In 1941 Oregan State's football team made the Rose Bowl for the first time and upset second-ranked Duke. Jack Yoshihara, a Japanese American sophomore reserve on the team couldn't make the trip and instead, per President Roosevelt's excutive orders following the bombings at Pearl Harbor, was sent to an internment camp in Idaho for the duration of the war, along with countless other Japanese Americans and immigrants.
LA Times reports:
In June, Yoshihara was among the Oregon State students of Japanese ancestry, interned during World War II, who were given honorary degrees by the university. After receiving his diploma, Yoshihara was asked to hold up his 1942 Rose Bowl ring, given to him 1985, bringing cheers from the crowd at Reser Stadium.
87-years-old Yoshihara now runs a refrigerator and air conditioning shop in Portland.
[Via]