Berkeley Ohtani Basketball program works to keep 80-year-old tradition alive

BERKELEY – Dating back to before World War II, an East Bay family has been involved in a unique basketball program for generations.

For Steven Morioka, basketball is about more than keeping score.

“When I was growing up, that was the thing to do. That was the social thing to do,” he said.

The sport has been part of his family’s DNA for three generations.

“All my friends played basketball, we all hung out together; we carried a basketball whever we went,” Morioka smiled.

He is the President of Berkeley Ohtani Basketball. A recreational program his father, Tom Morioka said, has brought Japanese American families together since the 1930s.

Basketball was a part of life. Japanese Americans even passed the time shooting hoops behind barbed wire in World War Two internment camps. And after the war, Berkeley Ohtani played a key role bringing culture and stability to families re-settling in neighborhoods.

“They were isolated so they had to use their relationships they knew and grew up with and had common issues,” the elder Morioka said. “That’s how the community maintained itself.”

80-year-old Tom Morioka joined the boys team as a 10th grader in 1957.

Many of the groups centered around churches, like Berkeley Ohtani’s sponsor, the Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple.

“It was like a sense of belonging, a sense of community,” Morioka explained.

Like his father, Steven Morioka also built lifelong connections in Berkeley Ohtani:

“These are friendships that exist today,” he said.

But Japanese American basketball leagues have shrunk since the 1970s when Northern California had a few hundred teams. More families moved to the suburbs, church attendance dwindled, and more kids, especially young girls, chose other sports.

And then, to make matters worse, COVID cleared the courts.

“When the pandemic hit, all that stuff stopped, wiped out,” explained Steven Morioka.

While some groups never came back, Berkeley Ohtani is up and running again with 12 teams. And Steven’s teenaged son, Owen, returned to coach the program that’s taught him leadership and sportsmanship.

“It’s really exciting. It’s giving me a lot more fun,” smiled the 16-year-old El Cerrito High School student.

Yet something is still missing.

“Participation as far as the players go is about the same, but the sense of community is a little bit behind,” said Steven Morioka. He says it needs more volunteer board members to lead the program’s front office.

And a return to large gatherings like rice-cake-making events, and tournaments with its accompanying social activities that build community. Berkeley Ohtani’s bounce back will drive its move forward.

“It’s going to have to go through some changes, but I think it’ll be around,” said Steve Morioka.

“I want it to continue,” said his father.

“I would definitely have my kids play basketball,” said Owen.

The Morioka family wants to give future generations a shot at the tradition that’s shaped its past.