I don't think I can talk either about my Arizona state time without
talking about coach koshikawa, you know, coach koshikawa was such an icon
in the men's athletic department for so many years. And um, I knew his
name when I came in. I, I've been introduced probably to coach. I knew
what a great figure he was at Arizona state and iconic.
And I guess this is um, years into my experience. One day, here comes Dick
Allen and coach koshikawa and they're at my practice. I'm flattered. So I
stopped my practice and I bring them down on the field and I introduced
him to the team and oh, coach, it's so great to see you and thank you. And
um, meanwhile, um, coach had been very homebound for several years with
his ailing wife, she had passed away and spent a couple of years, I think
getting his feet back under him. He had started to go out to football
practice and I think just on a whim came over to have a look at softball
and he got hooked and so did I. And he spent many, many of his late years
coming to softball every day being around the team often. Um, Dick Allen,
who was an alumni of the program and a great uh, friend to coach, brought
him over and oftentimes then after practice I would drop him off. He lived
right off of Mill Avenue and Tempe and invariably coach would say, well,
you probably, you should come in, you know, and we should talk it over and
he always had his, you know, yeah, we, we got to talk it over and so we
would have our chat at the end of the day and we, we're for such an odd
couple. I mean how did that work? But we became such great and close
friends. I looked up to him and admired him so much and I know I are
already mentioned carol spanks who I coached within the pan american games
and she's probably one of the most positive, optimistic,
glass half full kind of people and that's exactly how coach k was. He was
, he had such interesting life himself, you know, serving in the, you know
, the japanese american unit of our military. Um he was a great athlete
himself here. I don't know, we just became these kind of friends and spent
so much time together. He was, has been such an important part of my life
here at Arizona state and of course, um you know, coaches passed away but
what a great life he had and I'm so honored to just have been a part of it
and you know, to really say, gosh, we were, we were just friends and he
was such a great supporter of the team and of course all of the players
loved him, hey coach, you know, and as it became a little harder for him
to gain the stairs, they were always there helping him and being a part of
it. Many of the parents of the teams, you know, kind of always had a hello
for coach and he certainly always had a hello for them. So I, you know,
it's just another part of this great history of Arizona state that I've
been so honored to share in. That's a wonderful example. I mean because
coach had been here, I believe his coaching was like 41 years or something
and he too coached all the sports. Um, and of course Christine, Kadokawa
Wilkinson is a great influence on Arizona state, but the, their family
together, his wife market, um, Bill and uh, Christine have really of a
family that has had an impact on so many aspects and university. Um, we
have a classic as well, don't we? We do for softball. Did you name that?
Yes, I was so honored to name a tournament for coach K and he has um, you
know, he has seats with his name on him and the stadium and uh, yeah, he's
just such a fond memory. And we also named are male and female student
athlete of the year after coach. So trying to recognize his contribution,
what his influences, what an icon, what an icon. And my, my parents would
come out and visit in the spring along with my grandmother who, you know,
I often like to say, you know, I grew up kind of,
you know, the most of the athletic models at the time were men, you know,
I wanted to be bob Gibson or you know Julio and Javier or or you know, I
near the ST louis cardinals and then as I got older, you know it became
the Amelia Earhart. Mhm Annie Oakley and you know you looked at those kind
of iconic women and then I got older and I wanted to be like my
grandmother, you know, looking at her life um and I'll just give you like
one story about her growing up, you know through the depression years and
when she's five years old, she makes a pact with her best friend at five
that when they grow up, when they get big and they get married, they have
kids, if anything ever happens, you know, they'll take care of one
another's kids. And 30 some years later my grandmother finds out that her
friend has passed away and might have had a child and tracks
to find the boy in an orphanage and adopted them as her own. That's my
grandmother. You know, when he is a senior in high school, one of his
friends tragically loses his parents and he asked Okonjo spend the night
and he never left and so she brought into the family another son. So in
addition to having my mother who was technically than the only child, she
got a brother and then later you know another brother and so you know, I
look at the just the opportunity that she and my grandfather and my
grandparents how you know, they work to make our families work and so the
older I got, the more admirable I became, you know, she lived to 98 and
every day just love and life and really kind of looking forward, You know
, to the challenges and she would say, Oh I wish I was 90 again, you know
, to make us all laugh. But you know what a heroine um to me and then so
many of them that you begin to, even though your life becomes more global.
Your, I don't know, your heroine hero's become closer to home I think
during the many years of coaching of course at Minnesota at Arizona state
um even as a grad student um you competed at the highest levels, your
teams, you know, strive to be, you know, that gold medal, that, that
regional national championship for collegiate softball course going to the
college world series um along the way. Um there's a list of championships
and there's a list of honors um but there's some special moments to and uh
I was fortunate to participate in in one um which was nominating AJ,
Alyssa johnson for the women athlete of the year award um from the N. C. A.
And the Honda award um and that was really a unique opportunity which we
were behind the scenes and nominating her, it came out and announced it at
the field and AJ didn't know yet. Um but she at the banquet in front of
the whole N. C. A. A mentioned our names and that was for me a really
incredible moment. It's sort of like I was so happy for her and receiving
the Honda award is incredible. Um and I think it may have been the first
one a s you ever,
but can you talk about Alyssa and her, her path to that moment was very
special. Yeah, and I think melissa as being the exemplary story, kind of
example of so many athletes or experiences I've had where people are
overcoming things. But Alyssa johnson is a recruited softball player out
of Marcus Dumisa right down the street. Um, she comes in, she's already
bleeding maroon and gold. She is an outstanding player and uh overall
great athlete. She's, we're training for the beginning of what would be
her junior year and she doesn't seem right to me, you know, you never know
was it a boyfriend, It's uh you know, just having a rough time or so I
asked her and she says, oh wow, I'm not feeling so great. I have headaches
, getting these headaches. Well, we think there's migraines in her family.
So she's onward to be diagnosed. And about a week later I'm called down
to the training room and at the time she's playing with lisa de Cristo
who's another all american in our program and having a back problem. You
remember lisa and I think I'm getting called down to the training room so
they can tell me whether lisa di questo can play or not because she's got
a back problem. The team doctor says close the door and then says, Alyssa
johnson has a brain tumor. He talked to me for another 40 minutes. I have
no idea what the man said. I did not hear one more thing, but it ends up
that we need to contact Alyssa, get her with her parents.
It's a nightmare. She has a brain tumor. They want to medicate her and
shrink the tumor, which means her athletic career is over. And Alyssa
insists that she have surgery and Barros does surgery
and she has the surgery in october to remove a brain tumor and I'll never
forget this. She's wheeled out and wheeled by and she recovers and plays
that season comes back to the team finishes her career and as a result
wins the Honda inspirational award, the first award of its kind at Arizona
state. And I just remember, I and I think it's pretty typical. I'm stoic,
you know, because you really don't know how to be because it affects her,
her family. You know, you don't know how what is gonna happen. And I
remember the doctor coming out after the surgery and he goes, she's gonna
be just fine and everybody else is cheering and I'm crying. It's like
finally I could just like give it up. So I was so it was such an emotional
but such a rewarding experience and you know it's it's kind of I have
those by you know not not that dramatic of course but the idea of having
challenges and overcoming them. I can name so many examples of my players
who have face something whether it's um family, it's academic, its
athletic, it's injury, it's this it's that and they meet the challenge and
exceed and now I still you know, see elicit the football games and she's
still such a wonderful engaging person and there she is and she she did
that she overcame that. And when you provided a platform really for her to
do that and that's one of the things intercollegiate athletics does is it
really embraces the student athlete. Uh Come here to be students to
participate in their sport. They hopefully leave here with a college
degree because that's part of the bargain that we make is that you come
here to be and a. S. U. Alumni and uh that women's athletes have always
really graduated. So that wasn't like a high bar that was just expected.
And I believe most if not all of your student athletes earned their
degrees which is a real tribute to you as a head coach um Along the way
people called These young people athletes and we started then and probably
the 90s calling them student athletes and rewarded graduation rewarded you
know athletic performance as well. Um and I agree with you. Alyssa is a
perfect example of your type of student athlete who played in the A. S. U.
Softball program and she's not the only one. I mean just as long as
they're here's tammy Loman, I see tammy Loman uh southern California girl
, I watch her play when she's in eighth grade and I say this I I have to
have this player, she ends up being a sun devil and now is the assistant
coach at the university of California. And in fact I have a photo maybe
it'll be running right now of here's tammy getting the winning hit against
cao as a sun devil. And now um you know she's maybe even gonna say a word
on here about um playing at Issue and now being a coach at cal and I look
at her, I'm so proud of her and it's just so fun to see you know and then
um you know another highlight of course. Speaking of cal Diane nine Mayer
becomes my assistant for the olympic games in Athens in 2004 and we just
have great experiences together coaching the greek team a sidebar. The
greek team um are many greek american players who have had collegiate
experience in this country including our own Stacey Farnsworth who played
for me at Issue, became an assistant in my last years of coaching, played
on the greek team and now um is a specialty catching coach in California
and her name is Picard now and there's the, you know, the little boy
Austin who will be making the next round, probably will no doubt be an
athlete. So there's so many of that in every team, you know, every one of
the teams here played in the regionals. When I was at Minnesota, I had a
few great teams, including my um in in my last year I had that I coached
all three teams participated volleyball, basketball and softball
international championship. Um In 1981, when I um Left volleyball, both
teams competed in the top 10 in the country. So just great competitive
experience, every team here in regionals and when super regionals come in.
Super regionals every year in 1999. Um Probably a very special year uh
competition at the College World Series and 2002, um finishing third in
the competition. Now, it must be really special for those, thank you's to
becoming your way because you've influenced so many people and for those
who do say thank you, there's you know, dozens more who who think it?Um