Island Voices
Jim Ohta: giant among giants
By William T. Kinaka
Wailuku resident
In recent years, Maui lost four giants, all of whom I considered personal friends:
• Mr. Tennis: Shigeto "Shigesh" Wakida, after whom the Lahaina Tennis Courts were named. He was my next-door neighbor when we were living in Keawe Camp.
• Mr. Baseball: Ichiro "Iron" Maehara, after whom the Central Maui Baseball Stadium was named. He was my brother in Christ for over 20 years at Kahului Union Church.
• Mr. Track and Field: Satoki Yamamoto, after whom the Central Maui Track & Field Stadium was named. He was my science teacher and track coach at Lahainaluna High School.
• Mr. Boy Scout: James "Jim" Ohta, after whom Camp Maluhia or a section of it should be named.
Of the four giants I had the privilege of knowing personally, Jim Ohta had the greatest impact on me as mentor and friend.
The year I became an Eagle Scout, 1954, President Eisenhower launched the International People-to-People Program. It was designed to help thaw the Cold War climate and improve international relations. This was to be accomplished by promoting exchanges of culture, art and people among countries so we could all better understand each other and, hopefully, work together for a better and more peaceful world.
Because Jim Ohta wanted the Boy Scouts of Maui County to participate in the noble endeavor to promote international goodwill and world peace, he organized and founded the World Aloha Scout Exchange Program in conjunction with Eisenhower's program.
Consequently, in 1956, the Eagle Scouts of Maui County invited an Eagle Scout from Turkey to spend the summer at Camp Maluhia, visit the different islands and spend some time in the homes of various Boy Scouts and scout leaders. Because of its huge success, the leaders decided that an Eagle Scout from Maui County should be sent abroad the following year.
When 1957 rolled around, Jim asked me if I were planning to enter the Outstanding Eagle Scout competition — the winner of the contest was going to be sent to a foreign country for the summer under the sponsorship of the World Aloha Scout Exchange Program.
As someone who was born and raised in a plantation village, who lived with his two sisters and parents in a one-bedroom house with no indoor bathroom or toilet and who had to go to Boy Scout meetings at night on his bicycle because his family did not own a car, I was somewhat intimidated and hesitant to enter the competition. At that time, I did not think a kid living and growing up in a plantation camp could really compete against those "city boys."
However, Ohta thought otherwise. Although he knew how I felt, he was convinced all I needed was for someone — a friend — to push me out of the comfortable Eagle's nest. That day in 1957, Ohta gave me some of the best parenting advice I have ever received: "Bill, you're an Eagle now. And unless you try, you will never know how high you can fly."
What a profound piece of advice. Because of Ohta, I tried. And because I tried, I was able to reach the sky. I was selected as the Outstanding Eagle Scout of 1957 and was sent to Japan for the summer to represent the Boy Scouts of America.
When my immigrant grandparents, who worked for Pioneer Mill Sugar Co. and who lived just two plantation houses away, heard of my selection, words could not describe how they felt. Although my grandmother could not speak English, her trembling voice and her quivering body conveyed to me, more clearly than words, just how proud she was of her grandson to be selected to visit the place of her birth.
All this would not have been possible and would not have happened if it were not for Mr. Boy Scout, James Ohta, my mentor and friend until the end.
