'Playing for keeps'

The rich heritage of Asian-Pacific Americans precedes current superstars who bat leadoff for the Mariners or guard the basket for the Houston Rockets. The Wing Luke Asian Museum's new exhibit, Playing for Keeps: Asian Americans in Sports, pays homage to men and women who overcame extraordinary odds just to play games.

"We're interested in honoring the pioneers who paved the way for people like Yao Ming and Ichiro," said museum director Ron Chew. "This is a landmark exhibit."

Among the athletes are UW alumni, whose list of accomplishments reads like a hall-of-fame listing. Danny Lim, the first Chinese American to play on the UW tennis team in the 1950s, was impressed with the professionalism of the exhibit and had goose bumps when he attended the show.

The exhibit keeps the history light-hearted, with a putting green and a sign that invites visitors to sign their autographs on the wall. A caption next to a pair of basketball shorts reads: "And, yes, basketball shorts used to be even shorter than John Stockton's."

Underneath the humor, however, is a message that demands attention. The exhibit acknowledges that racial tension and racist jokes still persist on the playing field, but a sign on the wall at the exhibit's entrance asserts the persistent rise of Asian Americans in popular sports, with the statement: "Will we still get dissed? Maybe, but we know we can play."

Beyond the victories, the importance of the exhibit is not only in retelling success stories.

"[The exhibit] focuses on what Asians have done for sports in all aspects, not just accomplishments," said Erin Otagaki, who graduated from the UW in 2001 after a career with the nationally ranked women's soccer team. Otagaki played for a Division-I powerhouse even though she stands less than five feet tall.

To illustrate the difficult history of Asian Pacific Americans in sports, stories of players form the bulk of the exhibit's content. Viet Nguyen, a current Sounders player and UW alumnus, wanted to play so badly that he wrote family members and wealthy friends seeking a sponsorship.

"This is the first time many of these stories have been captured," said Chew. "I don't know of any other exhibit like it."

The show features players who faced remarkable discrimination: Tennis players had to enter country clubs through the back door, and baseball players in the Courier League were invited to the Idaho state tournament and did quite well before returning to the internment camps they called home. There is also the Asian Express tennis team, which won national championships throughout the 1980s, but was forced to disband because its members played so well as a team.

The athletes in the exhibit were not all able to dominate an NBA game or receive MVP honors after their first year in the major leagues. But as another sign on a wall reads, "They're helping kids with dreams learn to play, learn self respect, learn to believe that anything is possible."