Photograph of banquet awards ceremony at the Disneyland Hotel.
1 media/1969-04-26_circa_OCJAYs_banquet_awards-2020.004.s.r-005_thumb.jpg 2024-06-28T22:39:20+00:00 V Perez ce559b973dc689fed067a8eba7e90f55fea5903d 366 5 Photograph, Anaheim, CA, circa April 26, 1969, 2020-004-s-r, Box 1, Folder 1, Orange County Japanese American Youths scrapbook. Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives, Chapman University, Orange, CA. plain 2024-07-31T18:11:31+00:00 V Perez ce559b973dc689fed067a8eba7e90f55fea5903dThis page is referenced by:
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Installation Banquets
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The OC JAYs also raised money for member scholarships and charities. Scholarships were awarded at annual “Installation Banquets,” or induction ceremonies, which typically coincided with a dance. Banquets featured prominent guest speakers, such as Dr. Sammy Lee (1920-2016), Louis Zamperini (1917-2014), Walter Knott (1889-1981), and James Kanno (1925-2017).
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.
