<Begin Segment 4>

RP: Let's talk a little bit about your education. Where did you go to grammar school?

ES: Well, I went to a Catholic grammar school in Huntington Park called Saint Matthias from the first to the ninth grade. And then my last three years was Saint Mary's Academy in Los Angeles where I finished high school. And then I went to Los Angeles City College for three years and then went to UCLA for two where I graduated in 1943.

RP: So tell us about, you know, about the sports and physical education programs that you got involved with you know as you went through school. What sports did you get interested in?

ES: Well, I was mostly interested in basketball, that was my first love. But I loved all sports, of course at that time we didn't have soccer. And we didn't really have at that time, girls weren't allowed to really have much more than play days. The Catholic schools had more of competition between schools than the public schools did at that time. And even UCLA we did play some teams but not like they do now. There wasn't that much money given to girls sports.

RP: Were you on teams in your high school years?

ES: Yes, I was on the basketball team and the volleyball team. I was never much of a baseball player. I don't think that made my dad too happy but as I said, my love was basketball and still is.

RP: And so at that time was basketball a sport that was new to girls' athletics?

ES: No, but things have certainly changed. When I first started basketball it was only, we had three courts, the forwards stayed in one court, the guards stayed in another court, and then the middle court were a centers, we had a running center and jump center. And then we progressed a little bit and we had two courts, but the guards still played in one court and the forwards in the other court. We eliminated the centers. And then of course after my day of teaching and playing they went to regular boys basketball with the one court.

RP: And what participation did you have at UCLA in terms of sports?

ES: I was on the basketball team at UCLA.

RP: You said that during the time you were at UCLA that you did compete with other teams from other schools?

ES: Yes, we competed against USC and I think one of the Pomona colleges, I can't remember the others.

RP: Where were games held? Were they indoors or outdoors?

ES: They were indoors in college.

RP: What position did you play?

ES: I played guard. I wasn't too good of a shot so in those days, you know, guards couldn't shoot, only the forwards could shoot. The running center and jump center they couldn't shoot, just only the forwards the two forwards.

RP: So your function was just to get the ball to the forwards.

ES: Yeah, my job mostly was to see that the other forwards on the other team didn't get a shot. That's what I was best at.

RP: Good defense.

ES: Good defense, yes, I was a defensive player.

RP: And was there enough money to afford uniforms for the girls basketball team?

ES: At UCLA there was and also City College we had uniforms.

RP: Did you live on campus or off campus?

ES: At UCLA I lived on campus in a dormitory. I think our tuition was fourteen dollars a month for my dormitory room.

RP: And how about for school?

ES: I can't remember what the tuition was but it was so very little that my family could afford it. And then I worked on Friday and Saturdays at Sears as a credit interviewer until I got my job at Manzanar.

RP: Now had you had any previous experience with Japanese Americans?

ES: No, not really. I only knew one Japanese girl when I was at the City College. She was a good friend we were on the basketball team together but that was it.

RP: How about other minorities?

ES: Well, there weren't many other minorities. Black Americans I had... there weren't very many at UCLA that were physical education majors that I can remember. I think there might have been one.

RP: How about women at UCLA at the time you were going to school there? Were there... early on there were quotas for certain minority groups attending universities.

ES: I don't think so, it was wartime, the enrollment had dropped considerably, especially with the men. There was a lot of ROTC.

RP: So did you have a social life while you were going to UCLA?

ES: No, my social life was mostly with my boyfriend whom I eventually married during the war.

RP: Where did you meet him?

ES: It was a blind date and my sister-in-law, a very good friend, introduced me. But UCLA it was mostly going out with girlfriends and going to movies or something like that. Any doings of course going to all the games, the football games, the basketball games. But I don't think there was too much of that at that time either.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright &copy; 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.