In his freshman year at Punahou “Jimmy” won the Territorial J.O.G. (Junior Olympic Games) championship, setting records in two of five events, and winning or placing in the other three. Records were in baseball throw and 75-yard dash. The other events were standing jump, basketball throws and chin-ups. He went on to represent Hawaii in the J.O.G. Championships in Atlantic City – winning the National Championship. Living up to predictions for a brilliant high school athletic career “Jimmy” amassed the following.This article appears as originally published in the Summer 1980 issue of the Punahou Bulletin.
Football: letters in his junior (’32 season) and senior (’33 season) years; All-Star halfback in ’33 when he was the leading rusher in the league, establishing a new record; captain of the ’33 team; and team punter. Track: varsity squad from his freshman year, winning letters in his sophomore, junior and senior years. In his junior and senior years, his performances won him recognition as the greatest high school track star in Hawaiian history – to this day. During 1933 and 1934 he set records in the 100 (9.7), 220 (22 flat), and 440 (49.1). His records in the 100 and 440 still stand. Incidentally, the first time he ever tried o run the 440 was one afternoon at Alexander Field. He ran the first 220 much too fast and barely made it to the finish, yet he broke the then existing record by over a full second. He won the ’34 Gordon Brown Trophy as the most outstanding track athlete. In the ’34 ILH Championships he took five first places for 25 points, winning the broad jump, javelin, 100, 220 and 440 – a feat which has never been duplicated. Baseball: a two-year letterman. Swimming: a two-year letterman – swimming the sprints and 220-yard relay. Track and baseball did not permit Jim to train for swimming – yet he placed in the Yale meet in both is junior and senior years.
“Jimmy” went on to graduate from Stanford where he was on the varsity track squad for two years, starring in sprints (100, 220, 440). He ran on Stanford’s one-mile relay team which established a world’s record (1936). A top executive of a major oil company, “Jimmy” and his family live in San Marino, Ca.