Those in Yap may remember Steven as the former manager at the Bank of Guam in Colonia as well as the starting pitcher for the Yap State Baseball Team at the 2010 MicroGames in Palau earlier last year.
The 31-year-old was thrown into the channel waters off the Umatac Bay in Guam, while he was on a jet-ski at approximately 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon. He never surfaced.
Earlier Sunday, friends and family waited along the beach near the Umatac Mayor’s Office for any sign from rescue officials on the whereabouts of Alcantara. In the background, the sounds of hammers clanged against wooden walls as others prepared booths for the Umatac Discovery Day festivities.
Juanita Alcantara, mother of Steven, said the family and community members held vigil at the shore as they waited for her son’s return.
Alcantara is also well known as a wide receiver for the Pepsi Warriors Football Team in Guam and was also a Big Brother with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program of Guam. He also pitched for the Bank of Guam Athletics Baseball Team and previously pitched for the Yap State Baseball Team during the 2010 Micro Games in Palau. While in college, he also pitched for Missouri Valley College.
The Guam police and fire departments, along with the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Guam and the Navy’s HSC-25 helicopter, started their second day of the search at sunrise on Sunday.
Several search-and-rescue divers scoured the ocean floor for the body of Alcantara, while three rescue boats and four personal motorized watercrafts pushed through the strong wind but otherwise calm waters.
Rescue and search officials found Alcantara’s body lodged under some reef near the channel of the bay at around 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 27, almost 24 hours after he fell into the water. His body was then transported to Guam Memorial Hospital.
Alcantara’s death marks the fifth life claimed by Guam’s waters this year.
