Japanese Student Manager Is Perfect Fit In Gopher Clubhouse

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Gophers baseball team begins playing in the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon.

There are many reasons why they made it this season. But the most intriguing comes from a guy behind the scenes you've probably never heard of. A student manager whose work ethic and perseverance has set the tone for the entire team.

"I will tell you," said assistant head coach Rob Fornasiere, "I love the kid."

When Kan Ikeda arrived in America from Japan five years ago, he didn't speak a word of English.

But he did have a directive. His father had sent him and told him not to come home without a college degree.

"He didn't say I can't," Kan said with a smile. "But he said don't come back until I get a degree. I don't know if he was serious or not."

But Kan took it seriously. He enrolled in an English learning program in San Francisco, then spent two-and-a-half years at a community college in Oregon.

But Kan had a dream of his own too: A career in baseball.

So two summers ago, he took a trip.

"One day he showed up in my office," Fornasiere said. "Presented a business card."

Kan had no appointment. He just showed up.

"Just showed up," Kan said. "I told him, 'I'm coming back next year, and can I be a student manager?' He said, 'Sure.' Later he told me, he didn't know I was serious."

Fornasiere told Kan to let him know if he got into school at Minnesota.

"And quite frankly," Fornasiere said, "I didn't think I'd ever see him again. A year later all the sudden out of the blue, he calls me up on the phone and says, 'I'm enrolled at Minnesota, I'm here in the state, and I'm ready to go to work.'"

Now for the last two years, Kan has been a clubhouse favorite.

"He has absolutely set a new standard for his work ethic and the student managers in our program," Fornasiere said.

But what's more, he's also about to get that degree. He'll graduate in December.

Which means he can finally go back home. He hasn't seen his parents in five years.

"I know this is very hard to my mom," Kan said. "But they always support me. Whatever I want to do."

Kan isn't quite ready to go home just yet. He's still pursuing his dream. He's got a summer job lined up with the Columbus Clippers -- the Cleveland Indians Triple-A affiliate -- as a clubhouse attendant. His dream job, he says, is to eventually be an interpreter in a major league clubhouse.

So, with his time with the Gophers coming to a close, the coaches hatched a plan. With Kan set to be honored with the rest of the seniors at the team's annual banquet this week, they invited his mom, to see it for herself in person.

"I'm kind of nervous," Kan said as he walked through the airport to meet her.

After five years apart, she was just happy to see him, period. With Kan interpreting, she said she was proud of him.

"Of course," she said.