by Frank Kami
He was called “Babe”–partly because he was the youngest of three sons. But Don Danielson was also an outstanding athlete; and baseball was his game.
I met him in elementary school in Berkeley. We didn’t go to the same school–I went to Whittier Elementary and Babe was from Hillside–but we both liked sports and met through a playground program where different schools across the city played against each other. We became friends.
We ended up at the same junior high school, Garfield, and even though he played baseball and I ran track, our friendship continued.
We were seniors at Berkeley High School when World War II began. What a frightening, unsettling time it was for us Japanese Americans! In April 1942 my family was forced to leave our home to be imprisoned in Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California.
When we arrived at Tanforan, things were chaotic. The restroom facilities were horrible and the food caused many of us to have upset stomachs and food poisoning. When it rained, it was a muddy mess. Boards were laid down so that we could walk, but they sank down into the mud under our feet.
However, we tried to make some kind of semblance of normalcy despite our situation. Classes were started in the Grandstand, and the high school students held a student body election. A slate of Berkeley High School students won all four of the top positions. I was elected President, Fred Murakami, Vice President; Ayako Ota, Secretary; and Rhoda Nishimura, Treasurer. One of our student assembly activities included a performance by singer Goro Suzuki (Jack Soo). Mr. Suzuki generously offered to perform for us, and his performance raised our spirits.
One day I received a message from the Front Gate that a visitor was waiting to see me. It turned out to be Babe Danielson and another high school friend, Bobby Gray. They had hitchhiked from Berkeley to Tanforan to see me and to bring me cookies that Babe’s mother had baked. All these years later, I still remember those cookies.
In September we were all transferred to Topaz, a “permanent” camp in Utah, so there were no more visits from Babe. But when I graduated from Topaz High School and Babe graduated from Berkeley High School, he sent me the Berkeley High yearbook of our graduating class. He had gotten all our friends to sign it for me.
Eventually the War ended, Topaz closed, and my family returned to Berkeley. By that time I was in the Army. Mother told me she was frightened and cautious as she ventured out to do her grocery shopping. Then one day Mrs. Danielson stopped by to bring her a basket of fruits as a welcome-home gift.
After Babe completed college, he became a Physical Education teacher at Reedley High School, in Central California, then later, an instructor/coach at Reedley College. We continued to stay in contact and met whenever he visited Berkeley.
Babe passed away while he was still teaching/coaching in Reedley. I spoke at his funeral. Another speaker was a young Black man, who said he had enrolled at Reedley College but couldn’t find a place to stay because no one would rent to him. He told us how Babe had renovated his garage into living quarters so that he could stay there and go to college. That was the kind of man Babe was, and I was lucky to call him a friend.
About the contributor: Frank Kami was born and raised in Berkeley until his family’s removal to Tanforan, and later, Topaz. He graduated from Topaz High in 1945 and was drafted and sent to Germany just as the War ended. He went to UC Berkeley and dental school at Marquette University in Wisconsin. He and his wife Miyoko then returned to Berkeley, where they raised two sons. Frank, a long-time supporter of the Topaz Museum, served as a barracks consultant for the exhibit.
Copyright 2021, Frank Kami. All rights reserved.