David Murakami was 17 years old in 1957 and had just graduated from Saint Louis School when he received an invitation to play for Asahi in the Hawai'i Baseball League.

"It was every kid's dream to be an Asahi," Murakami said, recalling that his first game was at old Honolulu Stadium. "I walked into the stadium, went to the locker room and the equipment manager took my size and handed me the Yankee-type pinstripe uniform since it was a home game, and a cap, then tells me to go pick out a bat.

"It was the greatest feeling," said Murakami, who later starred at the University of Nebraska and later coached with his cousin, Les Murakami, at the University of Hawai'i.

Murakami was among 200 people who attended yesterday's 100th anniversary of Hawai'i's most notable baseball franchise, which was founded by the late Steere Gikaku Noda. The club won 23 championships, including 17 in the Hawai'i Baseball League, which started play in 1924, and was a top drawing card at the old stadium.

Asahi also made 11 trips to Asia but none was more significant than one in 1974 when the club upset the Cuban national team, 5-3, at the 45th Japan Goodwill Semi-Pro Series before a crowd of 40,000 at Korakuen Stadium.

Until the Rural Red Sox were organized in 1946, Asahi had its pick of the top players of Japanese ancestry on O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands.

Although the club has not played a game in 25 years, Asahi pride and tradition lives on in the memories of its former players. Yesterday offered an opportunity to share stories with old friends.

Japan pro baseball Hall of Famer Wally Yonamine played football for the San Francisco 49ers and did not have much interest in playing baseball until he joined Asahi in 1948 for the first of two seasons. He had returned to Hawai'i at age 26 to play football for Ben Dillingham's Hawaiians and work at Wilson Sporting Goods, but got to like baseball.

Playing for Asahi "taught me how to be hungry," said Yonamine, a gifted athlete. "I had to work hard at baseball, 10 to 12 hours a day, because I was only an average player."

The work paid off in a contract with the Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals in 1950. The Seals farmed Yonamine out to their club in Salt Lake and after one season, Seals manager Lefty O'Doul helped Yonamine get his release so he could play in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants.

Yonamine's Asahi teammates included Dick Kashiwaeda and Jimmy Wasa, two of the club's all-time great infielders.

Wasa's greatest contribution to the club came in 1942, when he agreed to start his career with the Adam Ornellas' Hawai'i Braves at the request of Asahi owner Dr. Katsumi Kometani. At the time, the Braves were the pride of O'ahu's Portuguese community and big rivals of the Asahi, or Athletics as they were known during the World War II era.

"At the time, they weren't friendly," Wasa said of the general Japanese-Portuguese relationship in the community. "The Japanese old men wanted to know why I was playing for the Braves. I was the first Japanese player to play for the Braves and I stayed for seven years. They treated me real good.

"What it did," Wasa said of the experience, "was it allowed people to find out about the other person."

Wasa came back after his stint with the Braves to finish out his career with Asahi.

Allan Yamamoto of Maui, who turned to a career in golf after playing for Asahi until age 25, rates left-handed hitting first baseman Larry Kamishima, whose power swing was tailor-made for the short porch in right at Honolulu Stadium, as the best he saw in an Asahi uniform.

"The guy didn't take batting practice so we all tried it but it didn't work for us," Yamamoto said of Kamishima, who is on vacation and missed yesterday's function. "He was the most feared hitter. I saw them walk him with the bases loaded once even though he was playing with a broken hand. That's respect."

Ron Ramie, who was an Asahi for three weeks in 1974, recalled that sumo star Jesse (Takamiyama) Kuhaulua came to the dugout to cheer for the team against Cuba.

"Tommy Gushiken got so excited that he runs up to say hello and steps on Jesse's foot with his cleats, spiked him!" Ramie recalled. "Tommy is apologizing to the guy and Jesse says, 'For what?' "

Former major leaguer Lenn Sakata, who managed the San Francisco Giants' San Jose Class A affiliate to the California League championship this year, recalled that Asahi was noted for playing "small ball" when he was a member of the team from 1971-74.

"It reminded me on how to play the game," said Sakata, whose uncle Jack Ladra brought him to the team.

Lillian Noda Yajima, daughter of the Asahi founder, along with Tom Ishigo, Hank Kibota, Jimmy Itamoto, John Nakamura, Hide Yamashita, Gushiken and Eddie Hayashi organized the function. Notables in attendance included Jimmy Burns, whose father Gov. John Burns managed the Athletics during World War II; Charlie Yoda, 89 1/2 years old, believed to be the oldest-living Asahi, and Masa Yonamine (no relation to Wally), who led Asahi to nine HBL titles in his 15-plus years as field manager.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.