Wayne Knoll Tanaka oral history - November 12, 2022

This is Michael Engh, the chancellor of Loyola Marymount University, welcoming Wayne Tanaka here from the class of 1969. It's, uh, for the Inclusive History and Images Project here at the university.

And, Wayne, uh, when and where were you born? I was—I was born in Stockton, California, uh, in the Central Valley. And what year would that—what date?

Uh it was November 2nd, 1947. So I just passed my birthday. Yeah. Well, congratulations.

Thank you. 75. 75. Congratulations.

Uh, and how long did you live in Stockton, and when did you come down to Los Angeles? I was born in Stockton, and I think I was only there for a couple of years.

And then my dad and family— mom—moved to, like, Gardena or down here in Southern California. And my dad was a gardener—

well, he was a warehouse, uh, landscape inventory guy, I guess, for a nursery in Gardena. At the time, it must have been ten nurseries, mostly run by Japanese.

Right. Japanese, Americans. So then he got recruited to come here with Father Von der Ahe, the—the—the—the priest’s father owned or

started Vons market. So Carl Von der Ahe— [Crosstalk]—Carl Von der Ahe. So he was the— in charge of the campus.

And so he hired my dad, who became— well, now that's probably some highfalutin name like superintendent. No, seriously, like superintendent—

like, my dad was [air quotes] “head gardener,” you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. And approximately when would that have been?

That's a good question. Uh probably twenty, uh— probably. 2000.

Around 2000. I'm sorry. Let me back up. I'm lost in thought.

Uh probably 20 years before 1969. Okay. Ish, you know, 70-somethings in the 70s. Okay, so back at time—at that time, Father Von der Ahe was in

charge of, as you said, all the groundskeeping here. Yeah, I think he—he was in charge of the whole facility. So you were living then in Gardena?

Yes. And your dad was commuting up here? Yes. And what about your mom?

Okay. Shortly thereafter my dad, uh, got hired here, my mom got a job in the registrar's office, and she was in charge of the veterans, which she dearly

loved. So the vet—well, you know, the veterans, there was a special thing for the veterans. And so she was in charge of taking care of

the paperwork, uh, for the veterans, you know, taking care of them, which she really liked. She really loved them. And they would call, you know, years later saying, thanks

a lot for helping Miss— Ms. Emenaker was the registrar. [Crosstalk]Right. And a gal named Saint Onge actually replaced Catherine Emenaker when she retired.

And so she was, like, there for many more years, too, you know? I remember them both my time as a student. So your mother's name—

Dorothy. Dorothy Tanaka. [Crosstalk]Dorothy. And your father's name— George. I want to make sure we get all these facts.

George Tanaka. [Laughs.] So there's a—just general question of identity. Do you consider yourself Japanese,

Japanese American? What would you say? I'd say.

Japanese American. [Crosstalk] Okay. Which, uh, reminds me that, uh, my time here on the campus, there were very few Asians.

Uh I only knew a few Japanese. I think there were more Chinese. Okay. There were more Blacks, of course.

Uh but, you know, it was—it was a light demographics, you know, for—for ethnicity at the time. I mean, now it's way different. So what attracted you to come here?

[Laughs] Well, that was an easy thing. I got a free ride with my folks, uh— well, and I played baseball, I got a scholarship, $250,

I was telling you. The tuition was $500 a semester. So 250 was pretty significant, you know? And now that I think back, it's like, I got a scholarship to go to Loyola University and play baseball?

I'm starting—now that I'm getting older, I'm starting to recollect my past life and thinking about some of the things that I, you know, wouldn't even recall and thinking, Gee, that's pretty significant.

You know, in the time—I mean, people are making scholarships, you know, $50,000, uh, scholarship to—to play ball or whatever— today. And it was half a semester salary, $250, which is

kind of remarkable, isn't it? What was your position on the baseball team? I was a shortstop mostly in my lifetime, but at Loyola we had another good shortstop, so I played third

and second base. But I—I retired because, um, the Dean of Education, Dr. Garrett. Do you remember him? I do.

He had me scouted because I—he wanted me to retire— I mean, you know, resign from the baseball team because my grades were failing. I didn't do—

I got a D in calculus. If I didn't get a D in calculus, we would not be here talking today because I would have maybe not graduated. I see.

I mean, it was that tight, you know, my grades— I was just an average—very average student. What was your major?

What subject were you? Business. Business management. So—

so Dean Garrett was dean of the business— Yes he was. He was keeping an eye on you then? Yes

he was. That is exactly correct. He was keeping an eye on me, and he tried to get me to retire from baseball—

this was like in the middle of the season, which, you know, I just wouldn't do, you know—you know how the Japanese are, you get dishonored, you'd have to commit suicide, you know?

Yeah. Here we carry. So what brought you into the student workers? Oh.

That's—that's the—let me—this sort of sets the stage for why I’m—I'm here. When I was a child, you know— ten, 11, 12—my parents worked here.

So I would come in summer vacation and, uh, just putz around the university and help my dad. So I was kind of a student worker at 12, you know, and so my dad would park right here

under the trees, like I was telling you, and I would just pal around in the summer and bring friends, and we mess around and stuff and go down to the hill with his ice plant and roll down the hill—

now there's, uh, dorms there. It was— it took years to fill in. And so I was here as a youngster. And then, fortunately, because of the relationship my parents had

with the university and I graduated from high school, this was a logical place to come, and I was— I have to thank God, for the blessings that I was allowed to attend the

university. I mean, think about it. This is a very prestigious—it was a prestigious university at the time.

You know, in the 60s, as—you know, as it is now. So I was quite fortunate because my parents worked here and I got to know the university—

you know, people got to know me a little bit. And so I was very thankful that I was able to attend. That—it was a major thing in my life.

I mean, otherwise we wouldn't be here talking. I've had a good career at the Southern California Gas Company in marketing—uh, manager, this and that—and I had a good career, and I just came from the service

of a coworker just now, and it brings back a lot of memorable thoughts of working at the Gas Company. But, you know, if it wasn't for Loyola, you know, I wouldn't have had a 30 year plus career at

the Gas— got with my degree. So what student organizations— I was thinking about the student workers, maybe they’re other

organizations? Well, the student work was—I was sort of like an independent. Okay? Okay.

I worked for my dad. All right. He was a superintendent of the grounds. And so I was not an official student worker—

I was a student worker, technically, but I didn't belong to that organization. I wasn't—I was an independent. Okay.

And so, uh, I did a lot of—I helped them too. And like planting all the trees around the baseball field. Those eucalyptus trees are this big around.

I help, one summer with the student workers, planting all those trees. Now they're, you know, a hundred feet tall or whatever, right? So that was one of my accomplishments—

I wasn't even in school then. I was a youngster. So— but I helped—helped them as a teenager.

I wasn't in university yet. And you were planning the trees? Yeah. One summer.

And so now you go look at those trees and it's just like, you got to be kidding. Look how big they are. [Laughs] Yes,

they are. The field is very professional. And I think I mentioned it to you before, my father, uh, leveled— it was just the field.

Dirt field. He leveled the ground there to make that baseball field. He laid the foundation for that— the existing baseball field right now, with a tractor that

was donated by the Von der Ahes through, you know, Father—Father Von der Ahe. [Crosstalk] Father Von der Ahe. And so my dad leveled that. It was just a barren field. Yes. He leveled that.

And so he laid the foundation, basically for the existing beautiful baseball field that I visited the other day. And so that was one of his accomplishment— well, the rose gardens, where they had thousands of—hundreds

of roses right there. And, uh. He would—he and his workers— he only had three workers beside himself, and at the

time there was a hundred acres. There's more acreage now because they got the bunch of others stuff— all the area that has plants and buildings on,

That was just a golf course. In my day, there was a nine-hole golf course over there— I don't know, what do you call that section, but

it would be— —is that where sits, uh, McKay Hall— —toward—toward Manchester. Yeah.

I don't even know the names of those buildings— [Crosstalk] Yeah, yeah. And that was just a dirt— well, it was a nine-hole golf course.

And so some of the priests that were—they were very fortunate they had a nine-hole golf course. Did you play golf yourself? No, not at that time.

But one of the signs was—they had a problem— maybe they still have around campus—but they had gopher problems. Yes.

And well, there's still some stuff happening. Still have gophers now. We—they're very prolific little guys anyway. So that was one of the things we—you know,

routine go fix the gopher holes, you know? So we'd try all kinds of different things, you know, but they’re still out there.

Put the little traps in? Got the box—they’re the best, the box—but there's a little wiry one too, those two were good because you knew you got them. The other—

you know, you put a—bait or something— you don't know what happens to them—or even use road flares. You know, in the Midwest and other places, they would

put a tube in there of propane and run it through there and then light the thing, and a bunch of areas blow up. [Laughs.] I don't if you’ve seen—I don't know if you've

seen that, but that’s—I'm telling the true story. [Crosstalk] Okay, go— go ahead. I believe you.

What else do you want to know? So when you were here at the university, who were your favorite teachers or your mentors? People—

Well, uh, there's a guy named Mr. Becker. He was in accounting—very tough guy. He looked like James Bond.

If you would, uh, think of an actor to be James Bond, that was the guy. He was tall, handsome, very distinguished.

Dark— he always had a nice tan. Maybe he was Italian or something. His name is Mr. Becker.

Uh he was a very tough accounting teacher. So as I understand it, when you graduated with an accounting degree from Loyola University in my day. The big—Big 13 would hire you up.

Now there's probably the Big Two, but then it went down from 13 to eight— I don't know, you know, but it was very prestigious to graduate from Loyola University with an accounting degree, because

of the likes of teachers like Mr. Becker. He was he was like six two, tan, handsome guy. He'd be the epitome of a James Bond character. Seriously.

[Laughs] We used to call him that, you know, behind his back, of course. And he was one of the people that's—favorite teacher. Well, he was—he was very, uh, imposing.

It was real straightforward, you know—and it was a guy named—I can't remember his first name— Grosch. Yes.

Uh okay, you remember? Yes. I can't remember his first name, but he was in

the management area. And of course, uh, you know— I think business was a very well-run operation here. You know, the physics department, engineering,

you know—I guess, you know, it wasn't a department that wasn't grand, you know, quite frankly. But management—but accounting was like—like very prestigious. If you would graduate from an accounting here at Loyola

University, you got gobbled up. Even if, you know, you just graduated, you will find a job. And did you have an advisor or a mentor that helped you out?

No, you know, I'm thinking back of my time here— I don't know, despite my personality—I'm outgoing and all that—

I was pretty much to myself—except for several friends that I had. Uh you know, in business we would, you know— —Tell me about some of your friends.

You were there— Ralph Novotny was—he went to grammar school, high school and then the university. Yes. So he's the longest tenured—

and we still communicate via, you know, emails and stuff. But like I was telling you, my other friend went to Long Beach State. We get together occasionally.

We have a hamburger or something like that. But I haven't been—we—the three of us haven't gotten together in 30 years. And that other one— —Ralph Novotny, is the—[crosstalk] —Ralph. Any other friends?

Bill Brown. I see him on, uh, Facebook and stuff, which—which I mean—I have a need to call him. I saw him with his family on there—

so, but I've been, you know, really remiss in following up. But I was pretty much, uh, to myself. My main goal was to graduate.

Yeah. And so I—I didn't party around— well, I did belong to a fraternity, Delta Sigma Pi. [Laughs.] I think I helped start it because they were off

campus—or I'm sorry, they got kicked off campus, I think. For some reason, I don't know. So they were they were gone for a bunch of years.

So some of us said, Well, what happened to those guys? And I don't know the full story, but they got kicked off campus, literally booted off.

So we—we resurrected it— I think it was in my junior year. So we brought it back to campus—and I have to look into those guys to see, are they still

here on campus? But we actually brought it back, and when I graduated, there were, you know, half a dozen—or dozen people in—

it's a business fraternity, not social. And so Delta Sigma Pi—and the Pi, that's pretty appropriate. Anyway—so things like that are starting to pop back

into my head—quite frankly, you know, it's like a blur. It's been over—you know, many years. And since 1969, it's a long time, you know, so

things are popping back into my head, just driving around. And so I'm going to have to get back to you on some of these things. Okay.

Now, you mentioned David Ross earlier. Yeah, he went to Long Beach State. He was—we still talk all the time, but I haven’t

been able to get hold— well, I talk to Ralph via, uh, you know, emails and stuff like that—we correspond and stuff, but I haven't laid eyes on the guy for like 30 years.

It's weird. And Ralph went on to Loyola Law School. Yes, he did. He—he is—

I think he's still practicing. He worked—uh, he's retired, obviously—but, uh, I think he works for some agency that does public service, uh, to help people that need

a lawyer but can't afford it. Or maybe they were found guilty and stuff and they’re maybe not guilty, and they bring the case before this—this organization that

he belongs to. So he's still out there doing stuff. Is he really? Okay.

Yeah. Because we were talking earlier about Loyola Law School being open to Jewish students. I—that is interesting to say the least.

I didn't know that. Yeah. Okay. But it wasn’t that—Ralph Novotny was not—

No. He was he's from Polish descent. Novotny,. Okay. He's from Chicago.

Um.