Parents of Detroit Lions draft pick Giovanni Manu witness son play in person for 1st time
Giovanni Manu had worked toward this moment for years and now here he was, running onto the field for his first game as a pro, an offensive lineman for the Detroit Lions, number 59.
Here he was in front of everyone — his coaches, his teammates, the fans gathered in front of their television sets at home and all the others in the stands, including his mother and father, who'd never been to one of his games before.
His nerves!
He felt as if he was having an out of body experience, floating above his 6-foot-7, 350-ish pound frame.
He felt like he might throw up.
Twenty-three year-old Manu wanted to do right by the Lions, of course. "I want to be a starter on this team. I want to win championships. I want to win important games," the rookie declared in an interview.
He also wanted to do right by his folks, John and Alvina Manu, who'd traveled from their home in Tonga to this Aug. 8 preseason confrontation between the Lions and the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. They are the reason he's worked so hard. And he is the reason they've done the same.
INTRODUCING 'FIRSTS': Stories that unite us in a divided world
'He's got something special in him'
Manu, who prefers Gio over Giovanni, spent his early years in Tonga, playing rugby (the national sport) and tagging along after school to the automotive repair shop his father owns, watching as hard-working, good-natured John Manu toiled into the evening.
Gio Manu was 11 when his parents sent him alone on a plane to suburban Vancouver, Canada, to live with his aunt and older brother and sister. The kids would have more opportunity and get a better education in North America than they would in the Polynesian kingdom, his parents reasoned; they stayed back on the island to earn money to support their children abroad, the family reuniting once a year or so for visits.
The change in environment was incredible. "You go from a small little world to an even bigger one," Manu said. "When I arrived to Vancouver, things, culturally, just shocked. Small things such as seeing a highway. I remember that blew my mind away, just seeing lanes, roads with more than one lane and cars going super fast. I saw tall apartment buildings as well. I thought I was in a 'Star Trek' futuristic movie. It was insane."
Manu's aunt worked nights as a home health aide, so after his brother returned to Tonga, it was often just him and his sister, Madelene Manu, who is seven years older. When Manu started high school, he stood alone while parents snapped pictures of their sons and daughters to commemorate their first day. He wondered where, in this new world, he fit in.
But he found his spot. "I think that's the huge reason why I love sports and football in general," Manu said earlier this summer. "It fills that role of, 'I have a family.' That's why I love it. The coaches, to me, represent as parents. Just being part of a team fills in that missing piece in my life."
High school football — he started playing because the school didn't have a rugby team — turned into college ball at the University of British Columbia.
Manu pushed himself.
He worked a series of summer jobs (furniture mover, construction, security, an extra in the Hallmark movie "Fourth Down and Love" which was shot in Vancouver) to pay his rent and other expenses; being a college athlete in Canada is less lucrative than it can be in the United States.
He practiced and played with intensity. "He kept telling me he's going to do better," said Madelene Manu, who attended some of the practices. "There was never a time when 'this is enough.' There’s always room for improvement. That’s the beauty about him. ... He's got something special in him."
Gio Manu was named a second team All-Canadian two years in a row.
And then, this spring, on April 27, in the fourth round of the NFL draft, the Detroit Lions called.
"Gio, are you ready to be a Lion?" he remembers head coach Dan Campbell asking.
And Manu, whose parents and sister and girlfriend and friends had gathered with him for a draft party at a Vancouver Airbnb, fell crying into his father's arms.
He asked his parents ― who know the rules of rugby but not those of football — to attend his first preseason game.
"I just want them to just be super proud of me," he said. "I just want them, when they see me on the field, to be just super proud of all my achievements and just know that ... their sacrifices they've done in their life, it's playing out by seeing me play in the highest level of football."
Everyone, even Manu — the only University of British Columbia player ever to be drafted into the NFL ― agrees he has a lot to learn. "The NFL is a different beast," he said. "It's like 10 notches up higher than college." (Canadian football has different rules and a larger field, and it doesn't have the following of the NCAA or the NFL.) Manu is enormous and fast for his size; he can run 40 yards in 4.96 seconds. He is thrilled to be with the Lions and sometimes tears up at his good fortune. He is also a nice guy, eager to sign autographs because if people think enough of him to ask, he's going to oblige; fans spend their time and money supporting the team, he figures it's the least he can do. But he is a raw talent who needs to work on fundamentals and technique. During pre-training camp workouts in June, Campbell said he expected Manu's performance to get worse before it gets better, that coaches will break him down before building him back up.
Manu, determined to improve, was often the last player to leave the field at training camp.
'Don't mess up'
Manu entered the game against the Giants in the third quarter, playing because starters seldom do in preseason games; there's no reason to risk injury in a game that doesn't count toward regular season standings.
By the time the ball snapped and he made his first block, Manu's nervousness subsided. He regained his confidence and remembered he was playing the sport he loved and it was fun.
“It gave us all goosebumps just to see him in the Detroit gear," said Madelene Manu, who attended the game with her parents, niece and Gio Manu's girlfriend. "It just felt so surreal because that’s my brother, it’s not just some random person. It just felt amazing to witness him and to just be there.”
Manu slipped up later in the game. He gave up a sack. He got a 5-yard penalty for a false start. Afterward, he said he made those mistakes because he was overthinking the potential for a big play. "In my head, I was, like, 'Don't mess up. Don't mess up ...' You know when you tell yourself 'don't mess up too much,' you end up just messing up."
Manu's folks, though, were unphased. "That's the best I've ever seen you play," John Manu said after the game, so caught up in the moment, so proud, that he apparently forgot he'd never been to one of his son's football games and didn't know one thing about the rules.
“I wish I could be here to watch every game you are playing, believe me," Manu's dad said.
The family gathered and posed for pictures, the Tongan flag in the frame.
On the team bus from the stadium to the airport, Manu became teary as he looked at the photos.
He thought about his family, he thought about the sacrifices they'd made and about how he'd just played in an NFL game and how happy and proud his parents were.
Looking ahead, he said, "It's only going to be up from here."
The Lions play the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 p.m. Aug. 24 at Ford Field.
Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com
Free Press sports columnist Shawn Windsor contributed to this report.
Introducing 'Firsts': Stories that unite us in a divided world
We’re so divided, these days.
In politics.
In preferences.
In our sense of right and wrong.
But are we really that different?
Most of us have the same wants and needs, the same aspirations and motivations.
We seek love. We work to give our dearest ones the best we can. We try to make our parents proud. We try to protect our children and instill within them a sense of joy and worth so that one day they will be able to live and thrive on their own. We endure losses. And whether through the natural process of aging or the emergency of an unexpected health crisis, we consider our legacies as we face our own mortality; and what we will leave behind for those we love.
Over the next many months, in an occasional series called "Firsts," Free Press photographer Mandi Wright and I will tell the stories of people facing these universal truths, these rites of passage.
In the coming weeks, we will tell the story of a girl who, under unusual circumstances, receives her first bicycle. We will tell the story of a woman realizing for the first time that the only thing certain about life is death. We will tell stories about people victorious over challenges and how even with the best of intentions, sometimes things don’t work.
And maybe, rather than further dividing us, these stories will remind us that if we think beyond the distractions and all the noise, we really aren’t that different after all.
— Georgea Kovanis
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: For Detroit Lions draft pick, preseason game made him feel sick
