<Begin Segment 39>

FF: But yeah, coaching was a nice test and it's, it was a successful test, and yet I felt I didn't need any more of it because my kids and I... I missed -- you know, when you coach, there's a tendency to being on your ego trip about the press calling you about your team and then you're away from the family and you gotta go scout and you gotta write scouting reports and, you know, I was selfish in a lot of ways, but then at the same time, I thought of my wife and my kids, and I said hey, do I need to prove any more? And then when just by chance the college called and said, "Hey, we need you to get into administrative position and it's your alley, graphics and media," and I thought oh, maybe this is my time. And when my wife said, "You're gonna what? You're gonna let this all go?" And I said, well... but she was so happy that it's my decision, it wasn't hers, or rather, we didn't even confer, she was just happy that I was making the decision. 'Cause I think I would have felt bad if, not bad, she would have felt bad if I went to the college and was unhappy, which I was -- [laughs] -- because the politics of it all. But I learned and I think when you get older, you start to learn to adjust on the college level and the games-playing, the politics. It was something new to me, but I paid my dues. And I think that's why when my wife got into the community and worked for the state government on the board of tax appeal, she was chairperson, I was real proud of her and it was her turn. I said, "You do what you want to and I'll be the homebody, I'll be the one who makes the hamburger only at night," and she couldn't stand that. But I think the whole issue was reversed and it was time for me to support her and I felt good about that. And I think that's where our relationship was so strong that... and I was so proud of her, 'cause she, she loved this job working with Governor Booth Gardener and I didn't want to ever let that go, where she felt that she's letting the family go. 'Cause she worked late and I said, "Come late when you want to and I'll pick up food," or -- and she couldn't stand my cooking -- so I usually pick up food or my kids might drop something over or... and I thought that issue of it all, I feel, I feel fortunate that we both had that self-esteem kind of episode in your lifetime. And a lot of Nikkeis don't and I'm, I'm not saying that they should or they should've or, it's to say we're one of the lucky ones. And I think both of us. So even now, after she's gone, I think we both have said to each other, even on her deathbed, she, we said we have no regrets. No matter what we did, we always felt that we did it 'cause we wanted to and it worked out and we never put a big wrench onto the scene that we wish we could continue on 'cause things worked out for us. And I think when it does, we're real grateful. So it, it was nice.

<End Segment 39> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.