|
|
Punahou Class of 1959
|
|
Classmates in the News:
|
|
|
|
Alumni Profile:
Hiram Arthur Iokepa de Fries
'59
A Game Plan for Life
Football is more than a game played on Saturdays for Hiram de Fries '59. A former player and lifelong mentor and coach, de Fries has selflessly given back to the beloved sport that taught him much about life. "Everything about the game is transferable to life; especially the focus, discipline, teamwork and leadership," he said.
Discipline is something de Fries learned as a child while growing up in Kalihi and attending daily JROTC at Kamehameha School for Boys during the seventh through ninth grades. When he began at Punahou School, he continued with JROTC, but also played baseball and football, which earned him a football scholarship to Colorado State University.
Today, de Fries is an integral member of the Florida Gators football staff. As right-hand man to Gators coach Urban Meyer, de Fries uses his acquired expertise to guide players. Before joining the Gators, immediately following his retirement in April 2003 from Shell Oil Co., de Fries was invited to join Meyer at the University of Utah as an unpaid consultant. After two years, Meyer asked de Fries to help him at the University of Florida, where he has been ever since. De Fries always had a knack for coaching, having been girls soccer coach and assistant football coach at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo, Calif., for six years, then assistant football coach for 10 years at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif.
With a law degree from Western State University College of Law at Fullerton in California, de Fries' careers as both a marketing executive for Shell Oil Co. and an attorney are perhaps what make him a rare gem for the Gators. De Fries knows football, but he also knows people. Maintaining a calm yet firm demeanor, de Fries gets to the bottom of whatever is on a player's mind.
De Fries is part coach and part therapist to Gators players, helping shape players into better athletes and better thinkers - on and off the field. "I work with student-athletes to assist their learning of transferable skills from football to life. It is especially rewarding whenever a player says, ‘Hey, coach. I get it,'" he said.
De Fries also helps student-athletes recognize that football is about more than just winning; it's an opportunity to find self-confidence and build problem-solving and teamwork skills. "The huddle is where the play is called, but it is really about reaffirming trust between teammates. You battle your life's challenges at the line of scrimmage. ... And there are winners and losers. Even in losses, you learn what is needed to get better. Then you learn the resolve to tough it out and develop resiliency," he said.
For de Fries, those "lessons of inclusions, respecting the diversity of others and life values learned from my family, teachers, coaches and fellow students from Punahou are still a part of my core life. Representing Punahou was an honor. It still is."
De Fries' greatest achievement, however, is the life he has created with Trudi, his wife of 46 years; their children; and their grandchildren, one of which, Alexis '11, is a student at Punahou School.
By Melissa A. Torres
Punahou Bulletin - Summer 2009
Way to go sons and daughters of Punahou...... you make us very proud.
