Editor’s Word: An earlier model of this story said all members of the Sabres entrance workplace on the time are deceased. Former coach Floyd Smith continues to be alive. We remorse the error.
Josh Tsujimoto normally wears a No. 74 Sabres jersey sporting his final title if he attends a Buffalo residence sport at KeyBank Heart.
It was a present from his father, Paul, a couple of years in the past and meant to function a tangible memento of a household legend that spans 5 a long time. However there are nights when Josh isn’t the one one sporting a No. 74 sweater at a Sabres sport. Now and again, you’ll see the odd Tsujimoto jersey sprinkled amongst the gang in Buffalo.
“You go to a Sabres game and you’re bound to see a couple of Taro jerseys,” says John Boutet, chairman of the Higher Buffalo Sports activities Corridor of Fame. “Some people have the correct number, which is 13. He was given 13. Some people have 74 because that’s the year it was.”
The jersey is a cult traditional as a result of the legend of Taro Tsujimoto isn’t only a household story shared by the daddy and son.
As a substitute, it’s an inside joke that has been stored alive by Sabres followers for 50 years.
“Some people recognize it,” Josh says when requested about his jersey. “A lot of out-of-town people will come to a game and they don’t know the backstory. So I’ll tell them, ‘He’s not real. But he’s got a Wikipedia page.’”
Taro Tsujimoto was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres within the eleventh spherical of the 1974 draft.
The workforce’s official media information nonetheless lists Tsujimoto alongside the opposite draft picks from 1974. He’s famous because the 183rd general choice within the draft, a centerman taken from the Tokyo Katanas.
However the NHL’s official information and document guide doesn’t acknowledge Tsujimoto. His title has been stricken from historic draft data for a quite simple purpose: Taro Tsujimoto by no means existed.
The 1974 NHL draft was in contrast to another in league historical past.
The NHL was within the midst of attempting to fend off the rival World Hockey Affiliation, which had already poached a number of of their notable stars. NHL officers have been cautious that WHA groups would use the outcomes of their draft to attempt to lure gamers to their league. So the NHL hatched a novel plan: They’d maintain the 1974 draft fully veiled in secrecy.
Over a three-day window — beginning on Might 28, 1974 — groups would choose gamers by way of a personal phone name, with the 18 common managers phoning in to NHL president Clarence Campbell on the league headquarters in Montreal to document their decide.
Every workforce had no clue what different golf equipment have been doing, forcing Campbell to re-read the choices every time a workforce was drafting a participant. The primary day alone took eight hours, and the draft was scheduled to go as many rounds as common managers selected to draft.
The method turned so meticulous and tedious that a number of groups began skipping picks altogether.
The Kansas Metropolis Scouts — regardless of being a model new enlargement workforce — opted to skip their eighth-round choice.
The California Golden Seals punted on their ninth-round decide.
Josh Tsujimoto wears his No. 74 Tsujimoto jersey at any time when he attends Sabres residence video games at KeyBank Heart. (Picture courtesy of Josh Tsujimoto)
Each Vancouver and Detroit handed on selecting a participant within the tenth spherical.
However the Buffalo Sabres didn’t wish to simply skip their decide within the eleventh spherical. As a substitute, they needed to ship a message to league officers that the draft course of was needlessly drawn out and exhausting.
The Sabres had 4 folks dealing with the draft: Basic supervisor Punch Imlach, coach Floyd Smith, scouting director John Andersen and public relations director Paul Wieland. Wieland defined in his 2019 guide, “Taro Lives! Confessions of the Sabres Hoaxer” that he was there to collect data on the gamers drafted however he additionally had eyes on moving into hockey administration. Imlach needed to assist him get there.
Imlach walked into the Sabres’ draft suite on the second day of the draft already fed up with the method. As Wieland recalled in his guide, Imlach mentioned, “What the hell can we do to piss off Campbell?”
Andersen recommended drafting a participant no person knew about so groups needed to comb by way of their lists to seek out him. Then Wieland jumped in and mentioned, “We should draft someone who doesn’t even exist … just make up a name from some place that no one would expect. Like Japan for example.”
Imlach considered it and mentioned, “Japanese? What the hell. Why not?”
Within the spring of 1974, Paul Tsujimoto was a 21-year-old school pupil again in his household residence in Elma, N.Y.
He distinctly recollects being known as downstairs from his bed room for dinner one night time when his father relayed the story of a mysterious telephone name he had acquired earlier within the day.
“He said someone with the Buffalo Sabres called him on the phone and asked him a couple of questions,” says Paul. “They wanted to know a common name for a boy in Japan. And they wanted to know what the Japanese word for a sabre was.”
Paul’s father — Joshua Tsujimoto — answered the questions.
He advised the caller that Taro was a typical title for a boy in Japan. And that the Japanese equal of a sabre was known as a katana.
The thought to telephone the Tsujimoto family was the brainchild of Wieland. When touring forwards and backwards as a school pupil, Wieland would drive by Tsujimoto Backyard and Items, the household’s common retailer. That’s how he got here up with the fictional final title for the draft decide.
Wieland used the solutions from Joshua to assist fill out an elaborate backstory that included pretend stats in a press launch. In response to the Sabres, Tsujimoto had a modest 15 objectives and 10 assists for the Tokyo Katanas in his draft 12 months.
The Tsujimotos and the 4 folks within the Sabres’ draft room have been the one ones conscious of the gag.
“We had no idea what they were doing until we found out about the draft a couple of days later,” says Paul. “Then we said, ‘Ahhh. That’s why they called.’”
Wieland and Imlach determined to see how far they may take it. When the workforce went to coaching camp in St. Catherines, Wieland roped in workforce coach Rip Simonick, who constructed a locker stall full with gear and a Tsujimoto jersey with No. 13 on the again.
Danny Gare, the Sabres’ second-round decide within the 1974 draft, remembers being at rookie camp and everybody questioning who Tsujimoto was and when he may present up. The nearer the Sabres obtained to foremost camp, the extra the intrigue intensified.
“They were making cuts and getting ready for main camp and we hadn’t seen him,” Gare says. “There were a lot of discussion like, ‘Where is this guy?’ There were rumors he had trouble getting his immigration papers and all of that. It was a good prank, man. It was quite a thing.”
Even the house owners, Seymour and Northrup Knox, weren’t in on the joke. They have been asking Imlach and Wieland day by day at coaching camp if Tsujimoto had arrived. Wieland defined in his guide that Imlach would simply say he “wasn’t sure if the kid would make it this year, but remember we have his rights in case he decides to turn pro in the future.”
“You had to think this guy was real,” Boutet says. “Who would go through that length to play a practical joke? Well, I guess Paul would.”
It in all probability helped that the Sabres had a powerful draft that 12 months. Gare and Lee Fogolin, the workforce’s high two picks, performed greater than 800 NHL video games. Gare as soon as led the NHL in objectives. Even Derek Smith, taken one spherical earlier than the Sabres drafted Tsujimoto, ended up taking part in 335 video games and amassing 194 factors.
“I remember later playing on a line with Derek Smith and Tony McKegney,” Gare says. “We had a great line. I scored 56 the one year and we were going out afterward to celebrate the season. Derek Smith said to me, ‘Yeah, Tickets, you’ll be remembered for leading the league in goals. I’ll be remembered for being the draft pick before Taro Tsujimoto.’”
The entire Sabres group ended up turning into fairly keen on Wieland’s pranks. Every April 1, Wieland would provide you with a pretend story to ship out in a press launch. One 12 months, he typed a complete launch to announce that the Sabres could be switching to plastic ice of their enviornment. An area tv information reporter fell for the story and ran it on air. He didn’t speak to Wieland for years after the actual fact.
Gare nonetheless laughs at that one, as a result of he’s now a associate at Can-Ice, an artificial ice firm in Canada. Wieland was forward of his time with out even realizing it.
“He had a likable spirit about him,” Gare says. “He always had a comedic side talking to him.”
“Paul Wieland was such a character. I got to know him a bit over the years. A completely creative, zany guy who was so colorful,” provides Paul. “And he always had some out-of-the-box ideas.”
Wieland’s pranks have been solely a part of his appeal. He was progressive on the workforce’s broadcast, got here up with the workforce’s mascot, Sabretooth, who continues to be round at the moment which explains the Sabres sing the Canadian and United States Nationwide anthems earlier than video games. His impression on the franchise was sufficient for Boutet to push for Wieland’s induction into the Higher Buffalo Sports activities Corridor of Fame this fall.
The NHL wasn’t as enamored with Wieland’s jokes. Then-NHL president Clarence Campbell fell for the plastic ice joke when, in accordance with Wieland’s guide, he was quoted by the Canadian Press supporting the Sabres’ try to maintain the league on the reducing fringe of expertise. So it’s no shock Campbell didn’t have numerous persistence for the Taro Tsujimoto joke as soon as the league caught wind of it. The Tsujimoto decide was finally faraway from the official document and the decide entry is now simply invalid.
However that didn’t cease the legend from dwelling on in Buffalo. There have been bumper stickers and buying and selling playing cards. Some followers would present as much as The Buffalo Memorial Auditorium with large indicators that mentioned, “Taro says …” with totally different endings for every sport.
“I used to read them all the time because they were clever,” Gare says.
Wieland used to say that his quirky jokes have been a technique to put a small market workforce on the map and exhibit the town and franchise’s humorousness. In a much bigger market like Toronto, New York or Montreal, Boutet doesn’t assume one thing just like the Tsujimoto prank would have taken off in the identical manner.
“Buffalo people are different,” Boutet says. “We get it. We’re OK to laugh at each other. This was the perfect town to do it in.”
Paul Tsujimoto says he first advised his son Josh — who is known as after his grandfather — concerning the legend of Taro when he was about 8 years outdated.
“It was an inside joke with the family for as long as I can remember,” says Josh. “I remember my dad bringing it up when I was little. I didn’t realize how many people knew about this until I got older.”
Paul owns one Taro Tsujimoto rookie card that was gifted to him by a former employer who was in a position to monitor one down.
The legend of Taro Tsujimoto isn’t only a household story shared by the Tsujimoto household. It’s an inside joke that has been stored alive by Sabres followers for 50 years. (Picture courtesy of Josh Tsujimoto)
In 2011, the Panini buying and selling card firm determined to print a small run of Taro Tsujimoto rookie playing cards as a part of their 2010-11 rookie set. The cardboard lists Tsujimoto’s alleged birthdate — March 15, 1953 — and posts his peak (5 toes 9) and weight (165 kilos).
The again of the cardboard featured a brief biography that leaned into Tsujimoto’s curious backstory:
“In Buffalo, it’s not Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio? It’s Where Have You Been, Taro Tsujimoto? The first Japanese player ever selected in the NHL Draft, the Sabres tabbed the mysterious prospect in the 11th round back in 1974. The Canadiens, who had hoped to steal him later in the draft, were rumored to have worked out a deal for the diminutive center that would have sent Jacques Lemaire to Buffalo. Instead, the Sabres held on to his rights and continue to anticipate his arrival. To this day, whispers of his exploits with the Tokyo Katanas stir up the fans at the HSBC Arena, where the faithful often are heard to chant ‘We Want Taro!’”
Panini acquired the approval of each the NHL and NHL Gamers’ Affiliation to provide that Tsujimoto card. An NHLPA staffer even assisted Panini in monitoring down an era-appropriate photograph to make use of on the entrance of the cardboard. However as for the id of the person posing as Taro Tsujimoto on that buying and selling card, no person appears to know precisely who it’s.
“I have no idea who that guy is on the card,” says Paul with amusing.
One Tsujimoto card was positioned in each 20 bins of that run, making it an elusive card to acquire. The rarity of that card is the right reflection of the thriller round Taro Tsujimoto that has endured for 50 years. And it was all courtesy of the artistic thoughts of Wieland.
“He created a folk hero is what he did,” says Gare. “It’s crazy that it still has legs 50 years later.”
“It’s pretty neat. As time goes on, the younger fans don’t know about it, but the story persists,” provides Josh. “And I like that the story continues on. It’s a fun way to remember my grandpa and Mr. Wieland.”
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Picture: Derek Cain / Getty Pictures)
