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Reagan Maui'a, a fullback for the Arizona Cardinals, told ESPN that he met Kekua doing charity work in American Samoa in 2011. Here's what he said:
"This was before her and Manti. I don't think Manti was even in the picture, but she and I became good friends. We would talk off and on, just checking up on each other kind of thing. I am close to her family. When she was going through the loss of her father, I was -- I offered a comforting shoulder and just someone to bounce her emotions off. That was just from meeting her in Samoa."
Maui'a said it was Ronaiah Tuiasosopo — the person who Deadspin reports invented Kekua on the Internet — who introduced the two. Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers was allegedly there as well.
From ESPN:
He said it is his understanding that Kekua's mother is operating her Twitter account. He said he'd never met her mother. When told by a reporter that she apparently might not have existed, Mauia said: "No, she is real."
Deadspin reports that the evidence is overwhelming that Kekua — at least the person we taught Kekua was — did not exist. There is no death certificate, or record of her having graduating from Stanford.
So perhaps Maui'a's claim is just proof that there is a whole lot that we just don't know right now.