EA graduate always driven to be the best at what he would do
Gumapac, left, receives diving diploma from Commander Sam Brasfield
Gumapac swaps football gear for diving gear for the Navy
Escambia Academy head football coach Hugh Fountain said he knew there was something special about Kainoa Gumapac the first time he saw him. So, he wasn't surprised to learn the 2017 graduate from EA had recently completed Navy diving school and was headed to Hawaii.
"I knew his family because they were here in Flomaton and Kainoa is just like family," Fountain said. "He had a tremendous work ethic and worked hard to improve on everything he did."
Fountain said he arrived at Escambia Academy when Gumapac was in the seventh grade and his parents wanted him to play football.
"I told them I didn't let seventh graders play varsity football," Fountain said. "But on the first day of practice I looked out there and he was dressed in full pads. He was the littlest guy on the field, but I couldn't tell him he couldn't play."
Gumapac went on to be a starting wide receiver on EA's 2014 team that won the state championship and was the quarterback of the 2016 team that lost in the state finals.
"He was a weightlifting champion in high school simply because he never gave up," Fountain said. "He's such a great guy. I knew when he went into the military he would succeed in anything he wanted to do because when he wanted something he worked hard to make sure he got there. He's like a son to me and he's a good humble servant."
Gumapac, 20, the son of Robert Gumapac and Lisa Harrison, attended Flomaton Elementary School from kindergarten through sixth grade before enrolling at Escambia Academy.
He went to Coastal Alabama Community College in Brewton for a year before he joined the Navy.
"Diving was something I wanted to do," Gumapac said. "The Navy had the options."
He said his love of diving came from snorkeling and other water activities.
He attended boot camp in Great Lakes, Ill., and decided he wanted to be a diver. He did two months of dive preparation in Illinois before being sent to Panama City to complete dive school. He graduated from dive school on Dec. 12.
He said his father was from Hawaii and he requested to go there.
"I got lucky and that's where they are sending me," he said.
He's currently living in Mississippi but will be headed to Pearl Harbor in February. He said he's looking forward to that new chapter in his life and wants to make a career out of being a Navy diver.
