On his journey from Samoa to Australia to the United States and the University of Washington, Ulumoo Ale learned a lot of important lessons:
Home is where your heart is.
Gratitude comes first.
And you have to wear a helmet to play football.
The son of a pastoral couple in the Samoan Christian Congregational Church, Ulumoo was a toddler when his family left Samoa for a ministry in Australia. He grew up throwing the discus and shot put, boxing his way to three Golden Glove heavyweight titles, and playing rugby.
When a new church beckoned the family to Tacoma, Ulumoo’s size and athletic prowess caught the eye of coaches at Fife High School. To his surprise, that unfamiliar sport required Ulumoo to don a helmet (unlike rugby, where he says headgear is optional for tough guys like him).
Ulumoo laughs about that today and marvels at how far he’s come during his tenure of standout defensive play for the Huskies.
“I’m so grateful that I’ve had six great years. I love this game and never thought I’d be where I am today — getting a scholarship, earning a degree, playing on the best team in the country,” he says. “I thank God every day. I wake up and it’s gratitude that keeps me going.”
Throughout those six years, Ulumoo has taken advantage of many of the opportunities given to Washington student-athletes through the generosity of donors and alumni — academic support, networking, internships, powered-up nutrition (he’s 6’6” and 330 lbs.), and the chance to write and to teach other UW students.
He says his experiences with the ups and downs of Husky Football taught him to persevere.
“You commit. You stay disciplined. You put in the work. That’s my biggest takeaway from this game,” states Ulumoo, who earned a BA in Political Science in 2022 and completed his Anthropology minor this year.
Now that he’s done at the UW, those life skills will help fuel his future as a lawyer, a career he chose after interning with attorney and former UW student-athlete Cat Clark.
“I never thought about taking the LSAT and applying to law school until I was able to see Cat at work and sit in on a trial. You have a game plan, you compete, it’s the same thing we’re doing in football but on another playing field,” Ulumoo explains. “The things I’ve learned and the connections I’ve made at the UW will last long after I take the jersey off.”
