Mel Wakabayashi Hitoshi " Mel " Wakabayashi ( born April 23 , 1943 , in Slocan City , British Columbia ) is a former All - American ice hockey player , a right - handed center , who played for the 1964 NCAA champion Michigan Wolverines . He was also named Player of the Year in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in 1966 . He went on to play 11 season in the Japan Ice Hockey League and to coach the Japan men ' s national ice hockey team at international competitions , including the 1980 Winter Olympics . After his hockey career ended , Wakabayashi became the President of Seibu Canada . In 2001 , Wakabayashi was selected by the WCHA as one of the Top 50 Players in 50 - year history of the conference . He was also inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 2006 . Youth in Canada . Wakabayashi was the son of Japanese - born parents who lived in Vancouver , British Columbia . During World War II , his parents were placed in a Japanese - Canadian internment camp at Slocan City , British Columbia . It was at the barren internment camp at Slocan City that Mel was born . Along with thousands of other Japanese - Canadian families , the Wakabayashi family was moved to a second internment camp in Northern Ontario shortly after Mel was born . When Mel ' s brother , Osamu " Herb " Wakabayashi , was born in December 1944 , the family was living in the Neys , Ontario internment camp on the northern shore of Lake Superior . In 1950 , the family moved to Chatham , Ontario , where Mel grew up with his seven siblings . He excelled in both hockey and baseball , playing junior hockey with the Chatham Maroons and baseball for the Ontario Baseball Association championship team . As a youth , Wakabayashi was a baseball teammate of Chatham native and future Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins . University of Michigan . University of Michigan hockey coach Al Renfrew visited Chatham to watch Wakabayashi play , and invited him to play hockey for the Wolverines . In January 1963 , Wakabayashi enrolled at Michigan , but due to the freshman eligibility rule , Wakabayashi had to wait until January 1964 to play for the hockey team . Wakabayashi made an immediate impact , scoring 21 goals and 17 assists in 1964 . He helped the Wolverines win the 1964 NCAA championship and scored two goals in the championship game against the University of Denver . As a junior in 1965 , he was the leading scorer for Michigan and in the WCHA . He was awarded the Hall Downes Award as the team ' s Most Valuable Player and was named a first - team All - American . As a senior in 1966 , he was the leading scorer in the WCHA and was named the league ' s Player of the Year . Wakabayashi was known for his ability to avoid penalties . In three years of collegiate hockey , Wakabayashi received only one penalty , a tripping call in his sophomore season . He later recalled , " Since I started playing hockey in pee wees , my coaches really banged it into my head that I was supposed to score the goals , not try to knock the big guys around and end up getting hurt or getting a penalty . I remember very clearly the feeling of sitting in that penalty box - and how much I realized I didn ' t like sitting in that box ! " In a 2002 profile , writer John U . Bacon wrote that Wakayabayashi " is perhaps the most unlikely star in the long history of Michigan sports , and surely one of the most inspirational . " Former teammate Dean Lucier said , " The college game was made for him . He ' s the best player I ' ve ever stepped on the ice with , for or against , and that includes Tony Esposito and Keith Magnuson . " Wakabayashi also played baseball at the University of Michigan and was named to the All - Big Ten Conference team as a second baseman . Japanese hockey . In January 1967 , Wakabayashi signed with the Detroit Red Wings and was assigned to play with the Red Wings ' farm club in Memphis , Tennessee . He played in 1967 for the Memphis Red Wings and the Johnstown Jets . However , as one columnist later observed , " 5 - 6 , 150 pound Japanese forwards were not in great demand in the National Hockey League . " In 1968 , Wakabayashi moved to Japan where he played 11 years in the Japan Ice Hockey League , mostly for the Kokudo Bunnies . He was regularly among the league ' s leading scorers and played seven consecutive seasons without a penalty . While still playing , Wakabayashi also became the team ' s head coach in 1978 . Wakabayashi also coached the Japan men ' s national ice hockey team at several international events , including the 1980 Winter Olympics . He continued to coach in the Japanese Hockey League until 1994 . Career with Seibu Canada . The owner of the Kokudo Bunnies , Yoshiaki Tsutsumi , owned the Seibu department store chain , the Seibu railroads and was Japan ’ s largest landowner . After Wakabayashi ’ s hockey career ended , Tsutsumi hired him as President of Seibu Canada , owner of the Westin Prince Hotel in Toronto . In a 2002 interview , Wakabayashi credited his Michigan experience as the key to his success : " If not for Al Renfrew and the Michigan hockey team , I would probably be working with my dad in the factory in Chatham . I don ' t even want to think about that one . " Honors . In 2001 , Wakabayashi was one of three University of Michigan players ( along with Red Berenson and John Matchefts ) selected by the WCHA as one of the Top 50 Players in 50 - year history of the conference . He was inducted into the Chatham Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 2006 .