Kaho Akau, Joe Stuart join the Linfield athletics communications staff
Story and photo from Linfield Sports Information
8/22/2021
Two recent graduates have joined the Linfield University sports communications office.
This month, Kaho Akau and Joe Stuart are stepping into key roles within the athletic department where they'll help promote current news, information and live sports action involving Linfield student-athletes and events.
Akau, a 2019 Linfield graduate, returns to his alma mater where he will assume the role of assistant sports information director from Avi Mehta, who departed after two years to accept a position as Strategic Communications Director for the Texas A&M Commerce athletic department.
As a Linfield student, Akau spent two years working with the athletic department's communication office, serving as statistician, feature writer, and broadcast engineer.
A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, he competed in baseball for two seasons at Linfield. More recently, Akau spent the past two years as media relations assistant for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, an NCAA Division II alliance based in Portland.
Stuart, a 2020 graduate, is a name familiar to Linfield fans and McMinnville residents. During the spring, he served as a freelance play-by-play broadcaster on the Linfield Sports Network following a four-year stint as a student in various roles within sports communications. His play-by-play experience includes announcing Wildcats basketball, soccer, volleyball, baseball and softball games.
The McMinnville High School graduate also spent two seasons as sideline reporter on Linfield football broadcasts. As part of his new role, he'll move into the lead play-by-play position for football, pairing with longtime color analyst Dave Hansen.
"Kaho and Joe represent the next wave of rising sports communications professionals to come through Linfield," said Kelly Bird, longtime sports information director. "Their enthusiasm for sports media, commitment to excellence and love of Linfield make them tremendous assets to our department and university. I'm thrilled to be working alongside two such talented young professionals."
