<Begin Segment 23>

AH: And then after the season was over, is that when you went back to Hawaii? And by Hawaii, did you mean, did you go back to Maui, or did you go back to Honolulu?

WY: I came to Honolulu, yeah.

AH: And what were you going to do there in the off-season?

WY: Then when I came back to Honolulu, I played ball for the Asahis. They are baseball. So the last two weeks before I was supposed to report back to camp at Menlo Junior College, I slid to second and I fractured my wrist. So I had a cast on, so in my contract, it says that I had to physically fit when I report to camp because it was a guaranteed contract. So when I went to camp, I had a cast on. So, one look, one look, they just released me.

AH: Some of these articles I see say you had a broken hand and other ones say that you have a fractured wrist. But it was a fractured wrist? Is that what it was?

WY: Yeah.

AH: Okay, and so then they cut you, then, huh?

WY: Yeah, cut me.

AH: That was pretty brutal, wasn't it?

WY: Well, they didn't want to take a chance, and because my contract said I had to be physically fit, see. So they can't wait and see what's going to happen.

AH: What did you think you were going to do at that point? Did you think you were going to wait for the next year and try to catch on with another professional football team?

WY: Well, after I got through, then I came back to Hawaii. And they had a professional team in Hawaii called the Hawaiian Warriors. So I hook up with Hawaiian Warriors, and I played for the Warriors for two years.

AH: Baseball team or football?

WY: Football, yeah. Then, then I played baseball, and then I met Lefty O'Doul.

AH: Tell me about the Warriors before you get on to Lefty O'Doul.

WY: Oh. So, I played for the Warriors here and so that's the time we barnstormed, went to Portland, Oregon, we went to San Jose State, Fresno State and played against those teams. But I guess, Portland, that's when I had a great game then. That's how I hook up with the 49ers.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2003 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.