I recently reconnected with an administrator I met while I was in college. And what transpired was a conversation with a man who is living a wonderful philanthropic life.
Herb Yamanaka was an events manager at the University of Oregon back in the mid-1970s. He used to call me "Pineapple," an inside joke between two people from Hawaii. We'd ******* p into each other at the UO athletic department while I was a student volunteer and gofer and he was on the athletic staff.
It's not often one can chat with someone who was born before World War II, had relatives in internment camps, experienced racism for the first time in college, and was in college before Hawaii became a state.
Guess what, that man is still at UO — all 92 years young on Aug. 13 — as an ******* ociate athletic director focusing on major donor giving.
Yamanaka is gregarious, humble, benevolent and generous. The Army vet once rejected Nike founder Phil Knight's open checkbook offer for a memento and was the wingman for legendary former Oregon football coach and athletic director Len Casanova. He enjoys deep-sea fishing, going three times a year. In early August, he landed a bluefin tuna while angling in San Diego.
#Athletic #herb
Herb Yamanaka was an events manager at the University of Oregon back in the mid-1970s. He used to call me "Pineapple," an inside joke between two people from Hawaii. We'd ******* p into each other at the UO athletic department while I was a student volunteer and gofer and he was on the athletic staff.
It's not often one can chat with someone who was born before World War II, had relatives in internment camps, experienced racism for the first time in college, and was in college before Hawaii became a state.
Guess what, that man is still at UO — all 92 years young on Aug. 13 — as an ******* ociate athletic director focusing on major donor giving.
Yamanaka is gregarious, humble, benevolent and generous. The Army vet once rejected Nike founder Phil Knight's open checkbook offer for a memento and was the wingman for legendary former Oregon football coach and athletic director Len Casanova. He enjoys deep-sea fishing, going three times a year. In early August, he landed a bluefin tuna while angling in San Diego.
#Athletic #herb
13 days ago
