Filimone Ifoni Vaiangina, a beloved coach and umpire within the Lummi community, died at the age of 32 on Friday, Feb. 21. Vaiangina, also known as Mone, leaves behind his wife Gabrielle Little and seven children.
“His goal was to make an impact and to be there for the kids but I don’t think he really realized how important he was to them,” Little said. “His main foundation was through God and through faith.”
Mone was a volunteer baseball, basketball and football coach, and umpire, at the Lummi Boys & Girls Club for the last few years. He also created a concrete business to help support the kids he was coaching and officiating.
“It is a thankless job and it was bigger than winning to him,” childhood friend James Mathias said. “We talked a couple of weeks ago and he was saying how blessed it was for him to be given the opportunity to be an impact in these kids’ lives.”
On the family’s GoFundMe page, Mone was quoted from a few days ago about his coaching experience.
“It’s been quite the year of lessons and growth and I know God is at work!” Mone said. “I never knew how much I would enjoy coaching and teaching the kids not just the in’s and out’s of the sports but also how to become better people daily! To have an impact at all in a kids life is a huge blessing that I don’t take lightly because all it takes is one person to make a difference in someone’s life.”
Mone took over the helm as the head football coach this season. He also led his basketball team to an undefeated season this year. Besides leading them to victories, Mone taught the boys and girls valuable lessons in sports.
“He really wanted to give these kids something that he wished he had when he was a youth,” Little said. “He was giving them mentorship, positive encouragement and reassurance that there are people that believed in them. He just really made them feel seen and valued.”
Before Mone died, he was preparing for his final basketball game on Saturday, Feb. 22. In one of the last texts he sent Little, he was worried about his players finding a way to the game.
“He was concerned about being able to have enough players for our kids to play,” Little said. “He was going to do whatever he had to do to make sure that the kids got to play.”
Mone’s impact will live on, his loved ones say.
“He gave (these kids) life lessons and a foundation to grow up with for the rest of their life,” Mathias said.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
