- A University of Utah student stepped on a basketball court and by the time he stepped off, the game was never the same.

That student, Wat Misaka, shattered racial barriers in basketball and beyond, leaving a legacy that still inspires young athletes.

(people chattering) - I think people tend to underestimate Asian Americans, Japanese Americans.

We are athletic, we break barriers in history and Asian American stories are like integrated in U.S. history throughout, but we just don't hear about the stories.

I'm Kimari Perng.

I'm in 10th grade right now, so I'm a sophomore.

I've been playing volleyball since I was in first grade, I think, competitively, since I was 11.

At first I wasn't really interested in history.

It was probably my least favorite subject.

But my teacher reached out to me and she asked me, "Hey, would you be interested in doing this national competition for history?"

And I'm like, "I've never heard of that before, but okay, I'll give it a shot."

So I made a documentary for National History Day.

- Cool.

- It's about Wat Misaka, first person of color in the NBA.

I'm really interested in Asian American stories 'cause I feel like they're stories that are untold about our history, but are super important.

And so I was just looking, like, famous Asian Americans up and I saw Wat Misaka's name come up and then when I was doing like more and more research, I realized he's not just the first Japanese American or the first Asian American, but the first non-white player in the NBA.

And he, like, broke the color barrier like Jackie Robinson did.

And he's from Utah so - He's from Utah.

- Yep.

- He's from Ogden, right?

- Yep.

- History, once you get involved you're like, "I can't get enough!"

- Yeah, right.

- Uhuh.

- Like, it just took one thing and then I was like hooked.

When I'm making a documentary, in my head, I can just see the documentary already playing out.

This is Wat when, during a Knicks game they were recognizing him for being the first Knicks draft pick, and being the first non-white player in NBA history.

They announced it to the whole stadium.

That was so cool.

So Wat Misaka was born in Ogden, Utah.

He grew up on the famous 25th Street.

He went to Weber Junior College, which is now Weber State.

He played there, they won the ICAC championships twice and then he moved to University of Utah.

It was there, that he won the NCAA championships and NIT championships when he got back from the war.

And so it seems like the winning kind of followed Wat around wherever he went.

- In '44, it really was a local team, and you know people, say, "Boy, it sure was a fluke, that a team from little old Utah could win the national championship."

I keep saying that the fluke was in that we had so many good basketball players coming up at the same time from such a small area.

I think there are five of the team that signed pro contracts and the whole state went wild.

- I learned that he was a really good athlete.

He earned the name nickname Kilowatt for being like so quick, speedy on the court.

And I've seen some of the videos.

It's crazy how quick he is and how good his defense is.

- When I won, my most valuable player thing was coming across the center, getting the ball coming across the center.

A lot of 'em, like myself, would shoot with one foot off the floor.

You know, they shoot with a little hop, the shot - Try that real quick?

- Shot just about gone.

- Try the one footer.

- Yeah, like this.

(Wat laughing) - What I learned about Wat's story is that he never gave up.

Even when facing the racism and discrimination going on towards Japanese Americans during World War II.

(scratchy music) Basically, after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese American US citizens were declared aliens or enemies of the U.S., and so they put them into Japanese Internment Camps and forced everyone from the west coast to move inland.

I didn't know that my family was, like, affected by this.

I even, like, didn't know about, like, my grandpa being in the camp for a while.

And there are so many untold stories in history, and they need to be shared, especially like Wat Misaka's story or the Japanese Internment Camps, both things that I didn't, like, learn about in schools.

- After we came back from Madison Square Garden where we'd won the NCAA basketball championship, and that was the first piece of mail that my mother gave me as I stepped off of the train, was my little greetings from the President inviting me to join the armed forces of the United States.

- He went overseas to Japan while they were imprisoning other Japanese American citizens in these internment camps.

It was really interesting to see, like, that footage from Wat in the camp at Topaz.

He was visiting though, 'cause he didn't live on the west coast, so he wasn't incarcerated, but he was representing them by playing basketball.

- [Announcer] At this time, please direct your attention to the east rafters for a special presentation as we reveal the banner of Wat Misaka.

(audience applauding) And now a few words from Nancy Umemura.

- We love and appreciate you more than we could ever say.

You know, Wat would've turned 98 last month and thank you to the Utah community for supporting Wat and our family for nearly a hundred years.

Go Utes!

(audience applauding) - I think Wat Misaka was a very humble guy.

In Japanese, it's like being (speaking in Japanese) or like you don't want the spotlight, kind of.

He was just kind of quietly going on with his life and people just didn't recognize that he was the one who broke the barrier.

- So Kimari, I'm so touched and thrilled with your project and we're just very honored that you chose to do this on our dad, but I did bring a few things that I wanted to show you.

This is the blanket - Oh my gosh.

- that was given to the 1944 team.

- [Kimari] Oh my gosh.

I saw this blanket and you know Wat was in the, a movie about Topaz, holding it up with, I think - Mas Tatsuno.

- Yeah, Tatsuno.

Wow, this is so amazing.

- And then when he was sent to, you know, Hiroshima shortly after the bombing to interview people, he was part of the Fifth Air Force.

'Cause the Air Force was part of the army at that time.

Yeah, so that was his Fifth Air Force patch.

This was the jersey that the New York Knicks presented to him.

- [Kimari] Oh, wow.

This is like incredible to see like in person, I watched videos of him, like, holding this up at Madison Square Garden or seeing these pictures and putting them in my documentary.

But to see them like here, like physically, it's really impactful to see it.

I feel like National History Day opened so many doors for me.

I've never been so invested in history than I am right now.

At the state level, I won the Glen and Carol Miner Prize for Utah history, and then I got to go to DC for nationals.

I wanna be a filmmaker when I grow up, and I wanna keep doing documentaries.

I wanna keep sharing stories and yeah.

Wow, so many vibrant colors and characters who warm my hearts simply by sharing their story.

And we want to hear your journey too.

Chime in on this is Utah's Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages.

Hit the like button, share a comment, and don't forget to subscribe!

Until next time, I'm Liz Adeola and this is Utah.