Christmas in March: KSKʻs Togiai named Gatorade Hawai'i hoopster of the year

Mar. 27, 2020

Contributed by Kyle Galdeira

The Gatorade Company named Christmas Togiai of the Kamehameha Schools Kapālama basketball team as its 2019-20 Gatorade Hawai‘i Boys Basketball Player of the Year on Thursday.

Togiai is the fourth Gatorade Hawai‘i Boys Basketball Player of the Year recipient in school history joining Louie Vargas (1991-92), Pi‘i Minns (2008-09) and Micah Christenson (2009-10 and 2010-11). The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Togiai as Hawai‘i’s best high school boys basketball player.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound junior swing player led the Warriors to a 28-6 record, and an appearance in the Snapple/HHSAA Division I state championship game earlier this year. Togiai averaged 14.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks. A 2019 Division I First-Team All-Hawaii selection by Scoring Live and a Fab 15 honoree by the Hawaii Star-Advertiser, Togiai suffered a season-ending ACL tear during the state semifinals, but still earned Division I All-Tournament Team recognition.

A National Honor Society member, Togiai has volunteered locally at the Kalihi/Palama Christmas Parade as well as at the Unitek Solvent Services Inc. Family Day. He has also donated his time to service projects at a local elementary school.

Togiai has maintained a 3.72 GPA in the classroom. He remains undecided upon a collegiate destination.

As a part of Gatorade’s cause marketing platform “Play it Forward,” Togiai also has the opportunity to award a $1,000 grant to a local or national youth sports organization of his choosing. He is also eligible to submit an essay to win one of twelve $10,000 spotlight grants for the organization of choice, which will be announced throughout the year.

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student achievement,world-class education,athletics,ks kapalama