It’s not often that the United States Military Academy at West Point recruits three island football players in one season.
In fact, Maj. Gen. Joseph J. Chaves says it’s a first. He made a request to Shaun Kagawa, Paul-Andrew Rhoden and Jaryn Villegas to beat Navy — quite heartedly — during a special ceremony at Fort Shafter on Friday. Chaves, a local boy who is now Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army, Pacific, said he’s a fan of Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, the former UH and Radford quarterback.
"I do track all our great athletes who go on to greater and better things. I’ll be tracking them, but there’s another local boy I cheer for 11 out of 12 games out of the year. He goes by the name of Coach Niumatalolo, but one game I won’t cheer for the guy is the Army-Navy game," he said. "I’ve come to the conclusion that it’ll probably take three local boys to get into the Army and win that Army-Navy game."
The commander was equally serious about the three recruits.
"It’s probably one of the toughest in-processing you can go through to get into any college in the United States," he said, noting the requirement of a Congressional nomination. "These three students have done a great job of putting their minds to it. This might be the first time we’ve had three student-athletes, all from the state of Hawaii, all playing football, going to West Point."
Kagawa (Kamehameha-Hawaii), Rhoden (Campbell) and Villegas (Leilehua) were on hand with their high school coaches and family members as they signed letters of intent.
Kagawa, who has a 3.1 grade-point average, was an All-State first-team selection in football and No. 3 in the All-State Fab 15 selections in basketball this year. He also plays tennis and runs on the track team at KS-Hawaii. He chose West Point over Hawaii and Utah, two schools that wanted him to redshirt.
"It fits perfect," Kagawa said of his black Army cap. "It didn’t really kick in (until) the ceremony. It feels surreal. I’m excited."
Kagawa played cornerback, linebacker, wide receiver and running back at KS-Hawaii. He projects as a cornerback at Army, but hopes to see time on offense. First, he’ll be in the West Point prep school, a 10-month stretch that most incoming football players experience.
"We’ll have 10 games," he said. "I’m going to try out for basketball at the prep school."
Rhoden, who has a 3.8 GPA, was a standout running back for Campbell who was looking at South Dakota School of Mines as an option. He visited the campus and was set on enrolling with an eye toward an engineering degree. But West Point came calling, so he visited the academy with his mother, Colleen Chang, who retired from the US Army as a psychriatric nurse last year after two decades of service.
"I feel good. Excited. My mom knows about how Army life is and she’s comfortable with where I’m going," he said. "At West Point, there’s a lot less distractions. I can just focus on schoolwork and football."
Villegas, one of the top offensive linemen in the state, overcame a change of homes as a youth. He lived with his parents until he was 5, then moved in with other family members before settling in with his grandparents (Eleuterio and Petra) and aunt (Gina Salvia) at 15. He thrived on the gridiron and in the classroom, earning a 3.7 GPA.
"I feel relieved. I’m just soaking it in," Villegas said. "I want to finish strong with high school and fly out for basic training, get ready for prep school."
Kagawa was raised by his grandparents, as well. He was 11 days old when they took him in. Both are tennis coaches at KS-Hawaii and longtime coaches in the community.
"Words can’t describe what they did for me," Kagawa said of his grandparents, Richard and Shirley Kagawa. "Being able to go to West Point, being able to take the financial burden off them, being able to survive on my own, that’s the biggest thing for them, that I’ll be able to survive on my own."
