<Begin Segment 12>

AH: I saw a very primitive football field there the other day, and it had a plaque on it. And it had on the plaque the winners of what they called an Industrial League or something. And it went back into the '30s and on through the '40s, so I figured it was there when -- is that the, have you been back to see that school?

WY: No, I haven't, I haven't been there for a while, but we used to play up that mountain there. They made a field there and we used to play there at one time.

AH: And so tell me about your, your athletic team there. It was called the Lunas, and I thought that was a funny name because usually you think of a luna as a foreman. [Laughs]

WY: Yeah. [Laughs]

AH: Did it mean "moon" there? Is that what they meant?

WY: Well, actually, they cut short for Luna. Actually, it was Lahainaluna.

AH: Uh-huh.

WY: And when we were there, they never used to call it Luna. It was always Lahainaluna.

AH: Oh, they did.

WY: Yeah. But our, my freshman, sophomore year, we won both championships at that time because we had a lot of kids from Molokai, Samoan kids that came here. So we had some good teams at that time.

AH: Who'd you play?

WY: Right in Maui, we had Maui High School, Baldwin High School, St. Anthony's. They had about five or six teams there, Maui, so we played against each other. And then sometimes we'd play some exhibition games, teams from Honolulu.

AH: Now, I know at Farrington you played football, basketball and baseball. Did you play all those sports at Lahainaluna?

WY: Yes.

AH: And how was their other teams? The basketball and baseball.

WY: Well, we had, we were, when we were playing, see, when I was playing, we won both, three spots. We won everything because they had a guy Bill McQueen. He was a good athlete, too. And he and I used to, just took over that thing. [Laughs]

AH: Okay.

WY: So, but Lahainaluna had good ballplayers, like all these Samoans from Molokai, or there's some guys from Hawaii. So we had some good teams there.

AH: And you didn't play when your brother was there because he was two years ahead of you.

WY: Right, right.

AH: I saw something in a article that appeared about a person who played, and I think he played with, with your brother, and his name was Toshi Nakasone.

WY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes.

AH: And he played with your brother, Akira.

WY: Right, right.

AH: And was he a star athlete, too, or not?

WY: Who?

AH: Nakasone.

WY: Yeah, he was a good basketball player. But his brother, his name is Nobu. Toshi, and they had another one. See, my brother, Akira, and Nobu were teammates. But this Nobu Nakasone, he was a doctor here. Internist, and he was a great doctor here, and he's retired now. But, but my brother, Aki, and Nobu and Toshi, they all played together, basketball.

AH: And you told us when we were in Redondo just having a... was it Redondo Beach?

WY: Yeah.

AH: When we were having our chat, you said that your brother, Akira, was faster than you. And, but you were a stronger runner?

WY: Yes. I was more a powerhouse type of runner. But when I was in high school, I wasn't that fast. But after I got out of high school and I started to play semi-pro ball, before I went with the 49ers, somehow I picked up speed. So I had a good start, so after that I was much faster.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2003 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.