Editor’s note: This Bedrock package contains two von Oelhoffen stories 25 years apart.
When Kimo von Oelhoffen thinks back to his favorite moment of his long NFL career, one memory stands above the rest and it doesn’t involve a crushing tackle or the celebration that followed the Pittsburgh Steelers’ victory in Super Bowl XL.
It happened two days before the game.
The Molokai native and his Steelers teammates had finished practicing on a Friday afternoon in Detroit, where they were preparing to face the Seattle Seahawks for the NFL championship on Feb. 5, 2006.
“Super Bowl week, Friday,” he said in a recent interview set up by Ozoon. “We’re gonna play on Sunday. And 35 minutes after practice at that domed stadium, there are 35 guys working out, doing the same thing they did for the previous five years, the previous year, the previous week. And the memory that always comes to mind was walking into that weight room and seeing those guys, the guns club, you know, hitting their arms on Friday.”
The scene captured the unwavering discipline that carried Pittsburgh to football’s biggest stage.
“I think at that point that’s when I knew we were gonna win a Super Bowl.”
Sure enough, the Steelers defeated Seattle 21-10, giving von Oelhoffen a championship ring in his sixth season with Pittsburgh.
The game also gave him an opportunity to test himself against two of the finest offensive linemen he ever faced.
“Walter Jones and Steve Hutchinson, those guys together were, I would say, the best I’d ever seen. I was actually glad I got to play the best in the best game.”
In 1994, von Oelhoffen’s NFL career began with the Cincinnati Bengals and included later stops with the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles. He appeared in 198 games over 14 seasons, recording more than 350 tackles and 26.5 sacks before retiring after the 2007 season.
Today, the former defensive lineman is back in the trenches, this time as a coach.
Von Oelhoffen, 55, is the defensive ends coach at NCAA Division II Central Washington under head coach Scott Power. The Wildcats are 8-2 overall and 8-0 in the Lone Star Conference, having clinched at least a share of the league title and a postseason berth.
Long before he was coaching college football or playing in the NFL, von Oelhoffen was a kid growing up in Kaunakakai.
After graduating from Molokai High, where he didn’t play football, he attended the University of Hawaii before moving on to Walla Walla Community College and completing his collegiate career at Boise State.
In October 2001, during his second season with the Steelers, von Oelhoffen spoke with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin about the road he had traveled from his tiny island to pro football. At the time, he was establishing himself on Pittsburgh’s defensive line.
A quarter-century later, he remains connected to the islands and encouraged by the progress of Hawaii’s football community.
“Over the last, you know, fifteen, twenty years, I spent a lot of time in Hawaii helping some of the youth,” he said. “And the local community, the local coaches, the local trainers, over the last couple of decades, have done a really good job developing young men.”
One particularly memorable occasion during von Oelhoffen’s playing career was the Cincinnati Bengals’ visit to Cleveland on Dec. 17, 1995, the Browns’ final home game before the franchise moved to Baltimore.
“I remember the fans pulling all those bleachers. They’re ripping bleachers out, handing them down, throwing them all down to the field,” he said of the Browns’ 26-10 victory. “The passion with the Cleveland fans, you felt it. And it could get hostile.”
Despite the punishing nature of his long career, von Oelhoffen didn’t share the intimidating demeanor often associated with NFL defensive linemen.
“I just loved football, you know,” he said. “I love the physical play. I love to compete, but I almost always did it with a smile. I don’t think I’ve ever yelled at a teammate.”