Yoshitada Nakagawa

Yoshitada “Yosh” Nakagawa passed away peacefully on January 29, 2022, surrounded by his family, succumbing to his third battle with cancer.

Yosh was born on December 27, 1932, to father Tetsuzo and mother Suyeko. He began school at Bailey Gatzert Elementary until his education was interrupted by his family’s imprisonment at Minidoka Prison Camp in Hunt, Idaho. After being freed from Minidoka, the family returned to Seattle where he graduated from Garfield High School. Yosh attended Linfield College for a year and graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Sociology. During college, he entered ROTC and was commissioned to the 2nd Lt. Infantry at the rank of captain.

While a student at Garfield, he began cleaning and stocking at Osborn and Ulland Sporting Goods Store. Over the next 45 years, Yosh held a variety of jobs at O&U with increasing responsibility. When he retired, he was the president/CEO of a nine store chain and over the years led many revolutions and innovations in the sporting goods industry as well as retail business practices. One example was the concept of pre-season ski sales. He thought that hosting ski sales after the season was over was silly so in the 1960’s, he began holding pre-season sales which evolved into SNIAGRAB (bargains spelled backwards). By the 1980’s, SNIAGRAB was the largest off-site ski sale in the country. Thousands of Northwest families were able to ski because of all of the great bargains they found at the sale. Yosh was able to use his influence within the sports industry to bring countless renowned athletes to Seattle for meet and greets, and autograph signing events. Some of his favorites include Bjorn Borg, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Dr J.

Yosh was friends with and worked with many icons of the local sports landscape including Bob Houbregs, Trish Bostrom, Tom Gorman, Warren Miller, Bill Kirshner (K2 Ski), Buzz Alsop (Alsop), Michael Schindler (Baden Sports), Adi Dassler (Adidas), and George Salomon (Salomon Ski) to name a few. While in college, Lou and Jim Whittaker, who also worked at O&U, took him to the top of Mount Rainier. He admitted later that the Whittakers basically carried him to the summit.

Yosh and Howard Head (Head Sports) revolutionized two different industries, ski and tennis. They introduced the Head ski to the world, the first time a non-wood ski was considered a world class ski. After the amazing success of the Head Standard, Pro, Master, and 360 skis, Yosh and Howard introduced the Prince Classic tennis racquet, the first large head tennis racquet. Yosh and Howard would often joke that if they were better athletes, they would have never needed to design equipment that would make sports easier. A prime example of this was Yosh’s induction into the Northwest Skier’s Hall of Fame. This was quite an accomplishment and amusing to many because he was a terrible skier!

In 2007, Yosh was inducted into the Garfield High School “Golden Grads Hall of Fame.” He was thrilled to have this honor bestowed on him, telling his friends that his unique experience at Garfield impacted his life forever.

Yosh was an avid fan of his Seattle sports teams. He was a season ticket holder for the Sonics, Pilots, Mariners, and Seahawks. If you were watching a Mariner’s game on TV and a left handed batter came up, you could see Yosh in the background in his signature yellow jacket. He even was chosen to throw out the first pitch as recognition for his lifetime of accomplishments. It was nerve wracking but the jersey with “Nakagawa” on the back made it all worth it!

Yosh spent much of his life in service to God. A lifelong member of Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle, his devotion provided him the opportunity to serve in a variety of roles at JBC including moderator and chairperson to several committees. As a scout at JBC, he earned Troop 53’s first God and Country Award and served as Cubmaster.

He was also active in American Baptist Churches (ABC) USA, American Baptist Churches NW, Asian American Baptist Caucus, and American Baptist Churches Evergreen Region. In 2005, Yosh was bestowed an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley, CA. In 2007, the American Baptist Home Mission Societies presented him with the Jitsuo Morikawa ABHMS Healing and Transforming Communities Award. And in 2011, he received the Cora and John Sparrowk Award. The recipient must be “an American Baptist who has, over a period of years, made an exceptional and outstanding contribution to the life of Christ’s Church and who in life and service manifests richly the fruits and gifts of the Spirit.”

In 2005, Yosh invited the Native American Baptist Caucus to Seattle and became friends with Lawrence SpottedBird. He became interested in helping the Native American community in a variety of ways, including partnering with Baden Sports to encourage healthy lifestyles through competitive sports. He and Lawrence dreamed of a Native American Spiritual Center in Seattle where they could host a gathering of drums, including Native, Japanese, and other drums from around the world.

In Yosh’s retirement, he immersed himself in educating others about the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WWII and worked tirelessly with the National Park Service to plan and build the Minidoka Internment National Historic Site in Idaho. This included a baseball field and period equipment for the museum. He also participated in several pilgrimages to the site as it was being developed, to share stories and educate the youth. He was instrumental in the creation of the Japanese American Remembrance Garden at Seattle University; property where his family lived and ran a business before interment but were never able to return. When he spoke to various groups, he always encouraged them to “think big and speak up”.

Yosh is survived by his wife of 65 years, Sue, sister Mary (Chuck) Matsumoto, daughter Dr. Lisa (Dr. Alan) Kiyohara, son Mark (Joni), daughter Linda, grandsons Brett Nakagawa, Tyler Nakagawa and Nicolas Kiyohara, sister-in-law Chiyoko Doi, and numerous nieces and nephews.

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the staff at Kaiser Permanente Home Services and Interim Healthcare for their compassionate care and kindness, with a special thank you to Rahel and Eden, his caregivers.

A celebration of life will be held later this year when it can be done so more safely. If you would like more information, please e-mail the family at [email protected]. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made in Yosh’s name to the charity of your choice.