PennWest grad cooks up busy year
It’s been a busy year for Jonathan Sakaguchi, but he isn’t biting off more than he can chew.
The December graduate of PennWest California won a best burger competition, was a 2023 Golden Quill Award finalist and a member of the university’s 2023 Homecoming Court. He served as sports editor of the campus newspaper; treasurer of WCAL, the school’s radio station; and worked on CUTV’s crew.
The 29-year-old Fayette County resident also managed to find time for a part-time professional wrestling gig, working under the name The Timberwolfe Jaxon Hawk.
Sakaguchi, 29, graduated Dec. 9 with a degree in English with a concentration in journalism. The non-traditional student minored in music.
For a man whose journey has included stops at Westmoreland County Community College and Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus, and various odd jobs, graduation day was filled with mixed emotions.
“Since 2012, I’ve been chasing a college degree,” said Sakaguchi, of Gibbon Glade. “Here we are a decade later and I finally have my degree. That’s the positive. I’ve called California home since 2018 and I’ve gotten into a routine. With me graduating, I’m cutting a major part of my life out to move to the next chapter.”
Sakaguchi’s year kicked off to a tasty start when he won the Giant Eagle’s Ultimate Tailgreatness competition and a trip to see the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Baltimore Ravens in Maryland on Jan. 7.
“I entered on a whim,” Sakaguchi recalled. “My girlfriend and I saw a flier and she told me I should enter. I figured I wouldn’t get picked, but I threw my hat in the ring just for fun.”
Sakaguchi’s prize-winning burger recipe – a “staple” in his barbecuing cookbook that also earned him a $2,500 Giant Eagle gift card – features a smashed patty covered in barbecue sauce with American and Swiss Cheese, bacon, jalapenos, pickles and lettuce.
Sakaguchi said he has been cooking for a long time and has worked at a couple of restaurants throughout the years, but his interest in cooking came from his father, Jeff.
“I always liked doing stuff my dad did,” he said. “He was a cook in the Navy and liked to taste the food from all over the world. He was always trying the local cuisine. If he liked it, he would bring it home and make it here. I got to the point where I started cooking with him and I started grilling with him as well. I still have a lot of his cookbooks.”
His interest in sportscasting came about after listening to legendary former Penguins’ announcer Mike Lange call a game. Soon after, he went to a Penguins game and started calling the action while in his seat in the stands.
“Unbeknownst to me, people in my section started listening to me,” Sakaguchi said. “If they were in earshot, they were paying attention to me and not what was going on, on the ice. When we got to intermission someone asked my mom if I was going to school for this. My mom said he’s not even in high school yet. … That’s what started it. That sent me on the way.”
His love of railroads led to Sakaguchi’s selection as a Golden Quill finalist. An episode of his series, “Rolling Through History,” featuring the Locust Heights and Western Railroad in Clarksburg, W.Va., was nominated in the Student Excellence in Video/Broadcast Journalism category. He filmed the episodes with the help of his girlfriend, Arian Searcy.
“I’ve always had a passion for railroading, ever since I was a child,” Sakaguchi said.”I don’t know what started it, but it’s one of those things I grew up with. That was probably one of our more difficult ones, but ended up being such a fun episode.”
Sakaguchi said he doesn’t climb into the professional wrestling ring too often, but has had a few matches since 2020 at shows in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“If you have a bad idea, act on impulse and think about the consequences later,” he said with a hearty laugh. “I started getting bored with my gym workouts and working around the farm, so I gave professional wrestling a try.”
While Sakaguchi doesn’t have any job prospects yet, he knows he wants to work in the media.
“Whether it’s radio, newspaper or TV, anything, I’m looking into it,” he said.