Paul Kamikawa
There’s no substitute for experience.
Actually, a year as a substitute teacher has spawned an educational and coaching career for Paul Kamikawa spanning more than four decades at Rockwood High School.
For his contributions in all facets of student life at Rockwood High School, Kamikawa has been named a TSAAA Distinguished Service Award recipient for the 2024-25 academic year.
“I did my student-teaching there at Rockwood, and then I couldn’t get a teaching job so I was a substitute teacher the whole year,” Kamikawa said. “I’ve been in Rockwood since 1962, my family moved there when I was 4 from Cincinnati. Went to school here, was on the basketball team but I wasn’t any good. Coach was right about that.”
But Kamikawa was nonetheless moved by his experience. Along his own journey navigating high school at Rockwood, he envisioned a path in public education and coaching.
His parents, however, did not.
“When I was in high school, I knew all along that I wanted to coach and be a teacher, there was no doubt about it,” said Kamikawa, who earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Tennessee Tech.
“My parents tried to talk me out of it, and back then Tech was on the quarter system. So I switched to business for the winter quarter, and I was so bored. I said, ‘I really don’t like this, and don’t want to work in the business world.’ So I’ve been here at Rockwood ever since.”
An institution for his guidance of the Rockwood basketball program as an assistant and head coach for 44 years, Kamikawa has proved versatile in the classroom, hallways and various playing surfaces.
He’s taught U.S. History, economics, geography, biology, psychology and sociology.
He’s coached tennis, golf, been a football assistant coach and also logged a one-game cameo as Rockwood’s head baseball coach.
“I coached baseball for one game, we won and I’ve got the best winning percentage of a coach in Rockwood history,” Kamikawa, a college basketball graduate assistant at Tech under Tom Deaton, a Ray Mears disciple, said. “Larry Davis was sick and our administration came to me and said that I had to be the baseball coach that day. It was in the 1980s, and we beat Oliver Springs. I still remember it.”
What Kamikawa remembers more than any of his 583 wins on the hardcourt, with 600 a potential milestone in the upcoming season, are his priceless opportunities to work with young people.
“I’ve tried to retire once, and that didn’t work out,” he said. “Somebody asked me last week when I was going to retire, and I said I have no idea. I’ve just enjoyed being around the kids. They keep me young, and I feel like I am helping them in some small fashion. When I’m in the classroom teaching psychology, I give them stories about me to lighten the mood, show them I make mistakes too.”
His wife, Rockwood Elementary Principal Christy Kamikawa, also has lovingly cautioned against any immediate retirement plans.
“I thought I enjoyed just sitting around the house, but the dog is the only one I can talk to,” he said, “and she reminded me I wouldn’t have any real conversations until she got home.”
TSSAA is proud to recognize Paul Kamikawa for his decades of service as a coach and administrator.
