Fueled by the tragic loss of 2 close to him, this new Panther keeps pushing for greatness
Frankie Luvu keeps going each day at football practice because that’s what he knows two of the most important men in his life would have wanted him to do — the Carolina Panther legend who mentored him and the older brother who loved him.
Both those men have passed away under startling circumstances in the past eight months, shaking Luvu to his core but also pushing him to be a better man.
Luvu is a 24-year-old linebacker for the Panthers, on the edge of making the final 53-man roster as a versatile reserve who can also play special teams. He’s from American Samoa first, and then Washington State, and then the New York Jets — an international journey that has now placed him in Charlotte with a new contract and a heart fueled by all he has lost. His brother died by suicide in March at age 34, just a few days before Luvu signed a contract to become a Panther.
Carolina had no way of knowing that a crisis had just occurred in the Luvu family just before the free-agency period opened. But, as Luvu said in our exclusive interview: “The Panthers first called me on the day before my brother’s funeral.”
Although that was Luvu’s first official contact with the Panthers, it was far from the first time he had heard about Carolina.
With the Jets, as an uncertain rookie in 2018, Luvu had found a mentor. That man was former Carolina Panther legend Kevin Greene, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who played three years for the Panthers in the 1990s but who by then was an assistant coach for New York, coaching the outside linebackers.
It was Greene who would spin an occasional tale about his time in Charlotte. He had a remarkable three years with the Panthers, compiling 41.5 sacks over those three seasons, helping Carolina into the NFC title game in only their second year as a franchise and occasionally wrestle buddy Ric Flair at a local Charlotte brewery.
Kevin Greene’s influence on Luvu
Greene saw the potential in Luvu, who hadn’t started until his junior year at Washington State and who hadn’t been drafted at all.
“Kevin Greene — man,” Luvu said after a recent Panthers practice, reminiscing about the player who died suddenly on Dec. 21, 2020, at age 58. Greene had seemingly been healthy and still worked out regularly. The exact cause of his death has never been made public by his family.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Kevin Greene,” Luvu said. “He gave me an opportunity to live my dream, to chase my dream. Coming in as an undrafted player, for him to trust me and really coach me up — and to be like another father to me — he did everything for me. ... Every time I step in the (Panthers’) building, I think of him. And if it wasn’t for him, none of this would have come true.”
Under Greene, Luvu made the Jets as an undrafted rookie and then stayed there for three years, although he was only coached by Greene for the first one. Luvu’s time with the Jets paralleled exactly that of quarterback Sam Darnold, although Luvu was a far more under-the-radar young player. Darnold’s trade to Charlotte has generated huge headlines, while Luvu has consistently been listed in the small type under “transactions.”
Luvu is a breakout candidate for this team, though, and he has a story worth telling. He grew up in American Samoa in the South Pacific, the youngest of eight children. Frazier Luvu was the oldest kid — 10 years older than Frankie, and a fine soccer player. Many of the Luvu children would eventually gravitate to the United States, and the family now is mostly based in Seattle, where Frankie Luvu said he had bought his parents a house to live.
Frankie Luvu didn’t leave American Samoa until he was 17, drawn by the offer of a football scholarship to Washington State. His parents wouldn’t see him play a football game until his senior year in college. He made a game-saving interception against Stanford in that game. As he grew into a man, Frankie said he still idolized his older brother Frazier, who by then had a young son named Isaac with his longtime girlfriend and who had moved to Alaska to work in the shipping business.
“He was 10 years older than me, but he was just like me,” Frankie Luvu said of his brother. “We were really close.”
Frankie and Frazier
In March, Frankie Luvu knew something wasn’t right with his brother. Frankie Luvu was staying in Arizona at the time, training for the 2021 NFL season, and he was able to convince Frazier to visit him.
“I flew him out to Arizona to get his head in the right place and to get him away from Alaska,” Frankie Luvu said. “He stayed with me for three days. And then I convinced him to stay for another day. And I was trying to convince him to stay the whole week but he had his son, and he needed to get back to work … We were planning a trip to Mexico or something like that, just a brother type of vacation.”
Within a few days, though, Frazier Luvu had died by suicide. He didn’t leave a suicide note, according to his younger brother.
“A lot of things go through my mind,” Frankie Luvu said. “And I wish I could have just texted him. I wish I could have done a lot of things, you know? But you never know what somebody is going through until something like this happens.”
A few days later, as the family prepared for the funeral in Seattle, the Panthers called, offering a one-year deal worth slightly more than $1 million if Luvu makes the team. Luvu didn’t decide to come to Charlotte right away. But as the funeral unfolded, he started noticing several coincidences that made him think of Carolina.
“It was just crazy,” Luvu said, “and I told this to my parents, too. Everything at my brother’s funeral was white and blue. The pins that my brother made (to honor Frazier) — and he didn’t tell us what color it was going to be — white and blue. A banner that was made in Alaska that I had no idea about — white and blue. The suit my Mom picked out for (Frazier Luvu to be buried in) — white and blue. All Panthers colors, every time. I thought to myself: ‘Man, I think this is my calling.’ ”
Luvu will begin to find out if it was at 1 p.m. Sunday in the Panthers’ first preseason game at Indianapolis, with his brother Frazier and his mentor Greene never too far from his mind.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 10:02 AM.
