1. Toshiyuki Sakata, better known as Harold Sakata, was an American Olympic weightlifter, professional wrestler, and film actor of Japanese descent.
32 Facts About Harold Sakata
1. 2.
Harold Sakata won a silver medal for the United States at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London in weightlifting, and later became a popular professional wrestler under the ring name Tosh Togo, wrestling primarily for various National Wrestling Alliance territories as a tag team with Great Togo.
3.
Harold Sakata wrestled in Japan for the Japanese Wrestling Association between 1955 and 1957.
4.
Toshiyuki Sakata was born on July 1,1920, in Holualoa, Hawaii, to Japanese-American parents who worked at a Kona coffee farm.
5.
Harold Sakata had ten siblings, six brothers and four sisters.
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Harold Sakata adopted the more Western name "Harold" as a teenager.
7.
In 1936, Harold Sakata dropped out of school to help work the family's coffee farm.
8.
Harold Sakata then moved to Maui to do more agricultural work, and in 1938 he ended up in Honolulu, where he lived for much of his adult life.
9.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor stopped travel to the mainland but over the next two years Harold Sakata won several more Oahu championships; in June 1943, at 165 pounds, he was pressing 250, snatching 240, and clean and jerking 310, for a total of 800 pounds.
10.
Harold Sakata placed first in the 181-pound class with a total lift of 800 pounds.
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In 1949, Harold Sakata retired from weightlifting and began training in professional wrestling.
12.
Harold Sakata initially wrestled as "the Human Tank, Mr Sakata", drawing on his World War II service and Olympic accolades to play a face, though he later adopted his more well-known heel gimmick of Tosh Togo.
13.
Under the Togo gimmick, Harold Sakata wrestled across Hawaii and later toured mainland America and Canada, mostly on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest, which had a large Japanese immigrant population he proved popular with.
14.
Harold Sakata briefly formed a tag-team with Frank Stojack during a tour of Washington state, and tagged with Tor Yamato during a Midwestern tour.
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In July 1951, NWA Hawaii promoter Al Karasick invited Harold Sakata to join a special overseas tour to Japan, sponsored by a Tokyo Shriners chapter as a charity venture for a children's hospital.
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Harold Sakata joined Sakata and Bruns in their tour of Japan, wrestling a series of matches across the country in which Rikidozan soundly beat his foreign opponents, among them retired heavyweight boxer Joe Louis, helping to establish his popular reputation.
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Harold Sakata remained for another few months, during which time he met and married his wife.
18.
Harold Sakata was granted permanent residency in Japan and lived there with his family for some time, but eventually moved back to America due to the constant back-and-forth travel.
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Harold Sakata returned to America in 1952, and had his first televised match on May 26 on a card that included former judoka Masahiko Kimura and Kinji Shibuya.
20.
Harold Sakata was billed as the kayfabe brother of Great Togo, as well as Masutatsu Oyama as "Mas Togo" and judoka Kokichi Endo as "Ko Togo".
21.
Harold Sakata tagged with Rikidozan and King Curtis Iaukea.
22.
Harold Sakata held the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship, the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship, and the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
23.
Harold Sakata had never acted before, besides pro wrestling, but the film character was to be mute and would require little theatrical skill.
24.
Harold Sakata co-starred opposite William Shatner in the movie Impulse, in which he played the character Karate Pete.
25.
Harold Sakata guest starred on a Gilligan's Island episode as Rory Calhoun's henchman, and an episode of The Rockford Files.
26.
In 1971, Harold Sakata was a regular on the short-lived TV series, Sarge, starring George Kennedy and made a guest appearance on Laugh In, Season 5, Episode 7.
27.
Harold Sakata appeared as Oddjob in a series of TV commercials for Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup in the 1970s.
28.
Harold Sakata made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on which he parodied the commercial by destroying Carson's set.
29.
Harold Sakata only married once, and divorced his wife due to the strain placed on their relationship by his constant travel.
30.
Harold Sakata died of liver cancer four weeks after his 62nd birthday, on July 29,1982, in St Francis Hospital, Honolulu, Hawaii.
31.
Five months beforehand, Harold Sakata had made one final public appearance at the 54th Academy Awards.
32.
Harold Sakata briefly appeared on stage in his Oddjob attire during Sheena Easton's musical performance of "For Your Eyes Only".