How Running Found Jockey-Turned-Coffee Horticulturist, Jon Kunitake

By Sara Stover

Growing up in Hōlualoa, Jon Kunitake’s knowledge of horses was limited to the paniolo (cowboys) of Waimea. His early life revolved around coffee, leaving little time for any extracurricular activities.

Born in a house on a coffee farm next door to the Imin Center, Jon was the fifth of 13 children, all of whom picked coffee in the fields of Hōlualoa when they weren’t attending school.

“My grandparents came from Fukuoka, Japan to work on the Ka‘ū plantations and my parents settled in Hōlualoa,” says Jon as he gently prunes the leaves of a young coffee tree by hand. “We had a big family and even though we had our own farm, we were so poor that we had to pick coffee for other farms to pay for bus fare and rice.”

Riding the Highs and Lows of Jockey Life

By the time Jon graduated from Konawaena High School, he was ready to accept a cousin’s invitation to move to California. Once there, he worked at a race track, cleaning the stalls. While the labor wasn’t glamorous, a childhood spent working hard made Jon well-suited for the job. It wasn’t long before others took notice of his excellent work ethic, and he was entrusted with riding the trainer’s horse during morning exercise runs on the track.

“There was talk of taking me to Idaho and grooming me to be a jockey, but I wanted to stay at the track because my boss treated me well and I was happy in the stables. Then my boss told me to go, so three days later, I was off,” Jon recalls. “One day I was shoveling horse manure, the next I was on my way to riding at the most affluent race tracks around. Racing found me!”

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” exclaims Jon, who was 20 years old when he began racing in Centennial Park, Colorado. “When I won my second race, everyone was so happy, from the groomer to the trainer.”

The win catapulted Jon into life as a professional jockey, which often included racing six days a week. He recalls, “Sometimes we’d have nine races a day. That’s 500 to 600 races a year!”

“I was making good money, but I was too tired to celebrate,” he notes. “And I had to get up at 4:30am, so I would just go back to the apartment I was renting and sleep.” Little did he know that his commitment to racing and recovering were equipping Jon with the endurance and habits he’d need to compete in a much different race environment, years down the road.

Throughout the course of his career, Jon went on to win a total of more than 1,000 races and was even invited to compete in Belmont Park’s Jockey Club Gold Cup. It wasn’t always triumph and flowers draped over winning horses, however. At the beginning of his career, a horse fell on him, almost killing him and breaking his pelvis. Jon recovered, only to face a slump. “I went 62 races without a win. One day, my trainer put me in a stakes race. Everyone thought the horse didn’t have a shot, but the horse didn’t know that. And we won! Before the race, the reporters didn’t even interview me. Afterward, I actually went out to dinner to celebrate.”

From Nebraska to Colorado, racing horses took the humble, yet social, jockey across the country, where he met individuals he still remembers fondly. “I really enjoyed the company of all the beautiful, wonderful people I met,” says Jon, waxing nostalgic.

Cultivating Coffee and Sharing Knowledge

After retiring from horse racing at 40 years old, Jon returned to Hawai‘i to relax, which didn’t hold his interest for very long.

“I was looking for something to do, so I built my own coffee mill,” he says of applying his background to establish Kunitake Farms, so he could process his own coffee.

When asked about Kona coffee, Jon has some insight to offer. “Some coffee growers are suing large retailers for selling counterfeit Kona coffee, but I’m not,” Jon continues, referencing the romance of Kona coffee. “Those commercial coffee shops may not be selling pure Kona coffee, but they actually helped put Kona on the map.”

Demands for authentic Kona coffee are not diminishing, driving Jon to focus on repairing the mill at the Ueshima Coffee Company (UCC) Hōlualoa Coffee Estate.

“This year I’m going to fix the estate’s mill so we can offer a farm and mill tour. I’m going to do it the old-school way, using a blueprint that’s up here,” he divulges, pointing to his head.

Jon also hopes to resume his international travels and continue sharing the knowledge that’s in his head, once again. “I’ve visited the Republic of Zambia a few times as a goodwill ambassador. I go to teach others the basics of horticulture for self-sustainability, but traveling is a good teacher, too. It makes you smarter!” Jon also visited Tonga after the prime minister invited him to the Royal Palace, where he met the King. “I guess you aren’t supposed to touch the king, but I shook his hand and said ‘Your highness, you’re such a cool king.’” Jon discloses.

Teaching the art of cultivating coffee isn’t the only thing that Jon’s upcoming travel plans include. At 79 years young, he has his eye on some running races overseas.

Running on a Prayer

Affectionately referred to by the Hawai‘i Island running community as “Uncle Jonny,” the jockey-turned-coffee horticulturist ran his first marathon two years before retiring from horse racing, at age 38.

“I read that 35,000 people were going to run Detroit’s marathon and signed up,” Jon says, explaining how being a jockey prevented him from training sufficiently for the 26.2-mile race. “At mile 20, I heard that the winner had already finished. I’m not religious, but I prayed that if God would let me finish, I would never complain again. I lied, but I still finished!”

Jon went on to run other road races, consistently placing top in his age group and winning 5Ks. He’s even won the grueling Big Island Saddle Road 100K four times, a race that began with a climb out of Hilo Bay and featured an abundance of elevation gain before finishing in Waimea.

With personal bests that include a 5K in 16:12 minutes, a 10K in 33:58 minutes, a half-marathon in 1:17 hours, and a marathon in 2:40 hours, Jon is the last person to discuss race results that are all the more impressive considering that he didn’t begin running competitively until he was 40 years old. “I thought everyone was like this,” is his sincere explanation. “I run because I’m grateful to be here. And I’ll keep going until no can go!”

Reviving the Kona Marathon

In 1986, the first Kona Marathon was held at the old Keauhou Beach Hotel and Jon won the inaugural race. For the next three years, the marathon was held by a couple who eventually moved to the mainland, taking the momentum of the race with them.

Aware of this void, Jon decided to bring the marathon back in 1993. It wasn’t until he partnered with UCC in 1997, however, that his vision for the race finally gained traction.

“UCC is one of Japan’s largest coffee companies and it’s also a family-owned business,” Jon points out. “For more than 20 years, they have been there for me, helping me create this family-oriented community event that includes fun runs, celebrates Kona’s coffee culture, and attracts runners from around the world.”

Jon’s own contacts from his years of travel were just as integral to drawing top local runners and world-class athletes to the marathon, even capturing the attention of Frank Shorter, a gold medal winner in the Olympic Marathon (1972).

“The race horses found me. So did the running legends,” says Jon of connecting with Frank. For more than 10 years, Frank would spend race week helping Jon, giving pep talks, and occasionally running the half marathon.

With the exception of 2020, you can still find Uncle Jonny towing the line for the 5K or 10K and wearing Bib No. 1, an honor bestowed upon him for his role as co-founder of the Kona Marathon.

Running into the Future

“Growing up, I was a runt from a small town, but I knew there was a better life out there after high school, so I took a chance,” says Jon, emphasizing that he wasn’t an athlete in school. “Anyone can be like me if you’re not afraid to take a chance. Go, travel! Get knocked around a little. You can always come back.”

It’s no surprise that Jon practices what he preaches. Next year, he will turn 80 years old, a momentous occasion that he hopes to celebrate by running the Kobe Marathon in Japan.

“With a good horse, you know they can run fast. Still, you hold them back until the right moment,” declares Jon, who applies what he learned as a jockey to running. “I stay injury-free by holding back and training slow until race day. Then, I run hard.”

He acknowledges that practicing such patience has and will continue to serve him well, exclaiming “I’m not finished yet. This is only part one of my story – just watch!” ❖