Installation Banquets
Dr. Sammy Lee was a Korean American, physician, Korean War veteran, and United States (U.S.) Olympic diver who was the first Asian American to win a gold medal (1957-1958 Installation Banquet, p. 70 and 71). He won a bronze and was the first person to win two consecutive platform diving gold medals. Louis Zamperini was a U.S. Olympic distance runner, a World War II Army Air Corps veteran and prisoner of war of Japan, and an inspirational speaker whose life is chronicled in Laura Hillenbrand's book Unbroken (1959-1960 Installation Banquet, p. 110). Walter Knott popularized the boysenberry and started Knott's Berry Farm of Buena Park, CA with his wife Cordelia in the 1930s (1961-1962 Installation Banquet, p. 135).
OC JAYs advisor and JACL member James Kanno notably helped establish Fountain Valley, CA and served as its first mayor from 1957 to 1962 (1962-1963 Installation Banquet, p. 162). He was one of the first Japanese American mayors in the mainland U.S. Born and raised in Santa Ana, CA, he and his family were incarcerated at the Poston War Relocation Center. After the war, he worked on his family’s farm while attending Santa Ana College and University of California, Los Angeles.