Artwork Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
[Franklin High Letterman Patches for Diving] |
Date |
1934-1938 |
Object Name |
Textile |
Description |
The four wool/fabric patches are in the shape of a capital "F" and measures 8" x 7". TE010a Freshman year swim team, features an embroidered diver. TE010b Sophomore year swim team, features diver and two blue, embroidered stars. TE010c Junior year swim team, features an embroidered diver. TE010d Senior year, most likely when Sammy was Captain of the Varsity Swim Team. Features two divers; two yellow, embroidered stars and the capital letter "C" Condition: Fair, 07/2024. Inventory and Photos by: S.Ramos, E.Contras, L.Tott, V. Rivera Owned by Alumni (1934-1938) Sammy [Samuel] Lee (1920-2016) was an American physician and diver of Korean descent. He was the first Asian American man to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States (the second Asian American to win a gold medal overall) and the first man to win back-to-back gold medals in Olympic platform diving. Part of the inaugural class inducted into the LAUSD High School Sports Hall of Fame. https://halloffame.lausd.net/ "For Lee, it's a special honor "because some of my happiest days were spent at Benjamin Franklin High School." During an interview at his harborfront home in Huntington Beach, the 1939 L.A. City diving champion remembers running for student body president over the objections of a school administrator. "He calls me in and says, 'This school has never had a non-white student body president,' " Lee recalls. "He says, 'You might as well get your name off the list,' but I refused. And when I got elected, he called me into his office, looked me up and down and said, 'I just don't know what happened.' "I said, 'My fellow classmates do not look at me as Korean. They look at me as a fellow American.' " Crowe, Jerry (May 30, 2011). "Lee never let racism block his march to diving glory". Los Angeles Times. The Los Angeles Unified School District honored Lee by renaming Central Region Elementary School #20 as the Dr. Sammy Lee Medical and Health Sciences Magnet School in 2013. Donated to Franklin High by wife Rosalind Lee [nee Wong], 2017 |
Catalog Number |
TE010 |
School Site # |
8643 |
School Name |
Benjamin Franklin High School |
Material |
Wool/Fabric |
Caption |
TE010d |
Artist |
Unknown |
Related Publications |
Fernbach, Erika (2012). Sammy Lee: Promises to Keep. CreateSpace Independent Publishing. ISBN 978-1482614824. Wampler, Molly Frick (1987). Not Without Honor: The Story of Sammy Lee. Fithian Press. ISBN 978-0936784373. Yoo, Paula; Lee, Dom (2010). Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story. Lee & Low Books. ISBN 978-1600604539. |