Featuring a loyal community, a faithful fanbase that stretches far beyond the North Shore and a proven track record of success in various levels of competition, Kahuku’s athletics teams are some of the most prominent on Oahu.
The Red Raiders are an institution on the North Shore, equipped with a team name so ubiquitous that it serves as the core of one of the most popular slogans in the area: “RR4L,” short for “Red Raider For Life.”
As established as the Red Raider brand is locally now, Kahuku’s teams didn’t always have that mascot.
Kahuku High and Intermediate School, established in 1897, first competed as the Ramblers. A common misconception is Kahuku’s former mascot being the Ramberiers, a newspaper typo that became fact to some. Newspaper clippings from the mid-1940s refer to Kahuku as the Ramblers.
With an assist from one of Hawaii’s most prominent private schools, Kahuku’s identity changed.
In 1950, Kahuku donned Red Raider uniforms donated from ‘Iolani School, adopting the name ever since then.
Although ‘Iolani dropped the “Red” from its team names in 1984, becoming just the Raiders instead out of respect for the Native American community, Kahuku continued to be the Red Raiders, but not without controversy.
In July 2020, a petition on Change.org titled “Change Kahuku High's Racist Mascot” collected 1,142 verified signatures. It compared the Red Raiders to the NFL’s Washington Redskins and the MLB’s Cleveland Indians. Both professional teams have since changed their name as the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians, though, as ESPN reported in 2016, "A new Washington Post poll found that 90 percent of Native Americans aren't offended by the Washington Redskins' nickname and an overwhelming majority consider it an unimportant issue."
A counter petition, originally titled “Petition Against Dumb Petition,” amassed 2,383 verified signatures. Nonetheless, keeping the name seemed murky.
In November 2020, Kahuku principal Donna Lindsey announced the school would be dropping the mascot, a decision reversed a few days later.
Kahuku-partisan crowds at sporting events have also continued to do tomahawk chops, an act that has also drawn controversy against other fanbases that do it, which includes fans of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, MLB’s Atlanta Braves and Florida State University.
Kahuku’s sports teams, particularly its football program, has long drawn national interest. ESPN aired a half-hour documentary as part of its “Timeless” series on the team in 2006, while Sports Illustrated ran a feature on the Red Raiders in 2017. Most recently, NFL Network aired a half-hour special on the Red Raiders in 2023. In 2011, Polynesian Cultural Center manager and cultural specialist Seamus Fitzgerald wrote a haka for the Kahuku football and rugby teams, titled “Kaipahua Kura,” which means “We are the Red Raiders” in Maori. The Red Raiders are believed to be the only football team in North America with a fully original haka.
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
