page_title: Asian Americans in sports
section_title: Multisport Athletes
hierarchical_section_title: Asian Americans in sports / Multisport Athletes
caption_attribution_description: w:Hines Ward of the w:Pittsbrgh Steelers during an NFL game in 2006 against the Chiefs.
context_page_description: Asian Americans have been involved in sports for as long as they have existed. They have had careers in the NFL, Olympics, PGA Tour, NBA, and many more global sports organizations. Athletes like Tiger Woods, Apolo Ohno, and Kristi Yamaguchi have been seen as trailblazers and game changers in their sports. They have gone from breaking color barriers in the NHL and NBA to becoming world champions in their respective sports. Many of these great athletes careers have fell into the shadows of sports history, but their impact will forever remain concrete in the sports realm.
context_section_description: A well known Asian American that played in the NFL was Hines Ward. Hines father served in the US army and his mother was a Korean woman named Young He. At a young age Hines moved to Atlanta, Georgia when his father was stationed in Germany. Not soon after his father abandoned him and his family and his mother raised him on her own. Ward was skilled in both football and baseball. Prior to playing wide receiver at the University of Georgia, Ward was drafted by the Miami Marlins and offered a $25,000 signing bonus. He was drafted 92nd overall in the NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and played all 14 seasons for the organization. Along with being a magnificent athlete, Ward spoke out against discrimination issues that were occurring in his birthplace of South Korea.
  Walter "Sneeze" Achiu may have been the first great Asian American multisport athlete. He became the first person of east Asian descent to play in the National Football League.  At the University of Dayton, he was a three-sport athlete participating in football, baseball, and track. Walter Achiu was inducted into the University of Dayton Hall of Fame in 1974. After his' time in the NFL, Achiu went on to become a professianl wrestling champion when he competed in the 1950s. 
  Another great Asian American multisport athlete was Wally Yonamine. Wally Yonamine played professionally in the NFL for a single season with the San Francisco 49ers in 1947. In his one season with the team he had 19 carries for 74 yards and caught 3 passes for 40 yards. After his brief career in the NFL Wally traveled oversees to play baseball. In 1951, he became the first American to play professional baseball in Japan, leading off for the Yomiuri Giants.
caption: Hines Ward-Pittsburgh Steelers
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