Stupe Shimogawa adjusted his white cap and growled softly, “Let’s get the games going.”
Shimogawa, whose real first name is “Kenichi,” was the guest of honor during the opening of the Kaua‘i Pop Warner Association’s 2006 season Saturday at Vidinha Stadium.
“If I had a name like that, I’d like to be called ‘Stupe,’ too,” Mel Rapozo, the president of the KPWA said while introducing the elderly gentleman during the Jamboree marking the traditional opening of the tackle football season.
Shimogawa has been involved in the various aspects of football for more than 65 years, Rapozo said of the familiar figure on football fields.
For years, Kaua‘i residents have seen his familiar figure on the football fields garbed in the black-and-white referee outfit. During those times, Shimogawa sometimes donned the black cap of referee or the white cap of head ref.
Westside residents know him from the butcher shop at Kalaheo Market, but how many remember when Shimogawa’s “speedy legs” as an end and his “intelligent toe” as a kicker earned him MVP honors in the Barefoot Football League?
As shoes began to cover the bare feet of plantation-era football players, Shimogawa moved to the coach’s slot for the Koloa Packers.
Armed with the experience garnered on the gridiron, Shimogawa also began officiating for both Pop Warner and the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation high school games.
When the Kaua‘i Pop Warner program needed a commissioner, Shimogawa was chosen to lead the program for many years.
During this time, the soft-spoken gentleman brought his family into the game.
“He lent his sons, daughters, nieces, nephew and grandkids to this game,” Rapozo said. “And he’s still working on the great grandkids.”
Shimogawa pulled his sisters, Betty Ihara and the late Janet Wakamoto, and their husbands, Eddie Ihara and the late Tony Wakamoto, onto the gridiron. Additionally, Shimogawa involved his cousins, Edith and Donal Ruiz and Larry and Kenneth Marugame to help officiate on Kaua‘i fields.
But the Shimogawa herd was not limited to referee-ing.
“His wife Mary was always right by his side — most times on the field,” Rapozo said from his loft in the press box.
Mary Shimogawa led a Shimogawa team that filled positions of down markers, chains, timekeepers and ball persons.
Rapozo said the idea of honoring Shimogawa and his contributions to football came from the Koloa association prior to the start of the season and everyone who heard the suggestion approved.
Except, perhaps, the man himself.
“I had to push him out,” said referee Lenny Rapozo. “When he heard his name being called, he didn’t want to go out. He’s that modest.”
Shimogawa was born in Kukui‘ula on March 3, 1925, and attended Kalaheo School before moving to Waimea to live with relatives so he could attend Waimea High School.
A veteran of World War II, Shimogawa attended meat-cutting school in Toledo, Ohio under the G.I. Bill before returning to Kalaheo, where he married Mary Apor.
Today, Shimogawa has four children, seven grandkids and four great-grandkids.
Rapozo said the mission of the Pop Warner program is to enable children to benefit from participation in team sports and activities in a safe and structured environment. Through active participation, the young athletes learn fundamental values, skills and knowledge they can use throughout their lives.
It’s an ideal place for a role model like Shimogawa.
“He is from an era where sportsmanship, scholastics, commitment and pride were integrated into every sport and he carried these values to all the endeavors he was involved in,” Rapozo said. “Especially the Kaua‘i Pop Warner League.”
As he received lei after lei from relatives, friends, supporters and participants from the Koloa Pop Warner Association, Rapozo stepped back and said of Shimogawa, “He does it all for the kids.”
“Stupe’s doing the ‘white hat’ for the first games,” said Kelvin Moniz, who had the white hat for the opening games. “It’s his day. I’ll wait until the Midgets come on the field.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
