66 Minutes and A Dream

Eagles basketball walk-on Eito Yuminami joins the pros in Japan

On paper, Eito Yuminami doesn’t scream “pro basketball player.”

He’s 5’6” and 160 lbs. In his three-year career as a walk-on at Georgia Southern, he played 22 games — a total of 66 minutes — and scored 34 points. He’ll freely admit to you that he can’t jump or shoot as well as some of his former teammates.

But in his career with the Eagles, Yuminami became a fan favorite. His quickness and creativity made for electric performances on the court. More than that, however, he became an indispensable leader on the team.

“Eito is the ultimate team player,” said Eagles head coach Brian Burg. “He’s extremely unselfish. He’s a great teammate, and that’s probably one of his greatest attributes, his ability to connect with other players. He puts the program before himself. He has a bright future in basketball.”

This month, Yuminami begins a new chapter in his basketball career — as a professional player and coach with the Nagasaki Velca in Japan. It’s the realization of a goal he’s pursued since he was five years old, and one that brought him halfway around the world to attain.

“When I was five years old, me and my dad planned our goals,” said Yuminami, a native of Chiba, Japan. “We made this checklist. And we put that we would go to the United States, become a state champ, go to Division 1 and make it to the NBA.”

Not every parent would take the dreams of their five year old as seriously as Shinichi and Wakako Yuminami did. Even fewer would move away from their family and friends in Japan to Mooresville, North Carolina, to make those dreams come true. Eito was only nine years old when his parents did just that.

“We were always looking for an opportunity,” he said. “My dad got a job and we just came here.”

Yuminami didn’t speak any English when his family arrived in the U.S. He struggled in his first year at J.V. Washam Elementary School, often just sitting alone and crying. It wasn’t until he played his first pick-up game of basketball that he felt like he could truly belong.

“Basketball’s not just a sport to me,” Yuminami said in a 2018 interview with the Mooresville Citizen. “Basketball’s really helped me a lot.”

In high school, Yuminami was a three-year starting point guard at Pine Lake Preparatory. By his senior year, he led a team that went 12-0 in league play and 19-8 overall. In 67 career games, he scored 679 points and a school-record 333 assists.

The point guard position also gave Yuminami a taste of his true passion — coaching. He had to set plays, shout cues to his teammates and take control of the game. At Georgia Southern, even when he was riding the bench, he was looking for ways to help.

“Eito is a student of the game,” said Burg. “He’s in the film room, and he is constantly seeking out different types of instruction to learn the game from different perspectives. He has a bright future in coaching. He has a passion for the game, both on the court and off.”

With the Velca, Yuminami will coach in the youth development league. He says he’s excited about the competition he’ll face during the year, but he’s even more excited to help kids with dreams just like his.

“What I’m most excited about is how I’ll get to share what I learned both in Japan and America with these kids, so they can use me as a resource and see if they want to go to the United States,” he said. “I’m just excited. I get to share all this knowledge that I learned with all these little guys.”

As for his parents, they’ll stay here in the U.S., but will come visit him in Japan every chance they get. The distance is a small price to pay to watch their son follow his dream. He says their faith in him has been a driving force in his life.

“The only thing I want for them is to become happy for me,” he said. “I just want them to say they’re proud of me. When I got this pro contract, they were really excited. And, you know, that’s what keeps me going to this day, to be honest.” 

— Doy Cave