‘We can do. We can.’

Dean Nonaka has played and coached for the Hanapepe Rivermen of the Kauai Americans of Japanese Ancestry baseball league for 43 years.

He isn’t as fast or as strong as he once was. He even jokes about playing at his age.

Yet, he comes back every year because of his love of baseball and the camaraderie with his team.

Nonaka sat down with The Garden Island at Vidinha Stadium, the site where he and the Rivermen won the AJA state championship a few weeks ago.

There, he talked about winning his first title, participating in the Japanese-American baseball league for more than four decades and shared many laughs.

TGI: First of all, congrats on winning the AJA state championship. I remember when we talked after the Kauai AJA championship game, you said it’s been 32 years since Kauai last won the state tournament and you hoped Kauai would win it because it’s on the island this year. I’m sure that was great for you and your team.

Dean Nonaka: The whole Kauai, actually. We were so happy. I lost my voice after the last game because of yelling and encouraging the players to get up. We were down 3-0 in the second inning. So we were kind of second guessing ourselves for a while, but then we just chipped away and chipped away. After the third inning, they couldn’t do anything.

We were so excited. The league managers, the president and everybody was like, “Finally.”

I was just preaching to the guys, “Don’t respect them like they’re God, because they ain’t.” We had to try and get their mind made up saying that we can do. Maui was in the championship game the last three years or four. They had a good team, but we just kept on going. We blew away Maui and I told the guys, “See, we can do. We can.” We was having so much fun. All of the guys just clicked. Looking at the lineup from nine to one, everybody did excellent. The other team made a lot of mistakes, but we capitalized on that. We went for it and never looked back.

TGI: Was that the first AJA state title you’ve won?

DN: First state championship I’ve ever won, ever.

All the years I’ve ever played baseball. AJA for 43 years and from high school, Little League and all of that, came close but never did get a championship. In football, we did. In Pop Warner, but not baseball. And that’s my love, baseball. I just love baseball — 43 years. That’s a lot of playing, but I cannot play already. I’m too old, but I still try. I just fill in when they need me.

TGI: But in the Kauai championship game, I saw you slide at home plate. You can still play, right?

DN: Oh, man. I was hurting that time already. First time I pulled my hamstring, but it was fun.

TGI: Take me back to the beginning. What was it like when you first joined the league?

DN: Well, we’re playing in a man’s league, right? The older players were men and we were kids entering in a man’s league. Their way of baseball at that time, even though you’re there first at practice, if a man comes through the door and even though you didn’t hit yet at batting practice, he’s going to hit before you. Even though he came late. That was kind of a bummer for us.

When you play against the guys in the league, they won’t ease up against you just because you’re a child. If they’re throwing 80-90 miles-an-hour, they’ll throw it. They will bring it.

You can tell the different levels of talent. If we see a younger guy who doesn’t play baseball, they just want to try, we tell our pitchers just straight ball batting practice. It’s our theory because we were young. You get in there and the guy is throwing 80-90 miles-an-hour and you’re terrified, you won’t be able to hit and they don’t care. If we see a guy who doesn’t play baseball, we’ll just let them hit.

Without the kids, some of the teams wouldn’t have enough players. That’s why we pitch to everybody. You got to treat the kids like one of your players because if it wasn’t for them, you might not have a team. So that’s what we do.

Some other teams, they like to go after top players to bulk their team, but we just pick whoever wants to play with us in our district. I’ve played for Hanapepe for 43 years. All the years I’ve played AJA, it was all for Hanapepe.

When I was in the younger days, we had no wins sometimes. We didn’t win one game the whole year. Maybe two or three years we didn’t win one game. (Other teams) would ask me to play for them. I told them no. As long as there is the Hanapepe Rivermen, I’ll play for the one team that plays for Hanapepe.

Then all of the high school players we were playing with, they went to college. Some of them played college ball, then came back. We still held the team together, started to win.

You can go to any team you want, but we were kind of close so we kept the team together. Started to win championships. After that, every year we were contending.

TGI: What else do you remember from that first season you played in AJA?

DN: Never did play. I had good speed, so when they needed a pinch runner they would put me in. Other than that, the first two years you don’t even see the ball park. You don’t even get into the game.

After what became my freshman year, I started to play. I played high school and AJA the same time.

TGI: How does someone tryout for AJA?

DN: There’s no tryouts for AJA. If you want to play, you come. There’s not enough players to have a tryout, not like high school. It’s competitive, but it’s still fun.

All you have to do is show your proof of Japanese ancestry. That’s all you have to do. Show your birth certificate that says you’re Japanese.

TGI: For someone who isn’t from Hawaii or doesn’t know about AJA, what would you tell them if they asked you about it? Why is a Japanese-American baseball league important?

DN: Well, I don’t know the true story or the history about that. The league president can answer that better than me. But what I know, after the war, (Japanese people) weren’t allowed to play any other sports. So, they just formed their own league. It’s the only league that’s survived. There were other open hardball leagues for other nationalities in Hawaii, but it never lasted. We’re lucky that AJA has kept going.

You know, you got the one guy on the island who protest the AJA. Says it’s racial and things like that. But there are people who back up AJA. They’re not Japanese, but they back up what this league started.

TGI: Why do you think AJA has lasted as long as it has?

DN: I guess it’s the players and the fans. Maybe the presidents themselves keep it going.

This is all volunteer. I guess it’s pride, maybe. It’s been going that long and cannot end it. Like in the opening ceremony (of the state tournament, the president) always encourage the younger generation to get involved with the league.

TGI: Let’s go back a little bit. I remember you saying that you told your teammates that you can win the state tournament. Do you think Kauai was underestimated?

DN: Kauai was always picked from the host team to play against them because Kauai was one of the weaker teams. So-called no talent. They’re going to say that those guys didn’t win for 32 years. But when I used to play, we used to compete.

Once you put good guys together and they’re all on the same page, you can do anything. You can do wonders.

I never did get intimidated from the other islands when I used to play. Everybody else used to. Before you get to the other island, they’re kind of like, “Oh, this guy from Oahu is coming. Oh this pitcher from Oahu is coming.” This and that … They’re just defeating themselves before we even get there.

So I told the guys this year, “I don’t care who’s coming … Respect them for what they is, but don’t respect them like they’re untouchable. Because they’re not.” I was telling them we can. We can, and we did.

There’s a lot of talented players. The Kauai kids, they have so much talent, but they don’t want to get off of this rock for some reason … I don’t know why. Maybe academic-wise, they don’t know if they can do it. But physically, they can compete.

Now, kids can kind of see the light. The little leagues are getting better and they’re competing. They see they can compete with the other islands. (The other islands) are strong, but Kauai kids can see that they can compete with these guys.

Some guys on our team, they never get off of the island and they’re talented enough to at least play junior college, even myself. My friend went to UH Hilo for the baseball team. He walked-on and made the team. He always used to tell me that I should have gone there.

It’s the only regret I got. I never tried to play college ball. That’s the only regret I got because I could have. I could hit and run and throw the ball like anybody else. Just never got there. That’s the only regret, to at least try.

TGI: How much longer you think you’ll stay in AJA?

DN: I don’t think for that long. Well, I cannot walk away now since we’re defending state champs. I should walk away and end it as state champs. I’ll be around, not to play, just to be around the guys. If they need me to fill a spot, I’ll show up.

My wife always tell me, “You cannot quit yet. You’ve been there for so long. You just go.”

TGI: Then what brings you back every year?

DN: It’s just seeing each other every year, you know? All of the guys my age, they’re all gone. They don’t want to be around it. Even me this year. At the beginning, I was kind of thinking this is going to be my last year. There’s other things I can be doing. Then we start winning and it’s like, “maybe I should stick around.”

It’s fun. They all laugh at me. Even the umpires. I cannot even run like how I used to. God, I must look old. Even my kids make fun of me during the game. Just teasing me the whole time. “Dad! You’re running but your stomach is leading the way!” My own kids, you know? It’s all good because I know it’s the truth. It’s all good. It’s the best when your kids tell you that.

Five years ago when we went to the state tournament on Oahu, we lost the first game already so we’re playing the consolation bracket. I came up to bat. My youngest kid, I think he was 4 or 5 at the time. We was playing at UH stadium. I come up to bat and he goes, “Dad! Keep your eye on the ball!” Real loud and it echoed in the whole stadium. There wasn’t even 50 people over there, but everybody heard it and started laughing and clapping. Oh gosh. I look at him like, “OK.”

They keep me motivated, my kids you know. They don’t want me to give it up, too. I want to give it up, but sometimes they’ll tell me, “No dad. You cannot give up yet. You got to go to AJA practice,” because they want to see all the uncles. Some of them not even their uncles, but they call them all uncles. Like they’re family already, so they’re all uncles. They look to them.

That’s one thing good about our team actually. Everybody knows everybody. My kids and their kids all call each other uncles and aunties. It’s like a big family. So now we got extended (family), uncles and aunties from the state tournament. The kids got to know them too.

That’s how it is. Even when I go to the farmer’s market, everywhere actually, the guys go, “How’s it uncle?” I don’t even know them, but they give me that title. I guess because of my long hair or whatever … That’s how it’s supposed to be in this world. Everybody just getting along with everybody and respect the elders.