Two former Shelton stars, beginning final season at UW, created brotherhood through football

It’s a surreal feeling, Ralph Kinne says, to look across the field at a Pac-12 school and see another player from his hometown practicing at the other end of it.

Kinne met David Ajamu years ago as a little-league football player in Shelton. For more than a decade, the two have stood on the same sideline, in the same jerseys, won together and lost together.

Now, both redshirt seniors at the University of Washington, the two are about to begin their final football season together.

“There’s no way to explain it,” Kinne said, “the feeling of looking across and seeing a brother from Shelton going through the same things you’re going through.”

Kinne remembers the day he met Ajamu in the sixth grade. There was a connection, and they built it into a brotherhood.

“I looked at David, and I saw the same type of characteristics I had — hard work, you want to get out and try to reach above the horizon,” Kinne said. “That connection has only gotten stronger since we started.”

By the time they reached high school, they were inseparable, Shelton coach Matt Hinkle said.

As part of a strong senior class, Kinne and Ajamu helped the Highclimbers reach the playoffs for the first time in five years in 2012.

“It was just how close everyone was on that team,” Ajamu said. “Everybody knew everybody like the back of their hand.”

That year, both players hauled in plenty of accolades.

Kinne, a running back, set program records for rushing yards in a single game (359) and a season (2,389), scoring 29 touchdowns on his way to becoming the Class 3A Narrows League most valuable player.

Ajamu, a tight end, also played on the defensive line for the Highclimbers, and was known for his blocking in Shelton’s run-heavy offense. Scout.com ranked him as the No. 6 recruit in Washington at tight end.

Both were All-Area selections for The Olympian and Associated Press all-state selections as seniors, but they took different paths to join the Huskies the following season.

“David got in the fast cycle as far as recruits out of high school — you get noticed by somebody, and it’s wildfire,” Hinkle said.

Ajamu, who also had an offer from Oregon State, signed to play for the Huskies in 2013, with Kinne at his side.

Kinne chose to head to Seattle that day in February, too, as a preferred walk-on.

“He could have gone to a smaller school, but he chose to head to (UW) and stay with his buddy,” Hinkle said.

To have two players from the same class join a Pac-12 program is unusual in Shelton, he said.

“It’s been scattered out,” Hinkle said. “Two in one year for a town our size was kind of an anomaly.”

Jordan Paopao, UW’s tight ends coach, agreed.

“I think it was a unique opportunity for us to just be able to take care of our in-state recruits and go find some really good talent,” he said.

Paopao is the only remaining assistant on the staff from the Steve Sarkisian era — when Kinne and Ajamu arrived — and has seen the two players mature the past five years.

“It’s been cool to see that all come to a culmination — the social, the academic and the football aspect of what they set out to do when they got here,” Paopao said.

After redshirting their first season, both Kinne and Ajamu have seen playing time with the Huskies. For both, playing at UW has been a dream.

“This is what we grinded for in Shelton,” Ajamu said. “This is where we wanted to be.

“We wanted to get out of that small town to come play in front of 75,000 people, and hear the UW fans roaring for us.”

The Shelton fans back home are cheering, too.

“We’re always looking for No. 40 or No. 85 to pop in,” Hinkle said.

Ajamu said he and Kinne try to go back to Shelton often, to encourage youth and high school football players.

“We try to get out there as much as we can, get in front of the kids, get in front of the guys in high school just to give them motivation,” he said. “We did it — you can do it, too.”

Maybe even with a hometown teammate. Both Kinne and Ajamu said having the other by their side each step of the way made a difference.

“Going through the grind with a brother is amazing,” Ajamu said. “It’s a journey that we we both have gotten to experience together, and I love it.”

This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Two former Shelton stars, beginning final season at UW, created brotherhood through football."