This collection was created by Daniel Kawahara. Kawahara was instrumental in founding the Tigers Youth Club, a Japanese American sports league started in Southern California in 1957 and still active as of 2014. This collection contains photographs, a scrapbook, and textual records documenting the history of the Tigers and their founding organization, the Has Beens. The bulk of the collection is made up of minutes from Has Beens meetings, programs from Tigers sports tournaments, and of photographs of Tigers teams.

Daniel Kawahara was born in Hawaii in 1919. In the early 1930’s, he moved to the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles with his family. Before World War II, he was an active participant in the Cougars, an American sports club which met at Evergreen Playground in Los Angeles. Kawahara returned to Southern California after World War II and in 1953 formed a softball team called the “Has Beens” with a group of friends. Kawahara, who was the secretary, recorded the minutes at their meetings. The Has Beens played baseball and basketball as members of the Japanese Athletic Union—later renamed the Nisei Athletic Union—and formed the Tigers Youth Club in 1957 to provide their children with competitive athletic opportunities.

2.50 linear feet

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).

Collection is open for research by appointment only. Please contact the Japanese American National Museum Collections Management and Access Unit by email (collections@janm.org) or telephone (213-830-5615).