'Champion of the Underdog' Kyle McArthur Attracts Hundreds to Memorial Ceremony

Niedermeyer Field bleachers at Coronado High School were full Monday morning for a ceremony to remember the life of Kyle McArthur, a Class of 2006 graduate who was killed in a car accident in Alabama along with LTJG Patrick Drury. Both McArthur and Drury were Class of 2011 Naval Academy graduates. 

At a podium between a U.S. Naval Academy crest, varsity jacket and pilot helmet, McArthur's friends and family remembered his life.

Few wore black. 

Instead many in attendance wore colorful Hawaiian shirts or Navy summer white uniforms, reflective of a man described as both fun, supportive and hungry for success. 

"He was never a complainer, said Kyle's mother Cindy Starr. "He just got in there and worked really hard and he brought people along. He kind of scooped them up and loved them but made them be the best they can be."

Lee Pontes, who was the MC of the ceremony and ran the school's NJROTC program from 2003-2009 said friends he came to know in the Navy wouldn't have recognized him back then.

"At that time his wardrobe consisted of multiple pairs of flip-flops baggy shorts t-shirts, old pop warner football jerseys and for the days he had to dress up he would go in his dad's closet there and borrow a beloved Hawaiin shirt," he said.

NJROTC had not been active for years at Coronado High School and Pontes credited McArthur with attracting many of its new cadets to rebuild the program and called him a "champion of the underdog."

A pair of C-2 Greyhound aircraft flew overhead at one point during the celebration. McArthur was stationed at Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi, where a ceremony was held last week.

McArthur was remembered as a natural leader who was a champion of the underdog who took care of people around him. 

Friends also remember him as a person who wasn't afraid of a party. 

As someone who went to high school, Naval Academy Preparatory School, Naval Academy and flight school with McArthur, Dan Mercado knew him as the person who liked costumes and whose pep talks helped him get through the Naval Academy.

Mercado recalled one Halloween together in New Orleans when McArthur decided they should dress up like bananas.

"Running down Bourbon Street, three bananas with a monkey chasing us, is probably one of the most epic times I've had on Halloween," Mercado said.

Corky Holman, another longtime friend, said people at the Naval Academy may have known McArthur as an engineering major with an "infectious personality and elite party skills," but he knew him as an entrepreneur. 

When the two were kids, McArthur would dive into the bay to collect golf balls hit into the water and sell them to golfers on the 15th hole.

Holman also made sure to recognize McArthur, also known as KMac, was a great dancer.

In lieu of flowers Kyle's family asked people to make donations to the Coronado Schools Foundation (CSF). The CSF may establish a scholarship in his name depending on the family's wishes and the amount of money donated, said Executive Director Patty Cowan.

McArthur will be laid to rest at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery Tuesday.

Kyle McArthur is survived by his father Jamie McArthur, mother Cindy Starr and her husband Charlie Starr, sisters Jenny and Kalie McArthur, sister Laura Starr and brother Michael Starr.