EPICANTHUS

• [Update] Whodat? Saints 31, Colts 17. Read Scott Fujita’s Super Bowl diary on NOLA.com

MIAMI—The New Orleans Saints will be packing a Japanese-American double whammy for the Indianapolis Colts Sunday when they face off in Super Bowl XLIV. The unlikely duopoly consists of the speedy, 6-5, 255 lb. strong-side linebacker Scott Fujita and front office marvel James Nagaoka, a guy who doesn’t even have to don a jock and pads to make his team a winner.

A UC Berkeley political science grad with a master’s in education, the inspirational Fujita has done much to rehabilitate the image of the professional athlete by taking some courageous stands on hotly debated social issues, such as abortion rights and gay marriage. While most ballers’ quotes are monosyllabic, Fujita’s are nuanced and articulate.

Given up for adoption by his 16-year-old birth mother when he was six weeks old, Fujita was adopted by third-generation Japanese American schoolteacher Rodney Fujita and his wife Helen, a Caucasian.

Though not Japanese American by blood, Fujita received a typical Japanese American upbringing (with all the trappings) in Oxnard, Calif., considers himself Japanese culturally and says the strongest person he knows is his tiny grandmother Lillie Fujita, who was imprisoned in a concentration camp by the U.S. government during World War II.

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But the Saints’ real secret weapon just may be the team’s incredibly resourceful director of operations James Kuniki Nagaoka, 60, who orchestrates where his players eat, sleep, travel, work out and practice with the exacting logistical skill of a four-star general. He runs the show that is Saints’ football.

An NFL veteran of 31 seasons, Nagaoka excels at giving the Saints the winning edge of preparation, especially on the road, where the season can be won or lost, through hurricanes Katrina and Gustav and the media conflagration that is the Super Bowl.

A graduate of the University of Washington with degrees in communications and Japanese literature, Nagaoka was lured away in 2000 from the Seattle Seahawks franchise for whom he handled a myriad of logistical duties for 22 seasons. The unflappable operations chief may prove to be the difference on Super Bowl Sunday.

• NFL Stats: Scott Fujita, NFL.com
• The Saints Linebacker Who Speaks His Mind, NYT
• A Linebacker With a Conscience, ESPN
• Scott Fujita: Family Valued, The Times-Picayune
• Fast Facts: Jaclyn Fujita (Scott’s Wife), playerswives.com
  
• Curriculum Vitae: James K. Nagaoka, Spoke