Biography
Growing up, Misaka was discriminated because of his Japanese ethnicity and the on-going war that involved Japan. Despite this, Misaka still participated in sports. Misaka led his high school team, Ogden High School, to a state championship title in 1940. The next year he led the team to a regional championship title in 1941.
Later, Misaka enrolled at Weber Junior College, where his team won the Junior College Tournament. Eventually, Misaka enrolled at the University of Utah and joined the basketball team. Despite being a young team, they finished with a 18-3 record. The team was invited to both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT Tournament. The team chose the latter because it was more prestigious at the time. The team lost to the University of Kentucky in the first round, but was given a chance to play in the NCAA tournament due to the University of Arkansas's withdrawal because of a team accident.
The team took advantage of this and won the tournament, beating Dartmouth College 42-40 in overtime. After their win, Misaka and his team played the NIT champions, St. John's, in an exhibition match at Madison Square Garden, where his team won.
Misaka was later drafted for the war effort and rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant. After two years, Misaka returned to the University of Utah and rejoined the team. The team won their second national championship in four years. Because of their success, Utah was invited to the NIT championship tournament in New York. The team slid by the first two rounds before beating Kentucky 49-45 to capture the 1947 NIT championship title. Misaka played the whole game, holding Ralph Beard, the national player of the year, to just one point.
A 5'7" point guard, he was selected by the New York Knicks in the 1947 BAA Draft. During the 1947–1948 season, he played in three games and scored seven points before being cut from the team because, Misaka believes, the Knicks had too many guards. He received a degree in engineering from Utah ("The salary for a rookie and the salary for starting engineer weren't much different", Misaka recalled) and joined a Salt Lake City company. He and his wife, Kate, have two children. Misaka was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
A documentary film, Transcending: The Wat Misaka Story, by Bruce Alan Johnson and Christine Toy Johnson premiered in 2008.
Read more about this topic: Wataru Misaka
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