Yes, when America went to the London Summer Olympics we brought the world out. We sent our multiracial ethnicity across the waters, accomplished some major feats and then we really did it...we lost our minds and took a major celebratory moment and used it to bash and dash the joy from a young athlete's heart. I applaud her for being strong and ignoring the ignorant adults. What does this bashing do to the ego and self esteem of Gabby and other little girls who look up to her? What a shame to waste a moment, an iota in history to be a crab and try to pull someone down.

What the heck were people thinking? As this child stated, and did it so eloquently was, ""Nothing is going to change," she said. "I'm going to wear my hair like this during beam and bar finals. You might as well just stop talking about it."?" Gabby made big a time triumph, will forever be in the pages of time, history, and yet a shadow over this major accomplishment will forever be in her mind and now in history. Her people, her American family, her African-American family cared more about the clips in her hair than the terrific accomplishment over a grueling sport. Read about her feat in London, here.

Get off your high horse you lazy, crab in the buckets and applaud this enormous asset to our history and our heritage.

Yes, we bring the world out. Let's just remember to do it with style and grace.

Beads on a String-America's Racially Intertwined Biographical History

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Who was the Chinese American figure skater and media celebrity who  won nine U.S. championships, five world championships, and two Olympic medals? 

What better way to celebrate the Olympics then to give cheer and remember past American Olympians of all races.

Thanks for joining me as I shared a chapter from the book Beads on a String-America's Racially Intertwined Biographical History a book that applauds and lauds the biography of every American from every ethnicity.

Best of luck  Team America.

CONTRIBUTORS IN SPORTS

MICHELLE WING KWAN ( born Kwan Wing Shan on July 7, 1980 in Torrance, California), is an Chinese American figure skater and media celebrity who has won nine U.S. championships, five world championships, and two Olympic medals. She has remained competitive for over a decade and is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. Known for her consistency and expressive artistry on ice, she is widely considered to be one of the greatest figure skaters of all time despite having never won an Olympic gold medal.

BRIAN VILORIA (born November 24, 1980 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is a Filipino-American professional boxer with an overall record of 19-1-0-1 (12 KO). He is a former World Boxing Council (WBC) light-flyweight champion. Nicknamed "The Hawaiian" and/or "Pinoy Punch" he won the world title as an amateur at the 1999 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Houston, Texas.

ALEXANDRA PAULINE "SASHA" COHEN (born October 26, 1984) is an American figure skater. She is the reigning U.S. National Champion and silver medalist at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Cohen was born in Westwood, California, a neighborhood in Los Angeles. Her mother, Galina Feldman, is a Jewish immigrant from Ukraine and a former ballet dancer; her father, Roger Cohen, is a Jewish American business consultant who used to practice law. Her sister, Natasha, is a concert pianist. Sasha is the Russian nickname for Alexandra. A gymnast from an early age, Cohen switched to figure skating when she was seven years old.

NAOMI NARI NAM (born July 6, 1985 in Anaheim, California), is an American figure skater. Naomi placed second in the senior ladies division at the United States Figure Skating Championships in 1999, behind Michelle Kwan. Touted as one of the "Baby Ballerinas" (along with Sasha Cohen, Jennifer Kirk, Sarah Hughes), she was groomed as a rising skating star, but a serious hip injury (stress fracture) sidelined her figure skating career. In 2003, following hip surgery, she won the Southwest Pacific Regional title but placed 5th at the Pacific Coast Sectionals. She failed to qualify for the 2004 U.S. Nationals.

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 Who was the American figure skater, the first woman to win both the U.S. Senior pairs and ladies figure skating titles and was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in December 2005?

What better way to celebrate the Olympics then to give cheer and remember past American Olympians of all races. 

Within the next three posts we'll explore a chapter from the book Beads on a String-America's Racially Intertwined Biographical History

Best of luck Team America.

CONTRIBUTORS IN SPORTS

BENNY AGBAYANI (born December 28, 1971 in Honolulu, Hawaii) is a professional baseball player. He was originally drafted by the California Angels but did not sign. Agbayani was later drafted in the 30th round by the New York Mets on June 3, 1993. He has since been part of the Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds, and Kansas City Royals ball clubs.

Agbayani will forever be remembered among baseball fans for a play on August 12, 2000 while a member of the Mets. Agbayani is also fondly remembered by Mets fans for two clutch Home Runs hit during the 2000 season. On March 30th, his 11th inning Grand Slam against the Chicago Cubs gave the Mets their first win of the season, and a split in the two game series the Mets and Cubs had played in Tokyo, Japan. Later that year, on October 7th, Agbayani hit a game-winning home run in the 13th inning of Game 3 of the National League Division Series against Aaron Fultz of the Giants. 

JEANETTE LEE (born July 9, 1971 in Brooklyn, New York) is a highly successful Korean-American pool player. She is nicknamed "The Black Widow" for her tendency to wear black. Lee started playing pool in 1989. She went pro in 1993 and, within months, was already ranked in the top ten of all professional women billiards players. Lee went on to rank as the number one billiards player in the world for a period during the 1990s, and received the WPBA Sportsperson of the Year Award in 1998. As someone who has suffered from scoliosis, Lee is a strong supporter of those affected by the disease, and now serves as the National Spokesperson for the Scoliosis Association, Inc.

KRISTI TSUYA YAMAGUCHI (born July 12, 1971 in Hayward, California) is an American figure skater. In December 2005, she was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. Yamaguchi began skating as a child, as physical therapy for her club feet. She is coached by Christy Ness. With Rudy Galindo she won the junior pairs title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1986. Two years later, Yamaguchi won the singles and, with Galindo, the pairs titles at the 1988 World Junior Pair Championships. Yamaguchi and Galindo won the senior United States Figure Skating Championships pairs title in 1989 and 1990. As a pairs team, Yamaguchi and Galindo were unusual in that they were both accomplished singles skaters, and in that they jumped and spun in opposite directions -- Yamaguchi counter-clockwise, and Galindo clockwise. Yamaguchi was the first woman to have won both the U.S. Senior pairs and ladies figure skating titles. Kristi also won gold in the 1992 Winter Olympics in the Women's Figure Skating Competition.

JOHNNIE JAMES MORTON (born October 7, 1971 in Torrance, California of African-American and Japanese ethnicity.) is a wide receiver in the NFL. He is currently a free agent after being recently waived by the San Francisco 49ers. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the 1st round (21st overall) in the 1994 NFL Draft. He played there until 2002, when he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. He played there for three years. He then signed with the 49ers. Johnnie's younger brother, Chad Morton, also played at USC.

MICHAEL TE-PEI CHANG (Traditional Chinese:張德培; Zhang Dépéi; born February 22, 1972, in Hoboken, New Jersey) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He is best remembered for becoming the youngest-ever male winner of a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in 1989 as an unseeded player. Utilizing tremendous speed and strong determination, Chang was one of the best counterpunchers of all time and remained in the Top 10 in the ATP world rankings for several years in the 1990s, peaking at World No. 2. He is of Chinese heritage, and therefore was extremely popular in Asia. At that time, there were no other Asian players among tennis' higher ranks.

KRISNA "KRIS" DIM (born May 7, 1973 in Cambodia) is an IFBB professional bodybuilder. Kris Dim's first bodybuilding competition was in the NPC (National Physique Committee) USA Championships, where he took 6th. His first IFBB Mr. Olympia was in 2004, where he placed 12th. His first Arnold Classic was in 2006, where he placed 14th. His first Ironman Pro Invitational was in 2006, where he placed 10th. Kris has been featured in many fitness and bodybuilding articles, including being featured on the cover of FLEX magazine.

DANIEL PETER GRAVES (born August 7, 1973, in Saigon, South Vietnam) is a relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. Born to an American serviceman father and a Vietnamese mother, he is the first and only Vietnam-born player in the history of the major leagues, and one of the few Vietnamese-American players.

DAT NGUYEN (born on September 25, 1975 in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas) is the first Vietnamese American to play in the National Football League. He played for the Dallas Cowboys. In 1998, he was named an All-American and won the Bednarik Award as well as the Lombardi Award.

ELDRICK "TIGER" WOODS (born Eldrick Woods December 30, 1975 in Cypress, California) is an American golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. He was nicknamed "Tiger" after Vuong Dang Phong, a friend of his father's. Woods became generally known by that name and by the time he had achieved national prominence in junior and amateur golf was simply known as "Tiger Woods."

Woods, who is multiracial, is credited with prompting a major surge of interest in the game of golf among minorities and young people in the United States. Woods' father, Earl Woods, was a Vietnam veteran and a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, of mixed African American (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent) and Native American (25 percent) ancestry. He was the chairman of his son's charitable foundation (the Tiger Woods Foundation) before his death at age 74 on May 3, 2006, following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. Woods' mother, Kultida Woods, is originally from Thailand, and is of mixed Thai (50 percent), Chinese (25 percent), and Dutch (25 percent) ancestry. This makes Woods himself one-quarter Chinese, one-quarter Thai, one-quarter African, one-eighth Native American, and one-eighth Dutch. He affably refers to his ethnic make-up as Cablinasian (a portmanteau of Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian), a term he made up himself.

JAMES VO PARQUE (born February 8, 1976 in Norwalk, California) is a former Vietnamese-American pitcher in Major League Baseball He attended UCLA, and was the Bruins' top starter. He earned All-Pac 10 Honorable Mention, leading his school with 84 strikeouts in 14 starts. In 1996 he was the only left-handed pitcher on the Olympics baseball team that won a bronze medal in Atlanta On Jun 24, 2004, he announced his retirement after playing seven seasons of professional baseball due to his recurring arm injury from 2000.

HINES E. WARD, JR. (born March 8, 1976 in Seoul, South Korea) Ward's mother is Korean and his father is African-American. In 2006, Ward became the first Korean-American to win the Super Bowl MVP award. This achievement threw him into the media spotlight in South Korea, a nation with a blood-based social registry that restricts the rights of those not of full Korean blood.[1] () is an American football player who currently plays wide receiver for the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. He was voted MVP of Super Bowl XL. Recently, he has become a symbol of the benefits of multiculturalism in South Korea.

RICHARD PARK (born May 27, 1976 in Seoul, South Korea) is an American professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League. He is only the second Korean-born person to play in the NHL. Jim Paek was the first.

TERRMEL SLEDGE (born March 18, 1977 in Fayetteville, North Carolina) is a Major League Baseball player for the San Diego Padres. Sledge is an outfielder whose career began in 2004 with the Montréal Expos. He moved with the team to Washington the following season as the Expos relocated to the American capital. He was traded to the Texas Rangers along with fellow outfielder Brad Wilkerson for second baseman Alfonso Soriano on December 7, 2005. He was then traded to the Padres in a six player deal on December 20, 2005. Before playing with Montreal and the major leagues, Sledge played with the Edmonton Trappers shortly before the team was moved to Round Rock. 

CATHERINE FOX (born Dec. 15, 1977) won gold medals at 1996 Olympics in Atlanta as a member of the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay and 4x100-meter medley relay teams; 21-time All-American at Stanford; set an American record in the 100-meter backstroke (52.47) at the 1999 NCAA Championships.

AMY CHOW ZHOU WANYÍ (born May 15, 1978 in San Jose, California) is an American gymnast and a member of the famous Magnificent 7 who were the first American team to win Olympic gymnastics gold. Her fellow team members were Jaycie Phelps, Dominique Dawes, Shannon Miller, Kerri Strug, Amanda Borden and Dominique Moceanu. Chow was coached by Mark Young and was the first Asian-American woman to take an Olympic medal in her sport. Chow began gymnastics training in 1981, and has been competing in national and international competitions since 1990. She is primarily known for her performance at the 1996 Olympics where she won a silver medal on the uneven bars and team gold. She also competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics, although the team did not win a medal in Sydney. She was the first American woman to perform both the double twisting Yurchenko and the tucked double dismount on bars in international competition. 

KEVIN KIM (born July 26, 1978) is an American tennis player of Korean descent. He is currently 86th in the ATP rankings. Currently (2006), Kevin Kim is one of two ethnic Korean players on the ATP Tour. The other is South Korean Lee Hyung-Taik, with whom Kim played doubles at Roland Garros and Wimbledon 2005. In March 2005, Kim achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 63. He has never won an ATP title.

LORRAINE MING FAIR (born August 5, 1978), better known as Lorrie Fair, is a half-Chinese Asian American who is a member of the United States national soccer team, along with other players such as Brandi Chastain and Mia Hamm. Her twin sister, Veronica (Ronnie) Ching Fair, was also a member of the national team, and when Ronnie was called in to participate in a game against England on May 9, 1997 at San Jose, California, it became the first time a pair of sisters played together in national team game for any country.

TOBY DAWSON (born November 30, 1978 in Pusan, South Korea) is an American mogul skier. At the age of three he was adopted from South Korea by a family of ski instructors from Colorado. Currently he has undergone a search to find his biological parents. He won a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

GRACE PARK (born Park Ji-eun on March 6, 1979 in Seoul, South Korea) and is a professional golfer on the LPGA Tour. Park had an outstanding amateur career in the United States, winning most major amateur championships in 1998 including the United States Women's Amateur Golf Championship, and tied for eighth as an amateur in the 1999 U.S. Women's Open. She turned pro that same year, and earned her LPGA card for 2000 by finishing at the top of the SBC Futures Tour money list. She won at least one LPGA tournament in each season from 2000 to 2004, including her first major, the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship, where she finished a stroke ahead of Aree Song.

Beads on a String-America's Racially Intertwined Biographical History

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What better way to celebrate the Olympics then to give cheer and remember past American Olympians of all races. 

Within the next four posts we'll explore a chapter from the book Beads on a String-America's Racially Intertwined Biographical History

Best of luck Team America.

 Do you know who was the first player of Asian descent to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft in 1992?

 CONTRIBUTORS IN SPORTS

JHOON RHEE, Tae Kwon Do master and entrepreneur (born January 7, 1932,) Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee is known as the "Father of American Taekwondo." Rhee is largely credited for having popularized Martial Arts in North America. He trained with martial artist Bruce Lee to help him develop his kicks and he also trained Muhammad Ali for several of his fights. Rhee eventually awarded Ali a blackbelt in Taekwondo. In addition, he has also trained many U.S. senators and U.S. congressmen as well as their sons and daughters. In 1976, he also invented protective gear, Safe-T Equipment, made of foam-rubber for free-sparring. He changed the face of kata as well by choreographing the first kata to music which he called Might For Right.

Grandmaster Rhee was also the first martial arts instructor to put a high importance on education as well as martial arts instruction by demanding that each of his students must carry a B or higher level in school. This is now a crucial part of some martial arts systems in USA, deciding when one is to progress to their next belt level.. Jhoon Rhee is a member of the Black Belt Hall of Fame. 

ROMAN GABRIEL (born August 5, 1940 in Wilmington, North Carolina) is a former American Football player. He is considered by many to have been one of the best NFL quarterbacks of the late 1960s and early 70s. A two-time All-American, he starred at quarterback for North Carolina State in the early 1960's and finished his career holding virtually every Wolfpack passing record. An academic All-American, Gabriel saw his jersey retired and presented to him by North Carolina governor Terry Sanford on Jan. 20, 1962 at half-time of an NC State-Maryland basketball game in Reynolds Coliseum. A first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Rams, he went on to a distinguished professional career. Gabriel was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989.

LENN HARUKI SAKATA (born June 8, 1954 in Honolulu, Hawaii), is a former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues primarily as a utility player from 1977-1987 and was a member of the Baltimore Orioles 1983 World Series Championship team. After his playing career ended, Sakata coached in the minor league system, serving a stint as manager of the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies in 2002. After 2002, he returned to his previous position as long-time manager of San Jose Giants of the High-A California League, which he still coaches. Sakata was the starting shortstop for the Orioles when Cal Ripken, Jr. began his consecutive games played streak. Sakata is also the first Hawaiian born player to play in the Major Leagues. Sakata owns a small chain of high-end independent grocery stores in the Fresno, California area.

AKEBONO TARO (born May 8, 1969 as Chad George Rowan) is a retired sumo wrestler. Born in Hawaii, Akebono became the first non-Japanese wrestler ever to reach Yokozuna, the highest rank in sumo, on January 27, 1993. His name Akebono means "dawn" in Japanese. Akebono entered the sumo world in March 1988, at the same time as Takanohana and Wakanohana who became his great rivals as Yokozuna Akebono was often under intense scrutiny as the first foreign born Yokozuna. Akebono was a long standing and strong Yokozuna, lasting nearly eight years in the rank and winning the top division championship on a further eight occasions. His career highlights include the rare achievement of winning the top division championship in three consecutive tournaments. He also beat Takanohana and Wakanohana (brothers) in consecutive matches to win a Basho when all three ended up tied at the end of the 15 day tournament. He was however quite susceptible to injury because of his height and weight. Akebono was one of the tallest sumo wrestlers ever, at 203 cm (6ft 8in) tall, and also one of the heaviest.

RONALD MAURICE DARLING (born August 19, 1960 in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Hawaiian-Chinese mother and French-Canadian father) is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the New York Mets, Oakland Athletics and Montreal Expos. Darling is currently a broadcaster for the Mets. During his 13-year career, Darling amassed a 136-116 won-loss record including 1,590 strikeouts and a 3.87 ERA. He threw 13 shutouts in his career and was selected to the 1985 All-Star team.

GREGORY EFTHIMIOS LOUGANIS is an American diver of Samoan/Swedish descent, adopted by a Greek-American family. He won back-to-back Olympic titles in both the 3m and 10m events. He received the James E. Sullivan Award in 1984 as the top amateur athlete in the United States Greg Louganis was born January 29, 1960 in El Cajon, California. At age 16, he took part in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montréal, where he placed second in the tower event, behind Italian Klaus Dibiasi. Two years later, with Dibiasi retired, Louganis won his first world title in the same event. In 1978, he accepted a diving scholarship to the University of Miami where he studied Theater Arts. He would later transfer to the University of California, Irvine in 1981, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.

JIM PAEK (Baek Jiseon) was born April 7, 1967, in Seoul, South Korea. He is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League from 1990-91 to 1994-95.

EUGENE CHUNG (born June 14, 1969) is the first player of Asian descent to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft (1992, 13th overall by New England); All-Big East Conference selection at Virginia Tech.

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What better way to celebrate the Olympics then to give cheer and remember past American Olympians of all races. 

Within the next five posts we'll explore a chapter from the book Beads on a String-America's Racially Intertwined Biographical History

Best of luck America.

CONTRIBUTORS IN SPORTS

 1800’s

DUKE PAOA KAHINU MOKOE HULIKOHOLA KAHANAMOKU born on August 24, 1890, "The Big Kahuna", is generally regarded as the inventor of the modern sport of surfing. He was also an Olympic champion in swimming. The name "Duke" is not a title, but a given name. His father was named "Duke" in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time of the elder man's birth in 1869. The younger "Duke", as eldest son, inherited the name.

In his youth, Kahanamoku preferred an old-school (traditional) surf board, which he called his "papa nui", constructed after the fashion of ancient Hawaiian "olo" boards. Made from the wood of a koa tree, it was sixteen feet (4.8 m) long and weighed 114 pounds (52 kg). The board was without a skeg, which had yet to be invented. In his later career, he would often use smaller boards, but always preferred those made of wood. On August 11, 1911, in an amateur swim meet, Kahanamoku was timed at 55.4 seconds in the 100 yard (91 m) freestyle, beating the existing world record by 4.6 seconds, in the salt water of Honolulu Harbor. He also broke the record in the 220 yd (201 m) and equaled it in the 50 yd (46 m), but the Amateur Athletic Union, in disbelief, would not recognize these feats until many years late.

Nevertheless, Kahanamoku easily qualified for the U.S. Olympic swimming team in 1912, breaking the record for the 200 meter freestyle in his trial heat for the 4×200 relay. He went on to win a gold medal in the 100 meter freestyle in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, and silver with the relay team. During the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, he won gold medals both in the 100 meters, bettering fellow Hawaiian Pua Kealoha, and in the relay. He finished the 100 meters with a silver medal during the 1924 Olympics in Paris, the gold going to Johnny Weissmuller and the bronze to Duke's brother, Samuel Kahanamoku.

Between Olympic competitions, and after retiring from the Olympics, Kahanamoku traveled to different places in the world, particularly Australia and the United States, to give swimming exhibitions. It was during this period that he popularized the sport of surfing, previously known only in Hawaii, by incorporating surfing exhibitions into these visits as well. His surfing exhibition at Sydney's Freshwater Beach on December 23, 1914 is widely regarded as the most significant day in the development of surfing in Australia. The board Kahanamoku used is retained by the Freshwater Surf Club and can be viewed if the caretaker is approached respectfully. There is a statue of Kahanamoku on the headland at Freshwater.

While living in Newport Beach, California on June 14, 1925, Kahanamoku rescued eight men from a fishing vessel that capsized in heavy surf while attempting to enter the city's harbor. Twenty-nine fishermen went into the water and seventeen perished. Using his surfboard, he was able to make quick trips back and forth to shore to increase the number of sailors rescued. Two other surfers saved four more fishermen. Newport's police chief at the time called Duke's efforts "the most superhuman surfboard rescue act the world has ever seen." Thus was born the tradition of lifeguards having rescue surfboards at the ready.

Duke Kahanamoku was the first person to be inducted into both the Swimming Hall of Fame and the Surfing Hall of Fame. The Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championships are named in his honor. He served as sheriff of Honolulu, Hawaii from 1932 to 1961. There is also a chain of restaurants named after him in California and Hawaii called Duke's. Kahanamoku died January 22, 1968.

1900’s

DR. SAMMY LEE (born August 1, 1920 in Fresno, California) is the first Asian American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States and the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in Olympic platform diving. Dr. Lee was a student-athlete at the University Of Southern California School Of Medicine, where he received his M.D. in 1947. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Korea from 1953–55, where he specialized in the diseases of the ear. I Lee also won a bronze medal in springboard diving in the 1948 games. He went on to coach Olympic divers including Pat McCormick and Greg Louganis.

VICKI MANALO DRAVES (born Dec. 31, 1924) is a Filipina-American athlete(diver) who in 1948 as a member of the U.S. team became the first woman in Olympic history to win gold medals in both platform diving and springboard diving; inducted into Int'l Swimming Hall of Fame in 1969.

TOMMY KONO (born June 27, 1930 in Sacramento, California) was a U.S. weightlifter in the 1950s. Kono set records in four different weightlifting classes: lightweight (148 pounds or 67 kilograms), middleweight (165 lb or 75 kg), light-heavyweight (181 lb or 82 kg), and middle-heavyweight (198 lb or 90 kg). He won a Gold Medal at both the 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games, and a Silver Medal at the 1960 Olympics. He was world champion from 1953 - 1959 and set 26 world records. He was also a successful Bodybuilder, winning the Mr. Universe title several times. Of Japanese descent, Sickly as a child, Kono's family was relocated during World War II to the California desert. The desert air helped Kono's asthma. It was during the relocation that Kono was introduced to weight training.

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