AL HARRINGTON

Alvin Tauasu Harrington was born in Tutuila, American Samoa in 1935. The family moved to Honolulu when Al was three and after his parents divorced, he was adopted by a family with the Harrington name. He attended Punahou, graduated from Stanford University and studied law at Hastings. He supported himself in school working as a knife dancer and singer.

Al became the first All-American football player born outside the continental U.S. He was drafted by the Baltimore Colts but he chose to do missionary work in Samoa and the Cook Islands. He married and went back to U.H. to get a teaching credential and taught at his alma mater, Punahou. At night, he starred in his own show at the Hawaiian Village Tapa Room. When Zulu left Hawaii Five-O, Al was hired to play Ben Kokua for two years.



Biographical material from Tony Todaro, The Golden Years of Hawaiian Entertainment (Tony Todaro Pub., 1974).