A new kidney and a Super Bowl trophy
In five months, Hugh Macdonald went from needing a kidney…
She led us closer to God, amen?
An Oklahoma Christian impacted many lives — including a former NFL pro.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Weddings and funerals hosted by my home congregation tend to underwhelm. The Memorial Road Church of Christ’s huge auditorium seats up to 2,000 people, so even well-attended celebrations and remembrances seem small.
The recent memorial service for Kathy Kaaiohelo defied my expectations. The auditorium wasn’t full by any means, but it was the first funeral I’ve attended in our building that had me saying to myself, “There are a lot of people here.”
And it was 11 a.m. on a Tuesday.
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This service even had a celebrity. Former NFL pro and gospel preacher Willie Franklin was a few pews ahead of me.
I heard brother Franklin speak some 30 years ago when I was student at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn. I covered his visit for the student newspaper, The Babbler. (Yes, that was its name. And it’s biblical. Look it up.) Our sports editor, Willie Steele, wrote a column called The Cheap Seats but refused to let us run his head shot with it. So each week we picked a photo of a famous athlete named Willie and ran that instead. We had Willie “Mays” Steele, Willie “McCovey” Steele, Willie “Gault” Steele and, of course, Willie “Franklin” Steele.
Erik Tryggestad and Willie Franklin meet after Kathy Kaaiohelo’s memorial service.
Willie Franklin gave one of the most memorable chapel talks in my undergrad experience. He stressed the need for us to demonstrate character rather than “act like characters.” If we saw a young couple making out on the white porch swings scattered across campus, he urged us to yell out “REPENT!”
“You’re either leading somebody to God or you’re leading them away from God, amen?” he said. He also admonished us to not be “the clock-eyed brother,” watching the time rather than focusing on the power of God’s word. He broke into song and led us in a rousing rendition of “Amen!” “See him at the temple (Amen!). Talking to the elders (Amen!). How they marveled at his wisdom. Amen, amen, amen!”
“I sing bear-a-tone. I sing whatever tone I want to and everybody has to bear it.”
“I sing bear-a-tone,” he said. “I sing whatever tone I want to and everybody has to bear it.” He had a million lines like that.
All these years later, what was Willie Franklin doing at Kathy Kaaiohelo’s funeral? I asked him after the service and found out that Kathy and her husband, Kenny, had played a big role in his life — like they had in mine.
Kathy was a homegrown Oklahoma girl who met Kenny, a native of Hawaii, when they were students at Oklahoma Christian University.
They married in turbulent 1968 at Memorial Road (then the College Church of Christ).
Officially, they had two sons, but they raised many more kids than that.
“Kenny and Kathy took care of a lot of people,” said Al Branch, a former president at Oklahoma Christian and Christian Chronicle trustee emeritus. “They especially loved on and cared for college students.” Branch, who came to OC from San Antonio, said that he and many of his classmates “found solace in the Kaaiohelos’ home, and their laundry room, and their kitchen. It was our home away from home.” Branch added that he was able to marry his wife, Judy, only after Kathy and his aunt, JoAnne North, “gave me the thumbs-up.”
Kathy and Kenny Kaaiohelo celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary in May 2025.
Willie Franklin was a few years post-college when the Kaaiohelos came into his life. Born in Louisiana and raised in San Diego, he was a standout wide receiver for the University of Oklahoma in the early 1970s. His offensive coordinator was a guy named Barry Switzer.
Franklin and his Sooners played the Alabama Crimson Tide to a 24-24 tie in the 1970 Bluebonnet Bowl. Bama’s coach was a guy named Bear Bryant.
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The NFL didn’t draft Willie, but then he played in an alumni game and caught three touchdown passes from teammate Ron Fletcher. He also caught the eye of a pro scout and was a walk-on for the Baltimore Colts. He returned to Oklahoma after his rookie season to do graduate work, and Fletcher helped him out in a much bigger way. Fletcher, who later became a minister for Churches of Christ, encouraged and studied Scripture with Willie — and baptized him.
“I met Kenny and Kathy after I had become a Christian and spent lots of hours at their home,” Willie told me. “In fact, I baptized their oldest son, Jason. They were always a strong influence in my life and still are. I consider them family.”
“They were always a strong influence in my life and still are. I consider them family.”
In 1974, Willie signed with the Los Angeles Rams, but the time he spent with the Kaaiohelos and other Christians tugged at his heart. He gave up football and enrolled in a two-year preaching program at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. He spoke at venues including the University of Wyoming, where he met his wife, Pam, who was there on a swimming scholarship. They married in 1983 and moved to Papua New Guinea in the Pacific to do mission work. Seven years later, they moved back and served Churches of Christ in Oklahoma and Texas.
Willie continued to travel the globe, speaking to churches, youth groups, colleges and a few greenhorn newspaper reporters like me.
Willie Franklin speaks at the West End Church of Christ in Knoxville, Tenn.
It was great to speak with Willie more than three decades after hearing him in chapel. And I loved learning about the Kaaiohelos’ influence on his ministry.
By the time I arrived in Oklahoma in 2001, Kenny and Kathy had “graduated” from serving college students to caring for young, single adults — a much-overlooked demographic in our pews. They encouraged a group of us, led by singles minister Bart Rybinski, as we formed a leadership team and organized activities.
One of those activities was an early morning Christmas care package delivery for a single mom. After we snuck onto her lawn to leave a basket of gift cards, Kenny Kaaiohelo invited us to Cracker Barrel for breakfast — and paid for everybody.
I found a seat across from Bart and his wife, Tamika, who were in the middle of a conversation with a cute medical school student from Altus, Okla. After breakfast, I learned her name — Jeanie Jacks. This June, we’ll celebrate 23 years of marriage.
Thank you, Kathy and Kenny, for the roles you played, big and small, and for the faith you instilled in a university president, a pro football star, a newspaper guy and countless others.
ERIK TRYGGESTAD is President and CEO of The Christian Chronicle. Contact [email protected].
