The academy is named to honour Father Joseph A.Gough,an Irish priest who worked in The Gambia for about twelve years (12) as a pastor, educator , coach and “Father” to all Gambians.

Father Gough as everyone called him, is presently living in his home town, Dublin, Ireland where he teaches at Blackrock College.

He came to The Gambia in 1971. He started the St Michael Seminary in 1972 where he trained the first Gambians to be ordained as priests. He taught at the St Augustines High School throughout his stay in The Gambia, where he was principal from 1978 to 1983.

During his tenure as principal he transformed the school by increasing enrolment from about four hundred (400) to over a thousand (1000) students. He introduced commercial subjects to the curriculum, upgraded the school to ‘A’ level status, built a new library and science labs and established the first Board of Governors at the school.

He built in the school a covered basketball lawn with fibre glass posts, a gymnasium and transformed the swamps at the back of the school into a football field. Today, that football pitch is being transformed into an artificial grass football pitch by the Father Gough Sports Foundation.

Father Gough was involved in all aspects of Gambian life. He was honoured with the Order of the Republic of The Gambia (ORG). Father Gough is a household name in The Gambia.