There actually is a town in Oregon named "Aloha."

But about 15 miles away, there is another small Oregon town where for the past 24 years, a Hawaiian from Wai'anae taught a mostly white community exactly what that word means.

Henry "Bumpy" Kaulia died in a single-car accident April 9 in Gaston, Ore., leaving behind a legion of grieving former students and players he taught and coached there and a family back in Hawai'i that knew little about the impact he had on a generation of kids some 2,500 miles away.

"We were amazed, overwhelmed," said younger brother Nu'uanu Kaulia, who traveled with his mother from O'ahu to a memorial service at Gaston Jr./Sr. High School that drew more than 800 people.

"We never thought there would be something like that. All this time, we knew he was a teacher and coach, but we thought he just did his job and it was nothing special. When we saw all those people take turns at the microphone and say how much he meant to them, we were touched."

Henry Kaulia's life story is an unlikely one, an inspiring journey that took him from a poor single-parent home on O'ahu's Leeward Coast to rural Oregon, where he graduated from college and coached football, basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball to kids from youth level through high school.

He did not just teach physical education and sports — he preached discipline, love and respect.

And the message got through.

"One thing about Henry, his upbringing was tough," said Kyle Kobashigawa, a longtime friend from Wai'anae who owns a sporting goods store in nearby Forest Grove. "I mean, the lifestyle he had growing up, for him to overcome all those obstacles and have an impact on so many lives ... it's awesome."

PATH OUT OF POVERTY

Henry Pali Kaulia was born in Honolulu on Aug. 14, 1960, to parents whose ethnicity was 100 percent Hawaiian.

"That's what we were told," said Nu'uanu, who was born nine years later. "My tutu always told us, 'You guys are pure Hawaiian.' "

The low-income family moved from place to place on the Leeward Coast, and things inside the house were just as unstable. According to Nu'uanu, their father, who died in 1986, had problems with alcohol and sometimes took out his frustrations on his two boys, verbally and physically.

Eventually, his parents divorced and Henry — still a teenager — suddenly became the man of the house.

"My brother raised me," Nu'uanu said. "My dad left, and my mom was hardly home because she was working all the time."

Money was so tight, Nu'uanu said, Henry's "brown bag" lunch to summer fun often consisted of shoyu and rice.

Despite the circumstances, Henry became an honor student and standout football player at Wai'anae High School. In 1977, as a 5-foot-10, 204-pound defensive lineman, he earned All-State honors and helped the Seariders win the Prep Bowl, predecessor to the state championship.

"He was a good kid, one of the better ones we ever had," said Larry Ginoza, Henry's coach at Wai'anae. "He was tough, and he played with smarts. But besides being a good football player, he was a good student and a good person. He was solid all around."

Watching his mother struggle to earn a living, Henry knew that education would be his path out of poverty. So with six of his Wai'anae teammates, he boarded a plane in the summer of 1978 to join the football team at Pacific University, a small private college in rural Forest Grove.

Eventually, all but one of the seven Seariders returned home before graduating. All but the 'pure Hawaiian.'

SPREADING THE ALOHA

"Henry came to Pacific with nothing in his pocket," said Mike McCartney, a former state senator from Windward O'ahu who was Kaulia's college teammate. "When all the Hawai'i kids would get together at someone's apartment to cook food, Henry would bring one can of Spam. He didn't have much, but he always would give whatever he had."

One thing Kaulia always had in big supply was the aloha spirit. He became president of Pacific's Hawai'i Club, and he made friends with students of all races and backgrounds.

"He was a true Hawaiian," McCartney said. "He was never about money or status, and he spread the aloha to everybody."

On the football field, Kaulia dropped down to 176 pounds but stayed at nose guard, often taking on opponents 50 or 60 pounds heavier. As he did in other facets of his life, he ignored the obstacles and pushed forward.

"One game, he came running to the sideline and told me, 'Eh, go get me some (medical) tape,' " McCartney said. "I looked at his arm, and it was broken. I grabbed him by the jersey and yelled at the coach to hurry and get help, but Henry got mad at me because he wanted to just tape it and go back into the game."

RESPECT, DISCIPLINE

Kaulia graduated from Pacific in four years with a bachelor's degree in education, and his mother — who never finished high school — attended the ceremony.

"He showed our family that it was possible to go to college," said Nu'uanu, who also earned All-State honors at Wai'anae and earned a full scholarship to play football at Hawai'i. "Growing up the way we did, nobody in our family had gone to college and we always thought that was something other people did."

Kaulia took a job as a P.E. teacher in the Gaston School District and began a long career that included coaching roles in football, basketball, baseball, volleyball and softball. He coached all ages — from youth basketball, to varsity softball, to college football (as an assistant at Pacific).

Some teams won championships, others didn't, but the one constant was Kaulia's firm but caring coaching style that stressed discipline, teamwork and respect. He patterned himself after Ginoza, who built a football dynasty at Wai'anae in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

"He always said the two people he looked up to most were my mom and Coach Ginoza," Nu'uanu said. "Coach Ginoza always taught respect, and that's what (Henry) taught his players. Respect and playing hard was more important than winning."

But Kaulia's greatest gift may have been his off-field contributions. Kobashigawa said Kaulia often would spend his coaching stipend on equipment or team functions, and he established the "Special K" fund to help athletes who did not have money for fees or other team-related expenses.

"Sometimes budgets were tight, so he would contribute his paycheck," Kobashigawa said. "He would buy equipment, or help set up a summer tournament."

Kaulia also would donate time to help kids with personal problems.

"He just had a knack for knowing what to say to kids, especially the 'at-risk' type of kids," said Kobashigawa, who coached the Gaston softball team to a state championship with Kaulia as his assistant. "Whether you were a star or on the bench, he treated you the same. He would always tell them, 'You can, you can.' One kid (at the Oregon service) said he was very shy, but he said 'Coach K. always told me, 'You can do it; you just have to give it your best effort.'"

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

After the accident, word spread quickly throughout Gaston and Forest Grove. A makeshift memorial was set up at the crash site, and lei soon appeared. As a tribute to Kaulia, people all over town picked a day where everyone would wear aloha shirts, his trademark attire.

Word is Kaulia would wear an aloha shirt and shorts every day, regardless of the weather.

"My brother was a simple guy, he didn't need much," Nu'uanu said. "He lived in the same apartment ever since college, and he never changed the phone number."

At the Oregon service, an official from Pacific presented Kaulia's mother with the diploma for the master's degree in education that he was scheduled to earn this summer. That drew a standing ovation from the gym's capacity crowd.

"We were blown away," Nu'uanu said. "My dad couldn't even read or write, and here (Henry) was getting a master's degree."

But it made his family even prouder to learn about the huge impact Kaulia made on a community so far away.

"I always felt he was exactly the kind of person these people said he was," Nu'uanu said. "But I didn't know so many others saw in him what I saw in him.

"I missed him all those years he was away, but at least now I know that all the times I was missing him, he was making a difference somewhere else.

"And those people appreciate the time he spent with them."

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.