Wally Yonamine, Athlete Who Bridged US-Japan Gap After WWII, Dies at Age 85

TOKYO, March 2, 2011 — -- Wally Kaname Yonamine, the first American to be inducted into Japan's Baseball Hall of Fame and a former running back for the San Francisco 49ers, died Tuesday, from complications of prostate cancer. He was 85.

Known as the "Nisei Jackie Robinson," Yonamine blazed a trail for Japanese and Americans on both sides of the Pacific.

"He was an outsider with the 49ers, and he moved to Japan and became an outsider for the opposite reason -- because he was American as opposed to being Asian," said author Robert K. Fitts, who wrote Yonamine's biography "Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball," released in 2008.

A native of Maui, Yonamine was born to immigrant farm workers. He began playing football as a child, and excelled as a star running back at Honolulu's Farrington High School. In 1944, his senior year, Yonamine led his team to an undefeated season and championship.

Considered one of the greatest athletes to come out of Hawaii, the football player was set to accept a scholarship from Ohio State University when the San Francisco 49ers came calling. He signed a two-year contract and headed to the Bay Area as the first Japanese-American football player to play professionally, just a year after the end of World War II.

Yonamine started three of 12 games his first year, rushed 19 times for 74 yards, and caught three passes for 40 yards.

A wrist injury forced him to end his football career after just one season, but his impact remained well beyond that. The 49ers established the Perry/Yonamine Unity Award in 2007, a title awarded to a 49ers player, a Bay Area youth football coach and a local company that demonstrate commitment to promoting unity with their team and community.

"Most people remember him for his accomplishments on the diamond, but our family, we have a great deal of respect for him for what he's done off the diamond," Paul Yonamie said in an interview with the Associated Press. "One hell of a guy."

Yonamine played in the American Pacific Coast League before heading to Japan in 1951, at the age of 26.

The left-handed infielder began his Japanese baseball career with the Yomiuri Giants, becoming the first American to play professional sports in Japan following the war.

Robert Whiting, author of "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat: The Game Japanese Play," and "You Gotta Have Wa," said Yonamine was recruited specifically because he was a Japanese-American. Occupation forces and Japanese government officials thought Yonamine would help forge closer ties between former enemies.

"The blond haired blue eyed American, they thought, wouldn't be a good thing," Whiting said. "Memories of the war were too vivid. Plus, there was a lot of trouble with the GIs during the occupation."