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LD: Well, you've had such a long and successful history with sports on your own and sponsoring and different things. With your grandchildren, how have they been able to fulfill your legacy with sports?

HT: That's going to be a long story. It's going to be a long story. My grandson... because I had two boys. The oldest one has a son, and then the second one has a daughter. And my oldest boy, his name is Jerry, they had a boy, and he's quite an athlete, more than anybody ever thought he would be, you know. And the parents separated in the early years, so we did not look, take care of them, but we just kind of, they had the grandparents help the kids anyway, you know. So we were able to, he loves sports, and he started out with the, in those days a soccer team, you know. He was like five, six, seven years old, and so he started playing soccer. Of course, I didn't know soccer and neither did Mary didn't know soccer at all, but we picked up as he started playing. And of course, my son helped to coach, and they were real successful. My son told me one time, the one season, they went through the whole entire season with winning every game and the opposer never scored against them. The whole season, no team scored against them. So like, like he used to say, "Dad," he says, "I don't care what level it is, I don't think you'll ever find a team that went through a complete season winning, and then the opposer never scored against you, you know." So it's, somebody's out there. That was soccer. Then he kind of gradually... of course my son, by that time I was into golf too, you see, so he liked, he started playing golf. So I remember Grandma used to take him out to Glendoveer, and he would go out there and practice putting and chipping, and she'd say, "Let's go home." "No, I want to play a little more Grandma, little more Grandma," and he would just chip and putt. He turned out to be a good golfer when it ended up. So we did, he was, got good, well enough, so we started taking him to different courses, different, you know. And there again, we were unemployed, so we could take him, so we did take him to different courses, you know. And of course, his dad couldn't take him, he's working, but we were able to do it. So we used to take him, and he did so well, he kept on playing, and he won everything there was in the junior. I got a basement full of trophies, but he did well on that.

LD: What is his name?

HT: Jared, Jared. My grandson's name is Jared.

LD: And your granddaughter, what is her name?

HT: Erica, Erica. Anyway, she's a young girl, five years, something like that, maybe. But anyway, she's a little tiny girl, but she picked up tennis, and here's a gal that's really good in tennis, you know. It's just surprising. She's just like Jared was. She just started out tennis, and she kept improving, improving, so she won a lot tournaments too. I think she wanted to keep up with Jared and get enough trophies. I remember she went to ask Grandma, "I want one of Jared's trophies." Grandma says, "No. It don't mean anything if you get it from there. You go earn, get one yourself." And then she went into tennis, and boy did she ever excel in tennis. She became the state champion in Washington. That's where she was, you know. And then again, when she graduated high school she had quite a few scholarship offers. But then again, here's the outlet, she says, "No, I don't want to accept those because I'll be obligated to practice, practice, practice, and I won't be able to study." So she didn't accept those, and she finally enrolled at Cornell. That's where she is now. So what happened, she goes back there, and they have a little team. So they picked her up, and so she's playing tennis. [Laughs] So I got a couple of grandkids that's into sports.

LD: Well, looking back, I'm sure your grandchildren have learned so many things by watching you and their parents, and just as you look back on your parents at this point and thinking about all we've talked about or the things during your life, is there anything else that you recall special or that you would like to say about growing up?

HT: Like I said, as I reflect back now I can't think what our parents did to sacrifice for us. But then like Dad especially, well, he didn't encourage us to play, but he just enjoyed it himself, so we grew up together, you know. Like I said in the busiest of harvest we just, baseball was priority and he just loved it. And he, himself, I don't think played anything. And then in high school days he would come and watch our baseball games and stay the night. It never fails, he's always there. Like in baseball, with the Japanese league, he's always -- like I keep repeating myself -- but he was there supporting us. I'll never forget that.

LD: How about a thought about Mary? How long, how many years were you married?

HT: 1946, and she passed away last, two years, 2001, so I know we had our fiftieth together. It was fifty-five years, something like that.

LD: How did you celebrate your fiftieth?

HT: I can answer the one... okay. We didn't want to have a big celebrate, but then our kids sent us to Hawaii for the, sent us to Hawaii on the senior skins game, so we spent a whole week over there watching. Yeah, that was our fiftieth anniversary. That was something. Since then, they've sent us, the kids would send us to Pebble Beach. That's a dream come true to play there once in our lifetime, Pebble Beach. Yeah, so they've been good to us, but that's what it was.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.