Wat Misaka has died at age 95. I want to tell you about him. 1/x nbcnews.com/news/asian-ame…
In 2006, I published a book about the history of the University of Missouri's basketball program. I wrote about each of the first 100 seasons, including 1944, when the Tigers played Utah in the NCAA Tournament. 2/x
Utah's best player was Arnie Ferrin. But perhaps the most indispensable was a little point guard whose parents, born in Japan, had settled in Utah. I became fascinated by the fact that a team with a Japanese-American point guard won the NCAA title at the height of WWII. 3/x
I decided that I wanted to tell their story. I contacted the sports information director at @utahathletics, and he gave me phone numbers for Arnie Ferrin and Wat Misaka. I called both out of the blue. They were gracious, generous and engaging. 4/x
Wat grew up in Ogden, Utah. If his family had settled two states further west, he would have been in an internment camp in 1944. As it was, he was forbidden from fighting for his nation by military rules that prohibited Japanese-Americans from serving. 5/x
With so many college-aged men at war in 1943-44, schools fielded basketball teams any way they could - with freshmen too young for military service, with engineering and medical students holding deferments, and with men like Wat. 6/x
Utah's combination of such men proved to be a remarkable team. The catalyst was the little point guard with Japanese parents. Long story short, they won the NCAA title and then beat NIT-champion St. John's in the Red Cross benefit game. 7/x
The president of the Rio Grande Railroad was from Utah, and the team got first-class treatment on the ride home from New York. A huge crowd welcomed them in Salt Lake City. Among them was Wat's mother. She greeted him with his draft notice. The prohibition had been lifted. 8/x
Wat spent two years in the US Army. One of his assignments sent him to Japan, where he interviewed survivors of the atomic blast that destroyed Hiroshima. When he returned home, he briefly played for the Knicks, becoming the NBA's first non-white player. 9/x
With some luck and an introduction by @SteveRushin I was able to interest Sports Illustrated in the story and then had the remarkable good fortune to be paired with the great @alexander_wolff to write it. Here's the result: si.com/vault/2010/03/… 10/x
Wat Misaka was a giant. He was a sweet and kind man who managed not to be bitter, despite having a right to be. He was, simply, a great American.
