KAUMAKANI — On any given day, those closest to Wallace Sonoda have long known where to find him. The 79-year-old Eleele resident would be at Kaumakani Sports Field doing some kind of maintenance work, such as cutting the grass, watering
KAUMAKANI — On any given day, those closest to Wallace Sonoda have long known where to find him.
The 79-year-old Eleele resident would be at Kaumakani Sports Field doing some kind of maintenance work, such as cutting the grass, watering the field, or even cleaning the toilet.
“It’s like taking care of my own yard — the only difference is that no one can tell me what to do,” Sonoda said jokingly. “I enjoy this kind of job.”
On Saturday, the County of Kauai — along with his friends, family members and fellow teammates — came together on the field to recognize Sonoda for his years of volunteer work during an islandwide senior softball tournament.
Sonoda, who is called “Mito” or “Wally,” was presented with plaques and framed recognitions from the Legislature, County Council, County of Kauai and honored by having the field that he has long maintained named after him — the Wally “Mito” Sonoda Field.
“I was really surprised — they mentioned something to me before but I refused because they were going to ask me to make a speech,” Sonoda said. “I get all shook up when I’m out there.”
Sonoda began calling “the field of dreams” at Kaumakani Sports Field his second home about 18 years ago, when he started maintaining the then-abandoned baseball lot behind this plantation town’s neighborhood center.
At that time, Sonoda’s daughter, Lani Maeda, said there was no pavillion next to the baseball field and the weeds growing out of what is now the community center’s makua parking lot were tall enough to obscure the mountain range in the background.
The field, she said, was once used to host Little League practices and games but fell into disrepair as local children grew up and moved and away and teams began using the field less and less over the years.
But interest in the field increased about two decades ago after he retired from his state job and joined The Rookies, a local Hawaii State Senior Softball Association team, Maeda said.
County Councilman Ross Kagawa, who was born and raised on the West side, said the field itself has come a long way thanks to efforts by Sonoda and other senior softball team members, including Miyoshi “Boxer” Matsuda and Peter Gushiken, to preserve it.
“They basically took an abandoned field and brought it back to life,” Kagawa said.
Fellow Councilman Mel Rapozo said he could only remember one other time when a public parks facility was renamed for someone over the past decade but pointed out that Sonoda’s honor was a well-deserved one.
“If you sit here and look at this field today, I don’t think anybody will argue that this is the best looking field on the entire island,” Rapozo said to a round of applause for Sonoda. “The care and the feelings that he has for this field, and the sport of softball is what makes it happen.”
• Darin Moriki, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-3681 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com.
