Born in Oahu, Hawaii, to Japanese-immigrant parents, Kearney Kozai (1925-1990), moved to Seattle with his wife, Betty, in the 1950s, after having served in the Army during World War II. An engineer at the Boeing Co., Mr. Kozai became fascinated by the sport of curling shortly after his arrival in the city. In 1961, Mr. Kozai helped build the Granite Curling Club in the Bitter Lake neighborhood and even competed once for the national curling championship. As of 2018, the club is one of only two dedicated curling clubs on the West Coast, and has produced more U.S. national championships than any other club.
In this image Kearney Kozai, the only known Japanese-American curler at the time, displays his skills at the Granite Curling Club. In 2009, Mr. Kozai's wife Betty, daughter Sharon Vukich, and granddaughter Emily Good were interviewed about their participation in the sport while competing at the U.S. Olympic trials in Broomfield, Colorado.
Caption information source: The Seattle Times, August 28, 1990, p. B7. Caption information source: https://www.denverpost.com/2009/02/26/curling-runs-in-the-family-at-olympic-trials Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.
