<Begin Segment 11>

TI: So you chose Lincoln. So what kind of things were you interested in in school?

HH: Well, at the time, I was, I thought maybe I'll take shop as some of the minor subjects, so I took woodworking and metalworking and all that type courses, as well as the regular courses.

TI: And what, besides just your coursework, what other activities did you like to get involved in?

HH: Well, I was in wrestling from junior high, but I was really a very skinny person, and so my weight was the lowest, which is, I was only about sixty pounds or so in junior high school. And then in high school, Lincoln High School -- maybe this was one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Lincoln, because they had a very good wrestling team, state champions. And I, but the lowest weight was ninety pounds, ninety-five pounds, and I was only barely in the eighties by that time.

TI: So you were probably one of the few wrestlers that they encouraged to eat more to gain wait?

HH: No, I was real thin, but the other wrestlers would try to, when they have a meet, they try to lose their weight and everything. I didn't have to worry about it, I just, I could eat all I wanted.

TI: So were you the, like, the starting wrestler at that, at that weight?

HH: Yes. Tacoma had wrestling as a major sport just like football and big letters. And so I had a big L letter, and I was a varsity wrestler. And at one time I was a team captain, so that could be one of the reasons why I went to Lincoln High School.

TI: So you said the Lincoln wrestling team was a good team. They were state champions... were they state champions when you were attending at the same time?

HH: No, they were not, but they were, they didn't have... no, they had state championship, but we didn't know whether Spokane would have a team or anything like that, we just were more or less interested in the city championship, Stadium or... Bellarmine did not have a wrestling team. So we had tournaments, meets with the Stadium High School. And even at that time, some of our heavier weight wrestlers were able to match with the University of Washington varsity, and some of the heavier weights used to beat the Husky wrestling team.

TI: So it sounds like Lincoln had a really excellent wrestling program.

HH: Yes.

TI: So you were, you were the captain of the wrestling team, so you must have been a good wrestler also.

HH: Yes. I was, I was really undefeated in my whole year, three years as a Lincoln High wrestler.

TI: I'm curious, if you ever go back to Lincoln High School, do they still keep those old records there? I mean, would they have like an old... 'cause this is back in 19-, what, '36 or so when you graduated. Did they have the old records of the wrestling team and things like that, the old albums?

HH: Yes, well, I do have a school album of my attending there, but they do have the class pictures along the wall, each year. And that year when I graduated from Lincoln High School, it was the largest class, 1936 graduates were highest in, most in the state of Washington.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.