Senior Living | Catholic man broke barriers in sports
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WASHINGTON -- Wally Yonamine was a trailblazer in the world of sports, much like Jackie Robinson.
Yonamine, a Hawaiian-born Catholic of Japanese descent, became the first Japanese-American to play professional football, spending the 1947 season -- the year Robinson broke U.S. baseball's color barrier -- playing running back and defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers of the old All American Football Conference until the 49ers and some other AAFC teams were absorbed into the National Football League.
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