Steere Gikaku Noda was 13 years old in 1905 when he organized a sandlot baseball team of young boys from a Japanese camp at the corner of Liliha and King streets. He named the team Asahi, which meant morning or rising sun.

From its humble beginning, Asahi became Hawai'i's most notable franchise and top drawing card before the heyday of the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders in the '70s and University of Hawai'i college baseball in the succeeding decades. The club won 23 championships, including 17 in the Hawai'i Baseball League, which started play in 1924.

Masa Yonamine led Asahi to nine Hawai'i League titles in his 15-plus years as field manager. The team made 11 trips to Asia beginning in 1915, but none more significant than in 1974, when Yonamine guided Asahi to a 5-3 upset of the Cuban national team in the 45th Japan Goodwill Semi-Pro Series before a crowd of 40,000 at Korakuen Stadium.

Although the team has not played a game in 25 years, Asahi pride and tradition lives on through the memories of its members, who are planning a reunion luncheon in November to commemorate the club's 100th anniversary.

The Asahi all-time player roster is a who's who of local baseball greats, many of whom plan to attend the reunion.

They'll talk about the pitching heroics of the late Dick "Kaipo" Kenney and Tom Ishigo and home runs from Ron Ramie and Clayton Fujie in the win over Cuba; big plays in Hawai'i League games against the rival Rural Red Sox, SubPac Raiders and Braves; listen to Charley Yoda, who at age 89 is the oldest living Asahi, talk story about the old-timers, recall the barnstorming trips and fun times that make reunions so special.

What none of them will ever forget is living the dream of every local ballplayer of Japanese ancestry in their generation: to be an Asahi.

"It was the proudest moment of my life," said 81-year-old Manoa resident Dick Kashiwaeda, a Kaua'i native who got his chance in 1943. During World War II and up until the early 1950s, the club changed its name to Athletics but Kashiwaeda said the team practiced in old Asahi uniforms.

"The old Asahi uniforms were felt, white with maroon sleeves, and I always used to wonder what great old-timer wore the one I had," said Kashiwaeda, who played with Asahi off and on for 15 seasons between stints in the military and with the Tokyo Giants in Japan.

Asahi often had players on the bench who could be starting for other teams, and its talent went beyond the playing field. The team's ownership and supporters were men with influence in the community.

Baseball transcended politics, for example, as in the relationship between Dr. Katsumi Kometani, a Republican who owned the Asahi from 1937 to 1946, and former Gov. John A. Burns, who led the Democrats' surge to power in the mid-1950s. While Kometani was serving with the 100th Battalion during World War II, he turned over ownership of the team to Burns.

"Their politics were different but my dad and John Burns were good friends who played cards and golf together," recalled Dr. Franklin Kometani, son of the former owner. "My dad realized that a non-Japanese had to take over the team during the war years and he asked John Burns to do it."

In 1942, Asahi won the Hawai'i League championship with Neal S. Blaisdell, who later became mayor of Honolulu, as its field manager. Angel Maehara, who bought the franchise from Mackay Yanagisawa and ran it from 1955 to 1970, was owner-president of Air-Flo Express and Blaisdell's "most trusted adviser" while he was mayor.

Noda, Andy Yamashiro, Mits Fujishige, Robert Taira, Kenneth Brown, Milton Holt and Lawrence "Peanuts" Kunihisa were Asahi players who were elected to public office.

In 1946, Kunihisa and chief backer Mako Tasaki organized the Rural Red Sox, who became the tradition-rich Asahi's top rival in the Hawai'i League by breaking the monopoly it had on the best Japanese local players.

Asahi officially opened its player membership to all players in 1956 although it did have non-Japanese players on its roster during World War II. The military teams — SubPac Raiders, Pearl Harbor Admirals, Hickam Flyers, Hawaii Marines and Fort Shafter Commandos, or in later years an Army team from Schofield — had some pro players so the civilian teams did their own recruiting to keep up in the highly competitive Hawai'i League.

Hawai'i League rivalries were built on ethnic pride and games drew large crowds to Honolulu Stadium.

"It was the biggest thing in town, especially in the 1930s and the (World War II) years," Kometani said. "Asahi was the pride of the Japanese community.

"Today, we're so sensitive about race but in those days, the teams brought different communities of races together. When I was a batboy, I got to know so many great (Asahi) players — Dick Kashiwaeda, Wally Yonamine, the Kitamuras (brothers Dick and Harry) and Jyun Hirota."

One of Kometani's favorite memories occurred in 1950 when New York Yankees stars Joe DiMaggio and Joe Page played in an exhibition game at Honolulu Stadium between Asahi, which at the time was still playing under the name Athletics, and a Hawai'i League all-star team.

Asahi has always traveled well. One trip, however, was memorable for something other than baseball.

After playing in Japan, the team took a side trip to Dairen, Manchuria, in 1940. While there, the train carrying the team was attacked and chased by Manchurian bandits, Kometani said. Fortunately, the bandits never caught up to the train, he said.

There's a favorite Asahi story about Hank Kibota.

Before a 1961 game in Hilo, officials set up a home-run hitting contest between Asahi slugger Larry Kamishima and Al Souza of Hilo.

"Nobody hit the ball over the fence," recalled Eddie Hayashi, an Asahi rookie that year. "Hank was the smallest guy on the field and he hit two home runs in the game over the center-field fence."

One of Tom Ishigo's favorite memories is about Bo Hunter.

"We're playing at Fort Shafter and at 5 p.m. the cannon goes off," Ishigo said. "Bo is playing center field and hits the ground. I can still hear Masa (Yonamine) yelling 'Hey, pal-eee, what you doing!' "

Ishigo is hoping to revive the Asahi team with O'ahu AJA League talent to play a series of games with Island Movers and goodwill opponents from Japan. His son, Corey, will be the first to sign up.