<Begin Segment 9>

TI: So now we're at Garfield, and any memories or stories about Garfield?

TK: Well, Garfield, at that time, had the best football teams in the city. [Laughs] And Leon Brigham was the coach. And remember Harry Yanagimachi? He played center for Brigham. And Brigham introduced the T formation to the city. Remember the T formation? Before that it was the Notre Dame Shift. But he was the first one to introduce the T formation to the city, I'm sure. And Harry was the center on the teams that I was, when I went to school there.

TI: And so Harry Yanagimachi, were there other Japanese?

TK: Oh, yeah. Well, there was... not at Garfield, but at Franklin, there was, I can't remember his name. And there were other Japanese players like at Broadway, but I can't remember their names now.

TI: Well, it sounds like when you say Garfield used to have the Notre Dame Shift, they went to the T formation...

TK: Well, T formation was in vogue then. But Brigham introduced the T formation to the Seattle high schools.

TI: But it sounds like you were pretty involved in sports. That was kind of something you...

TK: Well, I was involved in it, but I didn't play much. I was too small.

TI: But then in the, in the Japanese leagues, Courier League, did you play?

TK: Oh, yeah. Jimmy Sakamoto and Ishihara is it? They started something good there, the Courier League. There were all different grades: midgets and seniors, whatever it was. I have a book on that at home, I think. I can send that to you.

TI: Yeah... no, I think we have it here.

TK: I think so.

TI: And so thinking, like when you're, in the summertime, in Seattle, when you're not going to school, what would be some of the activities that you would do?

TK: Well, we would go to Collins Playfield, which was nearby. See, Montrose Apartments was right here, and Collins Playfield was right across the street. So we would play there on the swings and in the fieldhouse when it was raining, cards and indoor, pool, things like that.

TI: And in the summer, in Seattle, it'll stay light 'til, like, nine-thirty, ten.

TK: Yeah, we used to play a lot of baseball down in the lower field.

TI: And then when you're done, everybody goes home and eats and plays.

TK: Yeah.

TI: So after Garfield, what year did you graduate from Garfield High School?

TK: 1934.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.