CONTRIBUTOR – PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

Dr. Edison Miyawaki has been opening doors for over three decades for Hawai’i’s student-athletes to gain an opportunity to realize their dream in playing in the National Football League. In the 1970s, Dr. Miyawaki established an NFL training camp for Hawai’i athletes aspiring to play professional football. Through the training camps and Dr. Miyawaki’s persistence in advocating for players to gain tryouts with NFL teams, local athletes were given a shot at competing in the NFL and became successful players including Arnold Morgado and Paul Dombroski, both formerly with the Kansas City Chiefs.

In 1994, Dr. Miyawaki became the first Japanese-American to purchase an ownership interest in an NFL franchise, the Cincinnati Bengals football team. He is also an investor in the National Basketball Association team, the Boston Celtics. A member of the Pro Bowl Committee, Dr. Miyawaki has been instrumental in getting the NFL to keep the Pro Bowl in Hawai’i for over two decades.