New Museum Pays Tribute to Japanese Sports Pioneers

By Brian Kluepfel
Special to AsianWeek

Japanese Americans have attained the highest sporting honors imaginable: NCAA basketball championships, Wimbledon tennis crowns and Olympic Gold Medals. While much is made of current Japanese athletes like Ichiro and Shinjo, a group of brave and remarkable nisei have gone unsung — until now. The Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) honored five pioneering athletes with the creation of its new Japanese Sports Hall of Fame, which got a royal opening at Pacific Bell Park this past Saturday.

Ann Kiyomura Hayashi, Wataru “Wat” Misaka, Tommy Kono, Kristi Yamaguchi and Wally Yonamine were the first inductees into the Hall of Fame, which the JCCCNC plans to make part of its regular touring exhibits. Although Hayashi still lives in Northern California, the others came from far and wide to attend: Misaka from Utah, Kono from Hawai‘i, and Yonamine all the way from Japan. Each talked about their beloved sports, and how they felt about the athletes of today.

Ann Kiyomura Hayashi.

Breaking Into the Country Club

Ann Kiyomura was twice a champion at Wimbledon, in 1973 in the Singles Junior division, and in 1975 as a doubles partner of Japan’s Kazuko Sawamatsu. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree: her mother Hisayo was the No. 2 tennis player in Japan during a two-year residence abroad, and her father Harry still teaches the game at age 84.

Kiyomura rose through the ranks as a youngster, winning 17 national junior tennis titles. Her biggest victory came in the 1973 Junior Wimbledon singles match against someone you may have heard of: Martina Navratilova. Kiyomura went on to play as a professional for 13 years and was often ranked in the top 20 in the singles division. She won both the single and doubles trophies at the 1978 Japan Open.

Local tennis legend and onetime Kiyomura teammate Louie “Peanut” Harper spoke of the influence of her friend’s win at Wimbledon on a sport that had belonged to the white country club set. “Imagine that, two Asian women were the best in the world,” said Harper. “Ann was a role model, and she carried herself with class and humility.”

Taimo “Tommy” Kono.

Lifting the Limits

Taimo “Tommy” Kono was born in Sacramento in 1930, and as a sickly, asthmatic child, was an unlikely candidate to be future Olympian. Ironically, it was the hardships of Tule Lake internment camp in 1942 that provided the impetus for his future success. He and some friends chipped in to buy a set of bars and dumbbells, and soon Kono was transforming himself from the classic “90-pound weakling” into a future Mr. Universe.

Like Kiyomura, Kono showed championship form at the junior level. At one event in Oakland, he set three national and one world record. He went on to win medals at three different Olympic games, beginning with a gold in Helsinki in 1952 and ending with a silver in Rome in 1960. “It was different then,” he said, “Avery Brundage made sure we were really amateurs.”

Luckily for Kono, his cohorts at his job with the State of California understood his plight, and allowed for lengthy leaves of absence when he trained. “The sky’s the limit, if you don’t put limits on yourself,” said the former strongman.

Kristi Yamaguchi.

Ice Queen

One Japanese American gold medalist who needs little introduction is Kristi Yamaguchi. What hasn’t the Fremont-born figure-skater done? In addition to her gold medal in Albertville, France in 1992, she’s won the World Pro Figure Skating Championships four times, and has been inducted into the U.S. and World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. A business partner in her Always Dream foundation introduced the skater with humor, showing off the new Kristi bobblehead doll to much amusement.

Watura “Wat” Misaka.

Say ‘Wat’?

Wataru “Wat” Misaka was ichiban (number one) in more ways than one during his basketball career. Born and raised in Utah, he was the first college freshman to lead a team to the NCAA title, which he did with the University of Utah in 1944.

Though the country was not infected with “March Madness” as it is now, over 14,000 fans filled New York’s Madison Square Garden for the Utes’ overtime victory. They returned to the Big Apple the next year and won the NIT crown, this time, with Misaka shutting down Kentucky star Ralph Beard on defense.

Misaka then became the first person of color drafted by the Basketball Association of America, the precursor to today’s NBA. This time Misaka’s return to Madison Square Garden was a disappointment, as he only played three games for the New York Knicks before being released — postwar America was still not ready for Japanese American athletes. Though offered a shot with the Harlem Globetrotters, Walt decided to finish school and had a successful engineering career with Sperry Corporation. His sporting lust was not conquered — he became an active member of the Japanese American National Bowling Association, and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1997. And yes, he’s still a Utes season-ticket holder.

Lucky Break

Wally Yonamine is also a two-time Hall of Famer. Ironically, this Hawaiian-born nisei ended up an all-star at his second professional sport. You could say he caught a lucky break — literally.

As an outstanding high school running back, Yonamine was noticed and signed by the San Francisco 49ers. He signed with San Francisco in 1947 — the same year that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, and Wat Misaka in basketball. However, in his second season a fractured hand prevented him from playing, and in that down time, he switched to baseball.

Although he started in the San Francisco Seals’ minor league system, he went on to a stellar career with Japan’s Yomiuri Giants, winning three straight championships. Yonamine won the league MVP in 1957.

These achievements are more remarkable when considering the abuse an American player, even one of Japanese descent, had to endure in post-World War II Japan. Fans threw rocks at Yonamine, and he said they often shouted, “go back to Hawai‘i!”

Although their heads have gone somewhat grey, the athletes still looked remarkably trim when posing in front of posters of their former sporting selves. Tommy Kono joked “I weigh the same, but my measurements are a bit different!” Those in the audience, however, probably will remember this remark from the Olympic champion better: “You can lift as much as you believe you can. Your body can do what you will it to do.” Under adverse circumstances, these athletes willed themselves to amazing feats, blazing a trail for future Japanese Americans to follow.