Kraig Vickers was a natural leader growing up on Maui, and it didn’t surprise his teammates on Maui High School’s undefeated football team that Vickers joined the Navy and became one of its elite SEALs.

"Even on the playground, somehow Kraig would be the leader, and everyone would be following him," said Vickers’ boyhood friend Kekoa Quipotla, who now lives in Las Vegas. "Kraig was always the jokester, but as soon as a game came on — it didn’t matter what the sport — Kraig was dedicated to winning."

Vickers, who would have turned 37 on Thursday, was among 30 Americans and Afghan military members who died when their Chinook helicopter crashed Saturday in eastern Afghanistan. He was a member of the Navy Bomb Disposal Team.

"Kraig served our nation for the past 15 years and leaves behind an ohana both on Maui and on the mainland," U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono said Sunday in a statement. "Family and friends describe him as a fearless, intelligent yet easy-going man, who deeply loved his family. Kraig will be missed.

"I extend my gratitude to Kraig Vickers for his loyal service to our country and express my deepest condolences to the Vickers ohana."

Among the dead was Michael Strange, 25, of Philadelphia, who had been in the Navy for about six years and was first stationed in Hawaii, according to The Associated Press. Strange had since transferred to Virgina Beach, Va., where he became a SEAL about two years ago, his mother, Elizabeth Strange, told the AP.

Vickers lived in Virginia Beach with his wife, Nani, and a son and daughter, and a third child is on the way, Quipotla said.

Nani Flores Vickers played basketball for Pearl City High School and for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine from 1994 to 1996.

In his senior year at Maui High before graduating in 1992, Kraig Vickers was one of the football team captains and the Maui Interscholastic League’s defensive player of the year. The team went undefeated, and only one team scored against a Sabers defense led by Vickers, Quipotla said.

"Kraig was the prankster and the joker of everyone — you could call him the class clown," Quipotla said. "But the other teams didn’t want anything to do with him. You never wanted to be on the opposite side of the line."

Vickers grew up with a group of boys who all went to Kalama Intermediate School and then on to Maui High School, but set himself apart as "a definite overachiever," said a boyhood friend, Darrett Schoeppner of Wailuku. "He was very dedicated to anything he set his mind to.

"On the field he was definitely an aggressive, intense guy, a definite leader who anchored that defense," Schoeppner said. "Off the field he was an absolute contradiction — easygoing, funny, definitely one of the bigger practical jokers on our team."

When he played football, Vickers weighed in at about 220 pounds. But when wrestling season came around, he dropped down into the 180s, Schoeppner said. "Whatever he wanted to do, it was done."

Vickers wanted to pursue a specialty in the Navy, and working with ordnance "required something with a little more skill, a little more punch," said Schoeppner, who served in the Marines.

When Vickers came home in 2002 for Maui High School’s 10-year reunion, he didn’t talk about being a SEAL, Schoeppner said.

"He was very thoughtful in keeping his experiences light and humorous," Schoeppner said. "He was definitely raised with a solid Christian background and beliefs. He was very, very nurturing. He was the kind of guy who would help individuals set their problems aside and make things better."