Golfer Yanagisawa Special in Ways He’ll Never Know

Stephen Yanagisawa still doesn’t understand why he is getting the Bill Bovee Determination Award, given to a Long Beach State athlete who “shows a determination above and beyond expectations.”

Yanagisawa doesn’t think he has done anything special.

“I just did what I had to do,” he says.

A meeting with Yanagisawa was postponed for a day because his car died.

“I’m so sorry,” Yanagisawa says over the phone. “I have no other way to get to see you.”

A day later, Yanagisawa shows up, right on time, carrying in-line skates under his arm, wearing a backpack.

There is no time, ever, for Yanagisawa to stop. If the car won’t run, the skates will do. Or his bike. Or his feet.

On Oct. 20, Yanagisawa will receive his award. He hopes his father can attend. Seiji Yanagisawa is 67, suffers from diabetes and Parkinson’s disease and, in 1996, had a stroke. With his father unable to run the family business, the Golf Doctor, a golf retail and manufacturing company in Gardena, Yanagisawa just did what he had to.

“I took off school for the year and I worked,” Yanagisawa says simply.

It is hard to get Yanagisawa talking about himself. That’s not what he does. But he is happy to tell his father’s story.

“My dad came to this country from Japan right after World War II,” Yanagisawa says. “He came with nothing and at a very difficult time. There was resentment here against Japanese. He faced racism. But nothing would stop him. He just went to work and worked very hard.

“My dad never talks much about what he faced, the racism and stuff, unless he is asked but I admire him so much because I’ve watched how hard he worked all his life. I think that’s why he’s sick now. Because he had to work so hard.”

Yanagisawa first held a golf club when he was 5, but it wasn’t until he was 13 and trailing after his older brother, William, that he began taking golf seriously.

As William went to play at Stanford--he was Tiger Woods’ teammate on an NCAA title team--Stephen was making his own way, winning the Moore League championship when he was at Long Beach Poly High, and playing the No. 4 or No. 5 spot for Long Beach State.

Long Beach State golf Coach Bob Livingstone nominated Yanagisawa for the award because he realized, even if his young golfer didn’t, how special Yanagisawa was.

“Frankly, I never expected Steve back on the team,” Livingstone says. “When he came to me and told me what he was going to do, take a year off, I knew what sacrifices he was making for his family. I knew that his family would always come first. I knew his grades were suffering because of how hard he was working.

“I had pretty much written him off. But he came back and said to me, ‘Coach, I saw what my brother accomplished at Stanford and I want us to do that well.’

“When Steve came back, he still had to work two or three jobs at a time but he did that, got a 3.0 grade-point average and kept playing golf for us. I don’t know how the kid ever slept. You just don’t see many kids that age so committed to both his family and his team.

“Basically, he has put his own goals on hold to help his family. I wanted to see him recognized for that. And you know what? I can call Steve and tell him I’m having a problem with my computer and he’s at my house in five minutes, ready to help.”

Yanagisawa has finished his golf eligibility. He is still attending Long Beach State, aiming for his degree this year. He has an internship in the sports information director’s office and he picks up work other places, as a range boy at a local golf course, and helping another brother, Albert, who is running the part of the family business that hasn’t been sold.

Livingstone remembers the days when Yanagisawa would call and ask for help about what to do when the family’s business lease was about to expire.

“That was so much responsibility for the kid and he never avoided a second of it,” Livingstone says.

If he ever wavered or got tired of the work, of the scrambling to make money, of getting passing grades, of pulling his weight on the golf team, it would only take going home each night and seeing his dad to make Yanagisawa quit feeling sorry for himself.

“The medication my dad takes, it makes him tired all the time,” Yanagisawa says. “We take him for walks and he loses his balance so easily and falls over and I remember again how hard he always worked and it was always for us, for the family. That’s the most important thing to me.”

So when you read the next story about a potential NFL-made millionaire like Peter Warrick facing felony charges for allegedly trying to escape paying for designer clothes, then saying, upon his arrest, that hey, “I didn’t kill the president or anything,” think about other athletes. Athletes like Steve Yanagisawa.

He understands what responsibility is, even if he doesn’t understand how to accept the honor he will receive.

“I still don’t think I did anything special,” Yanagisawa says. “Bye now,” he also says. “I’ve got to get to class.”

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Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com.