SALT LAKE CITY — Gaius “Keio” Vaenuku was ready to embark upon his freshman season at the University of Utah in 2013 when tragedy struck.
On July 30 of that year, a week before he was to report for the football team’s fall camp, Vaenuku, along with his former high school teammates Salesi “Leka” Uhatafe, an incoming Utah freshman, and Polo Manukainiu, an incoming Texas A&M freshman, embarked on a road trip from Utah to Euless, Texas to visit family.
En route to Texas, Uhatafe, the driver, lost control of the SUV after over correcting along a highway in New Mexico and rolled the car several times, killing Vaenuku, Manukainiu and Uhatafe’s 13-year-old brother Andrew “Lolo” Uhatafe.