Young Mr. Obama (my twin lol)

DisNavyVet — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:58:51 EST

Aloha all, I first met Barack when he was using the name "Barry". He was in 8th grade and I was in 10th, and it was a fluke. My best friend Dale Mosher told me one day I had a "twin" in the 8th grade class that was really good a tennis. Of course I thought he was joking and ignored him till he brought me a last years 7th grade yearbook to show me his picture.

After seeing the picture, I went looking for this "kid". I found Barack at the tennis courts, walked right up to him and stood there. We just stared for about 30 seconds (felt like 5 min.) then Barack spoke up, he said Hi and something like: so it is true. Then he introduced himself as Barack Obama but then he said "but call me Barry" I respected his wishes as my name is Kent Kenji Kakugawa and I liked my middle name better than my first, and I go by Kenji Kakugawa now. (my wife didn't know Kent was my legal first name till we filled out the marriage license) I told Barack that I was Kent Kakugawa. we talked a bit about family histories as we are both from mixed backgrounds.

Then later we talked sports (I was a 3 sport jock) and at a later time Barack asked me for advice on football. I'm VERY VERY HAPPY he didn't take my advice as we would know his name but as a Tennis Player, not as The next President of OUR United States of America.

To Barack Obama: I'm so happy that you did not take my advice about football. I feel great pride that we were able to meet back then and that you turned into the man that you are today!

Kenji Kakugawa's Blog

Young Mr. Obama (my twin lol)