Stories of early Asian Americans who overcame racism in sports have always fascinated me (Photo from Oregon State yearbook).
While these stories are far and few between, they are out there and they need to be told.
The Corvallis Gazette Times recently told the story of Jack Yoshihara.
He played for Oregon State College, but after Pearl Harbor, was considered by some to be a security risk.
He was not allowed to participate in the 1942 Rose Bowl.
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Weeks later, he and his entire family were forced to stay behind barbed wire in an incarceration camp.
Because he was sent to Minidoka , Yoshihara never graduated from Oregon State. The University awarded him an honorary degree in 2008.
He died in 2009.
Below is a brief clip of OSU’s student body president from 1942 talking about Yoshihara before he was granted his honorary degree.
