<Begin Segment 15>

TI: Okay, let's get going again, Spady. And right before the break, you were talking a little bit about Mike Masaoka, and when I think about Mike Masaoka, the only thing I know about Mike is, is through my readings and don't really know very much about him as a man. And you had the opportunity to know him. You, you played poker with him, you met with him several times, you know, during the '40s and '50s. Let's start with the poker. What, what kind of poker player was, was Mike?

SK: Well, he was a very astute mind-reader or, a maybe the ESP worked for him, I don't know. Anyway, he was a very cagey, very cagey player. I recall that he usually was about the last one to fold. He was always sticking around and waiting for that magic card, I guess. But he's a very warm, warm-hearted fellow. We got along fine and once he moved to Washington and I would see him periodically because I, I was assigned to the Army Intelligence School staff and faculty in, at nearby Ft. Holabird, which is just outside Baltimore. We would get together periodically and I remember one occasion, the car that he was driving ran out of gas or had some breakdown and he suddenly stopped, had to stop and he asked me to take the wheel so that he could push the car to the side of the road or something like that and I said, "Why don't I push the car and you get in?" I said, "Aren't you afraid that someone might recognize you?" And he said, "No, no, no." I still remember the fact that I, I guided the car and Mike Masaoka was pushing, pushing the rear of the car in middle of Washington, D.C.

TI: That's a good story.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.