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JCCH presents its Celebration Leadership and Achievement Dinner on Sept. 30, 2006 - Event to recognize three Hawai‘i baseball legends and corporate honoree
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Type
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Special Event
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Date
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Saturday - 9/30/2006
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Time
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5:30 PM
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Location
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Hilton Hawaiian Village Tapa Ballroom
For more details Call (808) 945-7633
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Cost
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See Below
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| Description/Comments |
 The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i (JCCH) is honoring three esteemed legends in Hawai'i's baseball community as well as a corporate honoree at its Celebration of Leadership and Achievement Dinner on Saturday, September 30, 2006, at 5:30 p.m. in the Hilton Hawaiian Village Tapa Ballroom. The JCCH will be recognizing O'ahu AJA Baseball co-founder Masao Koike; former University of Hawai'i baseball coach Leslie S. Murakami; baseball legend Wally Yonamine and corporate honoree Occidental Underwriters Inc. at its gala event of the year. The event will also feature a silent auction and dinner program. Individual seats cost $150 each. Table sponsorships are available. A portion of the sponsorship is tax-deductible. Proceeds from the event will benefit the JCCH's education programs that share the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai'i. For more information, call the JCCH at (808) 945-7633.
Baseball is one of America's favorite pastimes--and one of the favorite pastimes of Japanese Americans in Hawai'i. This year, the JCCH will recognize three honorees with the Leadership and Achievement Award for their contributions to Hawai'i's baseball community:
- Masao Koike co-organized the AJA senior and junior baseball leagues and the AJA softball league on O'ahu. Devoting more than 50 years to AJA baseball in Hawai'i, Koike's first contact with the organization, occurred while he attended the University of Hawai'i and played in the Honolulu AJA Junior Baseball League. Koike went on to coach in the junior league, and then served as its president. Later, he became league manager of the Honolulu AJA Senior League and served as the president for two decades, until retiring in 1981 as league advisor--a position he still holds today.
- Leslie S. Murakami amassed 1,079 victories during his 30-year career as the University of Hawai'i's baseball coach--one of the most impressive records in all of college baseball. Starting virtually from scratch, he built the program into a national powerhouse within a decade. In 2000, Coach Les was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, achieving national recognition for the three decades in which he mentored 16 All-American baseball players. By the time he retired after thirty-one years of managing the team, UH baseball had become an institution in Hawai'i.
- Wallace "Wally" Yonamine made a name for himself on the field in both professional football and baseball. A high school athlete on Maui and later at Farrington High School, he was the first Japanese American professional football player with the San Francisco 49ers. He later became a pioneering foreign player in Japan's baseball major league, the precursor to numerous foreign players who would later play there. After his playing days were through, he became a successful manager. In 1994, he was inducted into the Japan Baseball Hall of Fame.
- The corporate honoree, Occidental Underwriters Ltd.: While Occidental Underwriters Ltd. isn't in the business of baseball, there is a link. Part of the reason for baseball's popularity among Japanese Americans in the pre-war era was that it was one place where the playing field was level, one place where they could compete on an equal basis with anyone, at a time when overt discrimination locked them out of many arenas of life. Occidental leveled the playing field at a time when Japanese Americans found it difficult to obtain mortgages to allow them to own their homes. This single act enabled many families in Hawai'i to participate in the "American Dream."
This award is presented to a select group of honorees in recognition of their contributions to the community in preserving and sharing the cultural heritage of the Japanese in Hawai'i. Other past recipients of this award have included: Yoshiharu Satoh, Dr. Richard Mamiya, Masayuki Tokioka, former Hawai'i Gov. George Ariyoshi, Albert C. Kobayashi, U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, Dr. Ruth M. Ono, Dr. Fujio Matsuda, Dr. Albert Miyasato, Joanne Ninomiya and Ryozo Sakai.
Name of sponsoring organization: The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, strives to share the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai'i. The Center features a Community and Historical Gallery, Resource Center, Kenshikan martial arts do¯jo¯, Seiko¯an Japanese teahouse and Gift Shop.
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