By JAMI FARKAS, NGUOI VIET
Dat Nguyen. Photo from Asian Athletes Blog –Sean Huynh Nguyen, a recent graduate of Nature Coast Technical High School in Brooksville, Fla., who established 10 school wrestling records and broke a 40-year-old county record for most wins in a season. Winner of two regional titles, he now wrestles for Darton State College in Albany, Ga.
Through the years, Nguoi Viet 2 has featured dozens of up-and-coming Vietnamese Americans making their mark in their given fields.
Two of the most memorable? Interviews with Dat Nguyen, the retired linebacker of the Dallas Cowboys, and Danny Graves, a former relief pitcher in the major leagues.
Nguyen and Graves were trailblazers – forever the only men who will be able to claim the title of the “first Vietnamese American” to play their sports at the highest professional level. Nguyen, who was born in a refugee camp in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, told us how he hid from his hard-working parents that he was playing school football – until he got hurt. Graves, born in Saigon to a Vietnamese mother and an American serviceman father, twice an all-star, had just returned from a goodwill trip to Vietnam where he baseball to youngsters when he chatted with Nguoi Viet 2.
And while Nguyen and Graves will be answer to trivia questions – “Who was the first Vietnamese American to…?” – others are following in their footsteps. In fact, throughout the United States, Vietnamese surnames are popping up on game programs and team rosters from high school to college, from soccer to wrestling to football. Vietnamese Americans are making a difference on the American sporting scene.
Nguyen and Graves have proved to be stellar role models, but they aren’t alone. Consider other Vietnamese Americans: Howard Bach, the 2005 world champion in men’s badminton doubles and a three-time Olympian; Brianna Do, a golf professional who won the Women’s U.S. Amateur Public Links tournament two summers ago; Lee Nguyen, a star with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer; and Cung Le, mixed-martial artist extraordinaire.
Now, a new crop of Vietnamese American athletes has emerged, and who knows which one will be the next to emerge as a bright star. It could be Tommy Pham, an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals’ AAA team in Memphis. It could be someone we have yet to hear of.
Still, there is no denying that Vietnamese Americans across the U.S. are making names for themselves in the sporting world. Some of them who are making headlines:
–Jourdan Nguyen, a defensive end at Valencia (Calif.) High School, who has an Internet highlight reel of big plays for the Vikings.
–Ivy Pham, a standout volleyball player for North Quincy (Mass.) High School.
–Bi Nguyen, a running back at Poplar Bluff (Mo.) High School, who rushed for a school-record 320 yards in the first game of this season.
–Vinh-Hoa Ngo, a women’s golfer at Purdue University counted upon to help lead the Boilermakers to the NCAA Tournament this season.
–Brian Le and Tony Pham, leading tennis players at Humble High School, near Houston.
Somewhere, a youngster is watching these athletes, following their careers to be just like them. And they could be watching Michael Tran, whose father followed the career of Michael Chang, the youngest player ever to win a grand-slam tennis tournament. Chang won the French Open in 1989 at age 17 – the same age that Tran is now.
Tran plays tennis at Irvine High School.
“My father loved to watch Chang played and he even named me after the player,” Tran said. “My father and I spent countless hours of watching films of Chang and analyzed it to help me be better.”
Nguoi Viet 2 staff writer Tam Nguyen contributed to this report.
