium in Wailuku and agreed with Yap’s assessment that their generation of Mauians became Rams fans largely because of that kids camp 53 years ago. 

Yap, Bissen and Maui County Parks and Recreation Director Pat McCall, all members of the class of 1979 at St. Anthony High School, attended that Rams camp in 1972. It was held on the field adjacent to Coach Soichi Sakamoto Pool. War Memorial Stadium was built a year later.

“Roman Gabriel had some kind of relationship with Maui, a connection with the people here,” Bissen said.

Gabriel was the NFL’s first quarterback of Filipino-American descent.

Yap remembers being at the Baldwin High School auditorium that was packed with kids who wanted to see the professional players.

“These Rams guys were so gracious. I remember that,” Yap said. “To this kid, that was a big deal. So, we all really gravitated toward the Rams since that time.”

Bissen remembers the camp particularly well because it helped him become a better defensive end for the Trojans’ 1978 Maui Interscholastic League championship football team. The Trojans claimed the MIL football championship for the first time in 20 years during his senior season.

“So one of the Rams on defense was teaching us to watch for the fingers of the offensive linemen,” Bissen said. “When they go down on their three-point stance and they put a lot of weight on it forward, that means it was a running play. And if they were very light, then they were going to pull back and defend pass blocking.”

Bissen said he doesn’t know why he remembers that one subtle guidance.

“I probably don’t remember anything else they told us, but that one thing stuck with me,” he said. “And so I just remembered them saying, ‘Hey, watch for where they put their weight.’ And you could get an idea, you get a jump on what the play is.”

Bissen also said he still has a couple of the mugs that were given out to the campers from Haleakalā Dairy with the picture of the Rams players.

“So I still have Roman Gabriel’s and I think I have Jack Snow’s, too,” Bissen said. “I don’t know what happened to the rest of the set, but I’m sure a lot of guys my age held on to those.”

Yap’s Roman Gabriel mug says “Gabe’s Gang” on one side and has an outline of the player’s face and autograph on the other side.

McCall was at the Rams minicamp this week to make sure things went smoothly in his role as Parks and Recreation Department director, but as he wore his “Mauicamp” Rams logo shirt he could not help but think back to that camp so long ago.

“It was held down on … what we used to call the pool field,” McCall said. “It’s where Baldwin (High School) used to have their football practice and whatnot, and all of our Pop Warner games used to be played down there. And it’s now Little League fields 4 and 5.”

Like his classmates, McCall especially recalls the presence of Gabriel.

“There were multiple stations. And of course, like any other kid at that age, I thought I was going to be a quarterback,” McCall said on Monday. “So I made sure I got into the Roman Gabriel rotation.”

McCall said he will never forget being a little kid mesmerized by the size of the players, “looking at how big their hands were on the football.”

But what he remembers most is “seeing someone you’d seen on TV. Back then we used to get the games. They weren’t satellite delayed, they were one week later. But we got all the Rams games.”

McCall remembers watching a punt that felt like it was in the air forever. 

“I’d never seen a human being kick a ball that far and that high,” McCall said. “And then one of the (defensive backs) was just sort of playing around and just doing punt returns. … I was standing by one of them when he did it. And I’d never seen a human being run that fast.”

McCall said he knew the experience of the kids this week — 200 flag football girls and 200 tackle football boys from the Maui Interscholastic League enjoyed an on-field clinic with the Rams on Tuesday — would be similar to his more than a half century ago.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s what it is to be a pro,’” McCall said. “And here I am … decades later and, and I still remember it quite, quite vividly and I think that’s just a great opportunity for our kids now.”

Yap, who went on to a 20-year career as a sportswriter at The Maui News from 1985 to 2005, said this week will likely spur a new set of Rams fans here.

“And it’s good to hear that they’re back and they’re going to build that fan base on Maui again,” Yap said. “What an unbelievable opportunity for today’s kids, just like us back in the day.”