<Begin Segment 14>

AH: Did you get any role models at Lahainaluna in the way of coaches or teachers or somebody who you said, "that's the kind of person I want to be," or, "that's the sort of life I want to lead"?

WY: Well, Lahainaluna, like I said, the guy that I really admired was my brother because he was a good athlete -- played football well, baseball, basketball. So when I was growing up, sometimes I wished that I would, could be like him.

AH: And where did he go after he graduated from Lahainaluna?

WY: After Lahainaluna, then he got drafted. He went in the army during the war days. So when he came out, he was a little too old already, so he couldn't play any sports after that.

AH: So the difference in your age, the slight difference, made a lot of difference in terms of the whole trajectory of your life.

WY: Right, yeah. See, if he had continued, maybe go to college. He didn't go to college. Drafted out of high school, and he had to go in the army. So when he came out, it was too late for him to continue. So he, so he didn't go to college. If he had gone to college, I think he could've done well because he was really fast. Just until a couple days ago, he had a record in Maui -- 50 yard dash. He had the record, fastest time.

AH: Up until a couple of days ago?

WY: Yeah, couple days ago.

AH: Wow. Your dad was very cooperative about you going to Honolulu, you said. What about your football coach at Lahainaluna? He must've been furious that you were abandoning the team.

WY: Well, I don't know, I don't know what the coach thought, but I didn't care about the coach. I wanted to go to Honolulu. [Laughs] That was my... because I really wanted to come to Honolulu and play at the Honolulu Stadium.

AH: And how did you make the decision, we talked a little bit about it, but why don't you tell it to posterity on the tape. How did you come to choose Farrington out of high school as opposed to any of the others?

WY: When I came here, I knew only one, I had only one friend here, see? So, when I came to Honolulu, he took me to see St. Louis practice. So we went to see St. Louis, but, somehow St. Louis wasn't my thing. So the next day I went to see Farrington practice. And the Farrington kids were so nice to me. I told them, "Hey, you want me to throw me some pass?" So I'd be in these civilian clothes, I would throw 'em passes. Next day I enrolled at Farrington right away because I liked Farrington. The kids were so nice to me.

AH: Was St. Louis a parochial school? Was that a Catholic school?

WY: Catholic school, yes.

AH: And Farrington was a public school.

WY: Yes, yes.

AH: I think we're running out of tape, so I'm going to stop so he can make the change on it.

JI: I'm just curious in the last couple of minutes, who were the sports heroes of the time that you, you know, like in the professional or college ranks when you were growing up?

WY: I'll tell you the truth; see, when you're in Maui, you don't, you don't read the paper, you don't usually follow things like that. So, at that time, the professional ranks, well, you think like... even the guys like Johnny Lujack, I didn't know them until I came to Honolulu and many years after. But, our days was Red Grange. I used to see him in the movies. And so I used to follow Red Grange a lot when he used to play football like that. But actually, as far as all the big stars in the pro ranks or major league, we didn't know anything about people like that.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2003 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.