40 Years of F.l.a.b. Softball

• Citation: Vol. 18 No. 06
• Publication year: 2014
• Year: 2014
• topic: Business of Law

40 Years of F.L.A.B. Softball

by Michael Ragsdale and Bill Hunt

Michael Ragsdale (Cronin Fried Seika, Kekina & Fairbanks)

This year marks the F.L.A.B. lawyers league Softball's 41st year. For the past 40 years, members of the legal community have dusted off their gloves, searched for their cleats, and purchased expensive new bats in anticipation of the competition.

What is F.L.A.B.? F.L.A.B. is a co-ed league and all lawyers, members of the lawyer's family, and employees of law firms are eligible to play. F.L.A.B. is and always has been a softball league exclusively for the legal community. For the past 40 years, lawyers, law office staffers, judges, law professors, politicians, prosecutors, and public defenders have all come together to play a friendly game of soft-ball. It cannot be said for sure whether there have been any settlements consummated during a game, but one thing is for certain, F.L.A.B. softball has always encouraged friend and foe to come together other than in the court room or the conference room.

The F.L.A.B. season begins in May and ends in October or November. Teams play one game per week on the Kapiolani Park fields on Saturdays. Game times are 1:00 p.m., 2:20 p.m., or 3:40 p.m. If you are interested in joining the league either as a player or forming a team, please give me a call at 780-5426 or email me at mar324@cornell.edu.

Over the years, many have contributed to the success of F.L.A.B. A few of your resident F.L.A.B. historians include: Lou Carnazzo (Carnazzo Court Reporting), Alan Fujimoto, Wayne Luke, Donald Wong, Rick Morry, Clyde Matsui, Jim Williston, David Gruebner, Donald Fisher, Stuart Kaneko, Brian Piccolo, David Forman, and Chris Chun. Dickson C.H. Lee, Rick Morry, and Bill Hunt have provided some background on the early years of F.L.A.B.

Dickson C.H. Lee (Takushi, Wong, Lee & Yee)

In 1973, Roy Yempuku, then of Fujiyama Duffy & Fujiyama ("FDF"), and Bert...