Joe Onosai

Joe Onosai
Born (1965-12-10) December 10, 1965
Samoa
Occupation Strongman, Professional football
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight 400 lb (180 kg)
Competition record
Strongman
Competitor for American Samoa Samoa
World's Strongest Man
7th 1994 World's Strongest Man
9th 1995 World's Strongest Man
Qualified 1997 World's Strongest Man
Qualified 1999 World's Strongest Man
IFSA
3rd 1999 Prague Grand Prix
World Strongman Challenge
3rd 1999

Joe Onosai (born December 10, 1965) is a former strongman competitor and American football player. Onosai is a Samoan tribal prince and was drafted by the National Football League Dallas Cowboys. He reached the finals of the World's Strongest Man competition twice (1994 and 1995).

Early years

Onosai attended University Lab School where he was a 240-pound fullback. As a senior in 1982, he helped the Pac-Five football team win its first Interscholastic League of Honolulu and Prep Bowl championship (predecessor to the state tournament) and was named The Advertiser's ILH Offensive Player of the Year.

He received a scholarship to play for the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he was converted to an offensive guard as a freshman.[1]

As a senior he was moved to center and received Honorable-Mention All-American honors.[2] He was a second-team All-Western Athletic Conference performer in 1985 and 1986.

Professional career

Onosai was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the sixth round (151st overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft to play center.[3] During a practice in training camp, he suffered a serious neck injury and was subsequently diagnosed with a narrow spinal column condition (cervical spinal stenosis), which forced him to announce his early retirement on August first, 1987.[4] It would eventually take 4 days for the strength in his legs to return and 2 years to get his upper-body strength back to normal.

World's Strongest Man competition

He participated in the World's Strongest Man competitions for many years. At 6-feet-4 and 400 pounds, he developed a 65-inch chest, 22-inch biceps and the power lift was his specialty. He made it to the finals twice, in 1994 and 1995.[5]

Personal life

Onosai has been a pastor at Destiny Christian Church since 2011.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, December 07, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.