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LD: Well, it's interesting that unemployed, but you've been very busy. During the years also in the store, were you participating in helping found and establish the Nisei bowling and the golf leagues during that time?

HT: Yeah. I guess, I know I helped the organize the Gresham bowling league. We originally started right there in my backyard, in the Gateway Bowling Alley, see, so I've enjoyed that, and then, I've enjoyed golfing with the Niseis too. But there again, now, see, I live right there right here, of course, alongside the Glendoveer Golf Course when they had the Northwest, I didn't even know about it. I didn't even know about it because I was too busy working, I guess. But later on I was able to join them. And then as we got older, they just said like Jimmy Kita said, "Why don't you organize a senior club? Why don't you organize a senior club?" So I says, "Oh, I'll help," you know. Jimmy says, "Come on Hiro." And Jimmy says we'll get another one. He said come on, organize it. So at that time I think Nisei club was about 150 members, so the Nisei club. So as they were getting older, so they wanted to form a senior club, so I says, I did. So finally I called, "Why don't you come over to my place, and we'll see if we can organize it." You know how many people came over? Just eight. Can you imagine just eight people. But still, we were I organized the thing. We drew up bylaws, and then we started I remember like George Toya and Tex and a few others came by and then we organized it, Terry Tambara. So anyway, that's how it got started and that's where we are in the Nisei senior club, you know.

LD: The senior club is now. Let's go back to the original clubs, the bowling and the golf leagues because that was starting something new after the war to start a league for sports just for Nisei. Who helped get that going? How often did you meet?

HT: Well, the original golfing, I wasn't involved because as I said, I wasn't even golfing. In fact, I didn't golf until way late anyway. In the grocery store, you probably don't realize, but your dad knows, seven day a week, fourteen hours a day, so we never got a chance to do anything. But I did help them as they went along and I helped them donated trophies and things like that, you know. But I didn't join the Nisei club until later on until I think after probably after I lost the store, then I got active and helped them in, working on the Northwest and things like that, you know. But the Gresham Nisei, I helped organize that one, you see.

And then get back to the senior, now just recently why you might say, eight or nine years ago, that we organized the seniors, it's a mixed club, men and women, because we had the senior club and then our spouses are home doing, they're golf widows, I guess. So we says, "Why don't we organize a club so they can join us?" you know. So we with our spouses and I'm not sure it had to be man and wife, but it's the mixed, you know. We tried to keep it, it's just a social deal, so we even line up a course out of town just for a day trip, go out, and have a game and have lunch or something, dinner and come back, you know. And so in fact, when we first organized, it was strictly a limited club, thirty-two members because we didn't want any hotshot golfers. We just wanted our own group. [Laughs] But the one is doing real well, and so I think it's been quite a few years now. It's been about six or seven years, so they're enjoying it.

LD: Does that group have a name?

HT: Yeah. We call it the Swingers. We call it the Nisei Swingers. That wasn't my choice. You know, when I say Swingers, the first thing you know, guys go to the bar and try to pick up babes or something, but that didn't work. They want to be a Swinger, so I say, okay. [Laughs]

LD: It's a good thing now you can participate and have the time to do it. But were you also a sponsor for many years for teams?

HT: Yeah. In fact, when I had the store, like I sponsored, this is just local community store. There's little kids that come around, the parents come around and says, "Will you sponsor my boy's bowling league?" They're customers, right, so I can't very well say no, you know. If I say no to one, they said the next one will come along. And I ended up, anyway, overall, at one time I had thirteen teams, of course, just little bowling leagues for kids, well, grade school kids and stuff. Of course, in the Nisei league, I did sponsor them too, you know. I did sponsor I think, A and B league. In those days, they used to have A and B league, so we sponsored quite a bit. But another thing, this is something that, my kid was in grade school. They needed a, they had this little league baseball, and I guess they wanted to get a baseball suit, you know. Of course, in those days, they don't have suits, you know. But then they were talking about getting baseball suits and, so what happens, my kid volunteers, "Oh, my dad will get your suits," so it cost me fifteen suits. [Laughs] But one consolation, I'm an honorary member, permanent honorary member of that, the Russellville Grade School Hustlers, but I enjoyed it. That's going back, but I'll never forget that.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.