Public beaches, parks and other open spaces are such a major part of people’s lives on Guåhan, it may feel as if access to them has always existed. On these community lands, people celebrate birthdays, weddings, baby showers, and family get-togethers; people walk their dogs; search for shells, fish, swim, and snorkel; we spend hours hanging out with friends or admiring seascapes.
Frank E. Sanchez is Guam’s first internationally known grandmaster in the martial arts. He holds a 10th degree Black Belt (commonly held as the highest rank attainable in the martial arts), recognized by over twenty-three martial arts organizations worldwide.
People first started riding the waves on Guam in the early 1960s. Guam surfers from that era remember high school industrial arts teacher John Bylander, Australian Cable Company employee Jim Keenan, and Rick Value, son of a local businessman, as among those on the vanguard of serious surfing across the dangerously shallow reefs of Guam’s surf spots.
Running on Guam has evolved over the years from a handful of hardcore, dedicated runners who would meet several times a year for races, to the large crowds of today that show up for races just about every weekend of the year.
Fred Schumann has been one of Guam’s top runners since the late 1970s. Along with Guam runner Joe Taitano, Schumann is known as a fierce competitor and one of the best marathoners on Guam, representing Guam in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea.
Youth baseball on Guam developed as an organized sport after World War II and enjoyed several decades as the predominant youth sport on the island. Guam’s top youth baseball teams have represented Guam well in international competitions such as the Little League World Series and the Babe Ruth World Series.
Baseball arrived in Guam with the Americans, and seems to have been played almost as soon as the Americans took over the administration of Guam at the turn of the 20th century. For the first half of the 1900s, it was the only sport played in any widespread form, and until about 20 or 30 years ago it was still the most popular sport in Guam.
The Guam Major League was formed in 1974 and has been Guam’s premier baseball league ever since, although it changed its name to the Budweiser Baseball League in 2003. Except for one season at the LeoPalace Hotel, the GML has played nearly all its games at Paseo Stadium in Hagatna and watching GML games has become a tradition for baseball fans on Guam.
