The phrase “Mormon Moment” is not new to many of us. Anyone who followed the 2012 presidential elections became very familiar with this catchphrase. With the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, being a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many people became keenly interested in Mormonism, a religion that beforehand had been somewhat of a mystery to many people.
However, it should be carefully noted that a Mormon running for the office of President of the United States was not the only reason that interest in Mormonism had suddenly escalated. The critically acclaimed satirical musical “The Book of Mormon” — the story of two young Mormon missionaries sent to a remote village in northern Uganda where a brutal warlord threatens the local population — opened on Broadway in March 2011, and it achieved immense popularity in a relatively short amount of time. The show set records in ticket sales for the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. It was also awarded nine Tony Awards, one of which was for Best Musical, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
These two major events sparked the interest of the masses, and the phrase “Mormon Moment” soon became the buzzword of the day in both local and social media coverage. However, now that Mitt Romney is no longer running for President of the United States, and “The Book of Mormon” musical is no longer winning awards, it would almost appear that the spotlight of the “Mormon Moment” has suddenly faded. But, is that really the case?
Black Mormons and the “Black Mormon Moment”
Two years after Mitt Romney was defeated in the presidential elections by Barack Obama, Mia Love, the former mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah, became the first black female Republican ever elected to Congress.
According to the 17 November 2014 online edition of Deseret News, the 38-year-old Love commented in her victory speech, “Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect a black Republican LDS woman to Congress. Not only did we do it, we were the first to do it.” With her victory, an astute focus has once again been turned to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the “Mormon Moment” seems to have been revitalized, but this time, it is black members of The Church of Jesus Christ who are at the forefront.
Love is not the only black Mormon who has gained national interest. On the same night that she was giving her victory speech, 19-year-old Milwaukee Bucks’ rookie forward, Jabari Parker, became the first teenager in NBA history to get two double-doubles in his first three games.
Parker is also the seventh teenager in the last 30 years to have one double-double in his first three league outings. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ may recall that President Thomas S. Monson quoted Parker during General Conference this year citing the advice that he had been given by his father: “Just be the same person you are in the dark that you are in the light.”
Another prominent black Mormon is 25-year-old Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah from Accra, Ghana. As a boy in his native country, Ziggy played soccer and basketball and had absolutely no knowledge of American football. After converting to the Mormon faith, and being baptized at the age of 18 on 12 January 2008 in Madina, Ghana, he later came to the United States and attended school at Brigham Young University. It was there that Ziggy got his first taste of American football. After two and a half seasons, he was picked No. 5 overall in the NFL draft. He was also voted the Mel Farr Rookie of the Year by the Detroit Lions. Of particular interest is that the school motto of the Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School, Legon, where Ziggy attended in Ghana, is “In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen” (In Thy Light We Shall See Light). He is indeed a living witness and testimony of that school motto as he has embraced the Light – the Gospel of Jesus Christ – and has allowed the Light within him to radiate throughout the world.
The spotlight is also shared by world renowned entertainer Gladys Knight who became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1997. She celebrates the success of being on the charts for her Top Gospel Albums. Her latest project, titled “Where My Heart Belongs,” released by the Mormon-label, Shadow Mountain, is a testimony of her life. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought great peace and joy into her life – a peace that passes all understanding – that is evidenced as people notice the new radiance about her.
The Contribution of Black Mormons and the Growth of the Church
Latter-day Saints comprise less than 2 percent of the U.S. population with the exact number of black Latter-day Saints being unknown. However, in the state of Utah, where 60 percent of the population is Mormon, blacks make up less than 2 percent. Nevertheless, whether the current “moment” is dubbed as the “Black Mormon Moment” or not, the fact remains that the number of high achievers within The Church of Jesus Christ who are black is on the increase.
The short list of those who are high achievers includes, but is not limited to, Harvard-educated Kenyan-American Shaka M. Kariuki, who runs the investment firm Kuramo Capital; Yeah Samake, the Malian mayor who has run for president of Mali twice; Cathy Stokes, the former Illinois public health administrator who became a prominent Utah community leader; and Alex Boyé “whose cover of a popular Disney tune garnered more views on YouTube (54 million) than Coldplay’s latest hit,” according to the Deseret News article.
One person who commented on the Deseret News article stated:
I am incredibly pleased to note that there are so many examples of people in the LDS church who would formerly have been shunned or somehow excluded by some other members of the church but are excelling and, presumably, feeling accepted as fellow children of the same Heavenly parents. I hope it continues in and out of the church for people of African descent and everyone else.
I grew up in a part of Salt Lake that was as racially integrated as it could be in a city that was overwhelmingly Caucasian. It wasn’t until I was about 11 that I had any idea that racial discrimination even existed. I have been yearning for the day it no longer does every day since. It’s great to see these examples of steps toward that dream.
The fact is that black Latter-day Saints, whether famous or not, are contributing in monumental ways to the faith, all the while impacting the world for good. Even in light of perhaps not so favorable Church history dating from 1848 until June 1978 when men of African lineage were not allowed to hold the Priesthood, black membership in the Church has continued to grow. The Deseret News article points out:
There may be some differences between members of the Church because of heritage, culture, and background, but the reality is that we are all children of the same Heavenly Father, and therefore, we are brothers and sisters. We are all working towards the same goal of one day returning to live in His presence for all eternity. Therefore, whether the “moment” is simply dubbed the “Mormon Moment,” the “Black Mormon Moment,” or whatever the title that is chosen, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we all share in the “moment” because we don’t allow our differences to divide us, but rather we stand united as one big family.
Kenneth Va’a Niumatalolo, an American football coach and former player, was born on 8 May 1965 to Lamala and Simi Niumatalolo in Laie, Honolulu County, Hawaii. He was the fifth of seven children. Both of his parents were born in American Samoa. His father, Simi, retired from the U.S. Coast Guard and later worked in food services at the Polynesian Cultural Center. His mother, Lamala, passed away on Thursday, 5 September 2013.
Niumatalolo was promoted to Head Football Coach at the United States Naval Academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, on 8 December 2007 by Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk. He is the second person of Polynesian descent to be named head coach of a NCAA Division I Footbal Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football program and the first Samoan collegiate head coach on any level. He was inducted into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame on 23 January 2014 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
From Starting Quarterback to Promising Coaching Career
Niumatalolo graduated from Admiral Arthur W. Radford High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1983. During his high school days he exhibited his prowess in athletics by excelling in both basketball and football.
After high school, he attended the University of Hawaii in Manoa where he played college football and eventually became the starting quarterback for the Rainbows (now the Rainbow Warriors) after returning from a two-year full-time Spanish speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Ventura, California, area. During his time with the Rainbows he ran an option-oriented offense under the direction of Paul Johnson, who was then the offensive coordinator, and led the team to their first postseason bowl game in 1989. After graduating from the University of Hawaii, Niumatalolo stayed on as a graduate assistant under Coach Johnson, and by 1992, he had been promoted to the full-time assistant position.
United States Naval Academy Football – The Beginning Years
In 1995, Coach Paul Johnson left Hawaii to become the offensive coordinator at Navy and took Niumatalolo with him as his running back coach. The following season, Johnson left the Naval Academy to take a head coaching position at Georgia Southern, and Niumatalolo was elevated to take his position. During his time as offensive coordinator, he tutored quarterback, Chris McCoy, who in 1997, set a Division I-A record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 20 touchdowns. The record would not be broken until a decade later, in 2007, by Florida’s Tim Tebow. On 12 December 2009, at the annual Army-Navy football game, Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs reclaimed the record with 24 touchdowns in the 2009 season.
Niumatalolo left the Naval Academy in 1999 to become an assistant coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for three seasons (1999-2001). While there, he called the plays (2001) and worked with the kickoff return unit. Under his guidance, UNLV ranked sixth in the nation in kickoff returns in 2001 and finished second in 1999.
Return to the Naval Academy and Ready for Action
In 2002, Coach Paul Johnson returned to Navy as the head coach and hired Niumatalolo as his offensive line coach. Niumatalolo soon proved himself when in four of his first five seasons he established a rushing attack that led NCAA Division I-A/FBS in yards per game, which included an unparalleled three consecutive seasons (2004 – 2006) of leading the nation in that category. In 2008, Navy once again led the nation in the number of yards per game with an average of 292.4 yards per game on the ground.
The rushing attack strategy which Niumatalolo had established helped Navy football to realize a level of success that it had not seen in decades. With Johnson as the head coach and Niumatalolo as the offensive line coach, Navy maintained a record of 45-29 and appeared in a bowl game every year from 2003 through 2007, Johnson’s last season in Annapolis. During the same period, the Midshipman won the coveted Commander-in-Chief’s trophy every year.
Coach Johnson left the Naval Academy for Georgia Tech in 2007, and Niumatalolo became the 38th head football coach in Naval Academy history when he was promoted to the position by Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk on 8 December 2007. On 7 January 2009, Niumatalolo was given a contract extension, although the terms and length of the extension have not been released to the public.
With Coach Niumatalolo at the helm, commencing with the 2008 season, the Navy football team has continued their run of success and have been able to accomplish things that have never been done in the 132-year history of the Navy football program. According to his profile on Navy Sports, the official website of Naval Academy athletics:
Niumatalolo’s 49 wins are the most in school history by a coach in his first six years and rank third all-time at Navy, just six wins behind the all-time leader George Welsh.
He led Navy to a 10-win season in 2009, which tied for the most wins in school history, and he is the first coach in program history to lead Navy to a bowl game in each of his first three seasons. He is also the first Service Academy coach to win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy in his first two years as a head coach.
This past fall, Niumatalolo was selected to the inaugural class of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame and was inducted on January 23 in Honolulu.
Niumatalolo is just the second coach since World War II to lead Navy to a winning record in each of his first three seasons at the helm and joins Eddie Erdelatz and Wayne Hardin as the only Navy coaches to beat Notre Dame in consecutive seasons. He and Paul Johnson are the only coaches in Academy history to start their careers 6-0 against Army.
Navy finished the 2013 campaign with a 9-4 record, won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy for the ninth time in the last 11 years, qualified for a bowl game for the 10th time in the last 11 years, won a bowl game for just the eighth time in school history (beat Middle Tennessee, 24-6, in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl) and defeated Army for a series-record 12th-consecutive year. The 2013 squad is just the fifth in Navy history to win at least nine games in a season, beat Army and win a bowl game. The 1957, 1978, 2004 and 2009 teams are the only other teams to have achieved that feat.
Highlights of his first season as head coach (2008) include: an upset in Winston-Salem over #16 Wake Forest, 24–17, the Midshipmen’s first victory over a ranked team in 23 years, and a 34–0 shutout victory over Army. Other Highlights of Niumatalolo’s career as head coach at Navy include:
Navy has defeated Army every season (six times). The Midshipmen have won 12 straight Army–Navy Games which is the longest winning streak for either Navy or Army.
The Midshipmen captured the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy in 2008, 2009 and 2012, with an outright capture of the trophy in 2013 when they defeated the Army football team with a score of 34–7.
The Midshipmen have had five winning seasons. They have played in 5 bowl games during Niumatalolo’s tenure, and were victorious in the 2009 Texas bowl and the 2013 Armed Forces Bowl.
Navy defeated longtime rival Notre Dame in 2009 and 2010. This was the first time that Navy has defeated Notre Dame since 1963.
For the Love of Family
Coach Niumatalolo and his wife Barbara live in Annapolis, Maryland and have 3 children, a daughter, Alexcia, and sons, Va’a and Ali’i. He and his wife first met at a dance when she was a student at BYU-Hawaii and he was recently returned from his mission in Ventura, California.
His son, Va’a Niumatalolo, is a 2011 graduate of Broadneck High School in Annapolis, Maryland. While there, the 6’1”, 226 pound athlete demonstrated his own sports prowess on the football field by playing the position of Inside Linebacker for the Broadneck Bruins. He is currently a freshman at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he plays the position of Linebacker for the BYU Cougars. Va’a is also an Eagle Scout and served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ in St. George, Utah.
Ali’i Niumatalolo is currently a junior at Broadneck High School. The 6’2’, 226 pound athlete is also making a name for himself as a Middle Linebacker for the Broadneck Bruins’ varsity football team.
Alexcia Niumatalolo, the oldest of the children, was enrolled in the College of Letters and Sciences while attending the University of Maryland. She is also a star athlete in the sport of lacrosse. It is noted that she chose the University of Maryland because she wanted to play for the most prestigious lacrosse team in the country and also because of the excellence of the coaching staff. While at Maryland she played the position of starting defender for the Maryland Terrapins and was recognized as a Division 1 Athlete.
Her father states that she showed an interest in sports at an early age. She did not start playing lacrosse until her freshman year at Broadneck High School, but it was the fundamentals that her extremely competitive father helped develop at home that paved the way for her future success. He further commented:
I didn’t want to push her, but I wanted her to play sports,” Ken said. “Thankfully for her, she enjoyed it. She enjoyed playing basketball and soccer and always wanted a ball in her hands. … She was always very athletic, even at a young age – things kind of came naturally to her.
Alexcia further commented, “He would coach me all the time and set up drills for me. Everything with him was always competition.”
Faith Precedes Football
Coach Niumatalolo is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his family are members of the Broadneck Ward of the Annapolis Maryland Stake.
The day that he was named head coach at Navy, his life and that of his family dramatically changed, in that they went from living in a humble home on the Naval Academy grounds to a more spacious home which was once occupied by some of his predecessors. However, the success that Niumatalolo has been able to achieve has not deterred him from living a life that is based on faith and gospel principles, and it is also that faith and those principles which he uses as the patriarch of his home to help keep his family well grounded.
My number one title is not the head football coach at the Naval Academy, my number one title is being a husband and a father. I read all the time about guys monitoring their players and stuff and I think that’s fine, making sure they’re going to class and all those things. That’s important. I’ve always thought, if you’re monitoring your players 24 hours a day, who’s monitoring your own family? Who’s watching your own kids? I make sure that we’re not burning the midnight oil here. I feel like we can be efficient in our work hours here. We’re probably more of an early morning staff, guys get here a little bit earlier but I want guys to go home after practice. I want them to go home and see their families. They can do their recruiting stuff at home.
I go to conventions all the time and I hear all these coaches talk about some of the regrets they’ve had in their careers, and these are all great coaches that have accomplished a lot of great things, and a lot of them mention, “I wish I’d spent more time with my family.” I don’t want that regret. I’d rather at the end of the day look yourself in the mirror and be like, “You know what? I was able to be a father and a husband.” And I want my coaches to have that same opportunity. To me, family time is very important. I’ve always taken this approach: if it takes you 24 hours to watch tape and you’ve been in the film room all day, how are your kids going to figure it out in a 45 minute meeting? You’ve just got to make sure it’s not that complicated, try to keep things simple. Don’t get me wrong, we’re working. We work early. I want to make sure our guys are efficient and go home and be a father and a husband.
Missionary work is near and dear to Coach Niumatalolo’s heart and he is often asked questions about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which he is always ready and willing to answer. However, he does not believe in forcing his beliefs on anyone, especially players.
Being the head coach you have a captive audience, but it would not be right for me to push anything besides the principles of teaching and coaching football to my players. They can believe in what they choose. We all have free agency. I try to be an example,” he said. “That is the way I approach things.
He further commented that if an LDS young man were to ask him advice about whether or not he should pray about serving a mission, his response would be:
Why do you need to pray? The Lord has already told you through his servants what you are supposed to do – you are supposed to go. Prepare yourself and when you are 19, you go. Now, if someone is praying to confirm a mission call, that’s different. That’s good. But confirmation about going on a mission, you don’t need to pray. The answer is yes, so prepare yourself. That is how I feel.
Niumatalolo believes that putting the Lord first and listening to the voice of the Spirit are the real keys to success. He begins each day by reading and studying from the Book of Mormon. In addition to personal scripture study, he also admonishes that devotion to family, church service, and living the gospel have played a major part in his being able to handle the stress and rigors of being a college football coach for almost two decades. As head coach at Navy, he made the surprising decision to cancel all staff meetings on Sundays.
Ken Niumatalolo will be one of six Latter-day Saints who will be featured in the new feature-length film produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called “Meet the Mormons” which will premiere in select theaters on 10 October 2014.
The name Jabari Parker is well-known in the sports arena. The Chicago-born, 6’8”, 235 pound, all-star athlete will long be remembered for his basketball prowess at Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy. While attending Simeon, he quickly gained the favor of several recruiters, and in fact was a top recruit in the class of 2013, when he became the second player in the history of Illinois high school basketball to start on four state championship teams. After incisive deliberation, he made the decision to play for the Duke University Blue Devils. In an interview with DukeBluePlanet in July 2013, Parker was asked why he chose Duke University to which he responded,
I chose Duke because I thought it was the perfect fit for me. The student population is very tight. It’s a family-oriented community. It’s very nice and diverse and a community that will prepare me for the real-world someday.
The Key Players Who Have Influenced His Basketball Career
My greatest influence basketball-wise is probably my father because he played in the NBA and I’m trying to get to where he has been. He played in college at Texas A&M. Just seeing what he did in college, I think that he made a real big impact and I’m trying to live up to his expectations and what he did.
Being around Coach K, I just want to pick his brain as much as possible. He has a lot of knowledge, a lot on his resume. I’m trying to get to where he has been and accomplish at least 25% of what he has done. His knowledge and love of the game at his age is real rare. Hopefully I can do half as much for him as he will do for me because that’s going to be a lot. He’s going to do more than I expect because, you know, he’s Coach K.
What impressed me most about Coach were his experiences and relationships with his players and how he wants them to be a part of the program forever. He wants them to come back. That’s real big on my end because it’s a family.
A Humble Giant among Men
Although Parker is a basketball phenom, he has not allowed the stardom and recognition to discredit his true character. To understand who the real Jabari Parker is, a person would need understand the things that matter the most to him, namely his family and his faith.
He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and attests that it is his faith that has helped him to remain level headed and well grounded, thus keeping his head in the “real” game. Because of his strong faith and unfailing support from his family, he has been able to accept all of the recognition that he receives with great humility. In the May 21, 2012, issue of Sports Illustrated which had a feature article on Parker, he was quoted as saying, “Basketball is what I do, it’s not who I am.” During the interview with DukeBluePlanet he was asked to elaborate on his comment:
At the end of the day, being a good person is more important than basketball because you are only going to be remembered by what you do and how you carry yourself. You can be the most amazing athlete in the world, but if you’re not there for people and you’re not there for your community, your family, then what is your worth? That’s what separates the greatest from the average people. That little bit of selflessness, that character. I want to live my life not as Jabari Parker the basketball player, but as Jabari Parker the good guy, the helpful guy.
Staying True to the Home Team
Although Parker has achieved status as an outstanding basketball player and has been afforded many opportunities, he has not forgotten his real roots. He still considers Chicago to always be his home base, as it is there where it all began. He realizes, especially growing up on the South Side of Chicago, that the city is incessantly represented in the news media in a negative light. He has stated that he wants to be that person who helps to shed more light on the positive and help to eliminate the focus on the negativity.
Oh Chicago is the best. That’s the reason that I am the person that I am now. The hard-nosed style of basketball that we play around the city is from the community that I represent. Being from the South Side, I want to make a positive impact as much as possible. You see on CNN, they talk about the crime rate, there is a lot of negativity. I want to be as positive an influence as possible and be that guy who helps the city be looked at in the right way.
When he is off the court, Parker describes himself as a “relaxed cool guy.” He says that he enjoys being around different types of people and getting to know more about them, as they learn more about him. He also loves music. One of his future goals is to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. However, his immediate goal and purpose in life is to have a positive impact both on and off the court. There is no doubt that Jabari Parker is a name that people will be hearing for some time to come. The video below highlights the first 18 years of his remarkable life and career.
When you take a look at the Olympic athletes, you see many–if not most–who have trained since early adolescence at the least. Late-coming athletes are rare in the Olympic village. Eric Neilson, however, defied the norm and represented Canada in skeleton even though he started training in the sport when he was already 25 years old.
Kate Hansen came in tenth place in luge at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Among Olympians that’s nothing to brag about–but people are still talking about Kate. Why? Kate Hansen has turned out to be not only a remarkable luger who made it to compete in the Olympics, but she also has a happy and fun-loving spirit that helps keep the other Olympians thinking positive.
Love is not the only black Mormon who has gained national interest. On the same night that she was giving her victory speech, 19-year-old Milwaukee Bucks’ rookie forward, Jabari Parker, became the first teenager in NBA history to get two double-doubles in his first three games.
Another prominent black Mormon is 25-year-old Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah from Accra, Ghana. As a boy in his native country, Ziggy played soccer and basketball and had absolutely no knowledge of American football. After converting to the Mormon faith, and being baptized at the age of 18 on 12 January 2008 in Madina, Ghana, he later came to the United States and attended school at Brigham Young University. It was there that Ziggy got his first taste of American football. After two and a half seasons, he was picked No. 5 overall in the NFL draft. He was also voted the Mel Farr Rookie of the Year by the Detroit Lions. Of particular interest is that the school motto of the Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School, Legon, where Ziggy attended in Ghana, is “In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen” (In Thy Light We Shall See Light). He is indeed a living witness and testimony of that school motto as he has embraced the Light – the Gospel of Jesus Christ – and has allowed the Light within him to radiate throughout the world.
The spotlight is also shared by world renowned entertainer Gladys Knight who became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1997. She celebrates the success of being on the charts for her Top Gospel Albums. Her latest project, titled “Where My Heart Belongs,” released by the Mormon-label, Shadow Mountain, is a testimony of her life. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought great peace and joy into her life – a peace that passes all understanding – that is evidenced as people notice the new radiance about her.
Although Parker is a basketball phenom, he has not allowed the stardom and recognition to discredit his true character. To understand who the real Jabari Parker is, a person would need understand the things that matter the most to him, namely his family and his faith.
Although Parker has achieved status as an outstanding basketball player and has been afforded many opportunities, he has not forgotten his real roots. He still considers Chicago to always be his home base, as it is there where it all began. He realizes, especially growing up on the South Side of Chicago, that the city is incessantly represented in the news media in a negative light. He has stated that 
