JACL BASEBALL TEAM STILL KICKING
In 1915, a Japanese-American baseball team was formed and later became associated with the Lodi chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.
In 2015, the JACL team, now known as the Templars, was on the verge of disbanding after the long-time manager, Mauch Yamashita, passed away.
“Our team manager Mauch had passed a few years earlier,” said Kent Furuoka, JACL baseball team member. “He told some of the ball players that he wanted us to play to our 100th year, but he passed away.”
Even though their respected manager passed, the Templars baseball veterans still wanted to play. In his death, Yamashita gave the Templars life, made possible by a donation in his will which should keep the team covered financially for the next 30 to 40 years, according to Furuoka.
The Templars have won numerous championships over the years.
They won the Nisei Championships in 1939 and 1940, under the name Young Men’s Buddhist Association Templars.
By the early 1960’s, the team was known as the Lodi Civics, and won the Nisei Championships in 1962, 1963 and 1964.
In 1996, the JACL Templars won the Lower Division State Title. The team’s first upper division title since the 1940s came in 2015.
Other teams that participated in the championship are The Gardena Rebels, The Lil Tokio Giants, the Fresno Sansei and more.
The JACL is an international organization for those of Japanese ethnicity, providing service and support for them since 1929.
The racial discrimination during that time period played a role in JACL forming.
“It’s like a support group for ethnicities,” Furuoka said. “Way back when, the Japanese weren’t conisdered white. Same with African Americans, they had to form their own support groups.”
The JACL Lodi chapter formed in the late 1970s, according to Keith Kanegawa, member of the JACL Lodi chapter.
JACL brings positivity to communities by supporting people of Japanese ethnicities and providing scholarships to graduating high school seniors and communi-
ty college students, in hopes they’ll further their education.
“It (JACL) promotes and maintains the Japanese culture,” Kanegawa said. “We serve and protect the human and civil rights of people and promote the Japanese heritage and culture.”
The Templars were temporarily without a manager until Marty Sakata stepped in to take over in 2016.
Sakata has the same philosophy as Yamashita: if people want to play baseball, he’ll sponsor and pay for it.
He pays for everything from hotel rooms to flights to L.A. for the players.
The team currently consists of long-time members like Furuoka, but there aren’t many young people interested in staying dedicated to the team.
“Some kids would come out and play for a couple of games and get tired of it,” said Furuoka. “It’s always been difficult for people to come out.
People from Lodi are leaving to places like the Bay Area for work, or four-year colleges, and don’t come back.”
Furuoka has been part of the JACL team since 1982, starting out as shortstop. He doesn’t play as much as he used to, though.
“I’ve played enough,” said Furuoka. “I sit bench a lot and let the kids play, because if the kids just sit on the bench, they aren’t going to want to come back and play.”
Unless circumstances with work and life change, Furuoka doesn’t plan on ever leaving
the team, even though his family and girlfriend insists he should.
“I’ve been doing it since I was a freshman in highschool. I like to just go out there and be with the guys, talking and playing baseball,” Furuora said.
The Templars are currently 0-6 this season. Their next game is on July 15th in San Francisco, followed by the team’s last home games this season on August 5th, with the first game starting at 10 a.m. and the second at 12:30 p.m.