When athletes suit up, there are a couple of key identifiers. The team name on the front, their last name on the back, and of course, their number. For many, it’s a symbol of something personal.
For Volts catcher Dejah Mulipola, switching over to No. 2 for the 2025 Athletes Unlimited Softball League regular season was a tribute to her late uncle. John Masitalo Jr., known as Uncle Jr. to Mulipola, passed away unexpectedly in September 2024. The “I Love U” texts no longer arrive on game days, but she remembers his legacy and impact on her life every time she puts on her jersey.
The fun uncle
Growing up, Mulipola’s dream was to play softball at the University of Southern California. It was her favorite uncle’s favorite team, and all she wanted to do was make him proud. There was one problem: USC doesn’t have a softball program.
“That was like the biggest heartbreak of my life,” Mulipola laughed. “He was the cool uncle that everybody was like, ‘Oh, we wanna make him so proud.'”
But where Mulipola would eventually play college ball couldn’t affect her Uncle Jr.’s joy in supporting her softball career – or his foresight to know just how far the sport would take her.
Uncle Jr. lived with the Mulipola family up until Mulipola reached high school. Without kids of his own, he became a second dad, taking her and her siblings swimming, miniature golfing, and to Dave and Buster’s.
Even when Mulipola left to play at the University of Arizona, her Uncle Jr. was still in her corner. If her parents couldn’t make the trip out from California to her games, Uncle Jr. would plan to be there in Tucson so she’d have a fan in the stands.
At that time, Mulipola wore No. 8. She credits legendary Arizona head coach Mike Candrea with giving it to her because another legend, Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, wore it. Then, when Mulipola made Team USA, she started to don No. 34 – a combination of her parents’ athletic numbers: No. 3 for her mom and No. 4 for her dad.
Mulipola has worn a collection of numbers in her pro career with Athletes Unlimited, on the Oklahoma City Spark, and in the Japan Diamond League.
Uncle Jr. encouraged her in every stage of her softball career. He would get up in the early morning in Garden Grove, Calif., to watch her compete on live streams in Japan.
That’s where Mulipola was when she received the phone call that Uncle Jr. had died unexpectedly in his home. At just 40 years old, he fell asleep and didn’t wake up.
Kool-Aid smile
While her brothers and cousins had football stars to look up to, Mulipola didn’t see a professional path for softball as a kid. But Uncle Jr. knew there was something special in store for her.
“He always believed that I would make it and that I was the best at what I did,” Mulipola said. “That really filled my fire and my confidence in myself before I even knew a professional league was gonna happen.”
That’s why, for the inaugural season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, Mulipola wore No. 2, her Uncle Jr.’s football number.
“Changing my numbers is something small compared to what he’s done for me,” Mulipola said.
“He was the biggest teddy bear… You instantly gravitated to him because he was just that kind of guy with a pure heart. He had the most infectious laugh, the biggest smile.”
That smile is something he’d remind Mulipola of in pregame texts to her. Not just any smile, but a Kool-Aid smile – large and beaming like the face of the Kool-Aid Man character in the brand’s advertising.
She describes Uncle Jr. as the glue that brought her family together. But that’s also what’s hardest on Mulipola. She got an entire childhood with him. His young kids didn’t get as much time.
“I hope I’m able to pass on his memory, his image to his kids that didn’t get those memories that I did,” Mulipola said tearfully. “That’s my most important thing I wanna leave behind for his memory is impacting his kids so that they remember him through me.”
So when Mulipola steps on the field with a No. 2 on her back, flashes a Kool-Aid smile, or loves on her younger cousins, she’s doing it in memory and honor of the funnest uncle she could ever have.
Savanna Collins is the Senior Reporter for the AUSL. You can follow her on X @savannaecollins.
