A community is heartbroken after a Hayward High School football star was swept away at a beach Thursday while out on spring break.
Friends and family of 18-year-old Naphtali Moimoi, known best to those around him as Neff, described him as a gentle giant and one of the kindest souls.
“He will always be remembered,” said Gabriel Galvan, the victim’s best friend. “He was a great person and he will not be forgotten.”
Justin Redemer had the pleasure of coaching Moimoi saying, “He was a great young man, loyal, preserving, strong.”
On Thursday, he was boogie boarding at Half Moon Bay along with some friends when they found him floating face down in the water.
Crews called off the search Friday afternoon.
Moimoi’s loved ones are devasted at the tragic loss.
“We miss him,” his mother, Lisa Moimoi said. “We want him home.”
Moimoi was just a few weeks from graduation and on his way to the University of Wyoming on a full-ride football scholarship this fall.
Redemer said, “The hope is that we can come together, grieve together and find a way to maybe help his family in the midst of all this tragedy.”
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