Frank Endo started his athletic career as a gymnast at the age of 14, but by the time he was 18, his family was detained and held in a Japanese internment camp in Colorado. Despite losing his home, community, and life in California, Endo held on to his love of the sport, teaching it at the camp to other detainees.
After being released, Endo was drafted into the US Military, where he served in War Criminal Investigation against the Japanese. These two aspects of his life found a medium in 1947 when he became a middleman between US and Japanese Gymnastics, helping to mend wounds created years before by war through gymnastics. Endo organized matches, served as an interpreter to the Japanese Olympic Team touring in America, worked as an Olympic official, and judged for more than 50 years.