Rodney Yamada:  

Born in Sacramento, California 1951. 1 year old came to Los Angeles (East LA). Family moved from Montebello to TO in 1959. Scroll down for TO stuff. Post-TOHS stuff: Started NMNA (Northwestern Military & Naval Academy Lake Geneva, Wisconsin) my sophomore year (1966). Was "A" Company Commander Capt. Sherwood's plebe that first year. Good at making beds with square corners. Roommate was Carl "Herb" Werner. Herb Werner was Carl's older brother who also went to Northwestern. For some reason we always called Carl "Herb". I think the upperclassmen started it who knew the real Herb & the Werner brothers resembled each other. They were from Detroit. Actually, " Herb" was my junior year roommate. Can't remember my sophomore year roommate right now. Mike Pence(?). Sorry, it was Greg Czala. Good guy. Liked movies. Scottie Anderson was Battalion Commander at the start, but was busted for drinking(?) and lost his command & was demoted to private(?). Sad day. I liked Scottie or rather Mr. Anderson. He was a good athlete. "B" Company Commander Capt. Bader was promoted to BC. Bader had red, wavy hair. Didn't go to the "B" Company side of rooms much. Seemed kinda spooky over there. Maybe went to "B" Company side upstairs once or twice. Didn't know many up there. Went to Thorp & Pfeil's senior year "North Staff" room once or twice. BC Schou & my "South Staff" room was better than theirs (haha), because we had a "head" with private shower(!) & "john"(!). That was kinda nice especially in the morning. Shower water pressure wasn't great, so sometimes showered in the basement glass brick showers. I think those were reserved for seniors. Schou was BC and tall & I was XO because I had good grades. "Chidester" medal winner multiple times, but could also play "hoops". Practiced a lot. Loved basketball. Could never "palm" the ball or dunk. Was too short 5'10". Always wished I could do both. Oh well. Remember Slavin? "Go take a sh-sh- sh-shower." Pfeil was a top wrestler. Along with LaRocca. I played tennis along with Alec Taylor. Coached by the Spanish teacher (Señor.....name?) who had a cute wife. Schou got A's in Spanish class, because he was from Chihuahua, Mexico. I think his father was military or a diplomat. We listened to his stereo in our room. Johnny Rivers "Realizations", etc. Jahn & Dietz were our plebes. They roomed together around the corner from us over the rotunda. Dietz was efficient. Did what I told him to do. Else he would've gotten canned. Sophomore year '66-'67: Played guitar with John Davis (bugler?) in his upstairs "A" Company room. We would also use our 1st Platoon Leader Mr. Greg Shupp's Fender Twin Reverb amp (wow!) down the hall. Shupp also had a Fender Stratocaster. Expensive stuff then, worth a lot of money now. "Herbie", Alec Taylor and I would play cribbage every free minute. We were best buds. Alec was from Waukegan. Went to his home on Thanksgiving break and drove around in his family's '55 white Thunderbird with the round porthole window like in American Graffiti. Went to Burger King and had Whoppers when they were the new burger chain & were really BIG!!! Great burgers back then along with White Castle. Food in our downstairs mess hall/dining room wasn't bad, except for those "cardboard" mini pizzas. Cooks did their best. I remember a tornado watch one time & we had to shelter down in the dining room. Sky was funny green. First for me. To be continued... Post-NMNA: Had a basketball invitation from UWM (Univ Wis Milwaukee - no biggie sports-wise), but wanted to return to California and went to UCLA (inexpensive then $108/quarter $324/year!) freshman year. Bob Platz (surfer with his surf board propped up against the wall by his bed) was my roommate. Platz went to TOHS also. Gene Namikas (Ventura High) and...Expand for more