Learn English – Which was the first doctor, M.D. or Ph.D.

The OED has the first use in English of the word emoji in 1997, but I found use of the word in the Latin alphabet in 1991.

Here's part of a 1991 comp.human-factors Usenet post by Don Norman (author of The Design of Everyday Things):

But who is Yukio Ota?

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The University of california library lists:
1. Japanese signs / Yukio Ota, Osami Sakano, Miwako Ito [editor in charge].
Tokyo : Process Architecture Pub. Co., 1983.
2. Ota, Yukio.
History of ancient China / Ota Yukio, Utsugi Akira, Hori Toshikazu. Tokyo
: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies. 1974.
3. Ota, Yukio, 1939-
Pictogram design / Yukio Ota = Pikutoguramu "emoji" dezain
Shohan. Tokyo, Japan : Kashiwashobo, 1987.

(The references are only at UCLA and Berkeley, so I can't look at them.)

Tell us more.

Here's the book title at WorldCat:

Pictogram design / Yukio Ota = ピクトグラム「絵文字」デザイン /
Pictogram design / Yukio Ota = Pikutoguramu "emoji" dezain
Author: 太田幸夫, 1939- 太田幸夫. 太田幸夫, ; Yukio Ōta
Publisher: 柏書房, Tokyo, Japan : Kashiwashobo, 1987.
Edition/Format: Book : English : Shohan

It looks like Pikutoguramu "emoji" dezain in the title is just a Latinised version of ピクトグラム「絵文字」デザイン /, the English being "Pictogram design". But it may be worth checking the book as it seems to be in English.

And I'm not sure if listing a book title in an English 1991 Usenet post counts as use in English, but it shows the term was in use at least in 1991 (and possibly back to 1987).

Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy was a radio series between 1933 and 1951. Every use of the term I remember as a child would have referred to that radio show, even though it ended before I started listening to radio.

My understanding was that the show was incredibly popular, and it would frequently get mentions & audio excerpts in, eg, Abbott and Costello movies that were filmed in that era (and which ran and reran on TV pretty much 24 hours a day up until maybe 1965).

The earliest reference that Ngram finds is 1938.

But apparently the term "All-American" with regard to sport goes back further. The Michigan Alumnus from 1922 contains:

The most recent Michigan player to be honored by an All-American berth is Ernie Vick, '22, of Toledo, O., who was selected by Camp as center because of his playing this past season.

And later:

In 1917 Camp did not select an All-American college team, but he did pick an All-American Service team.

So apparently "All-American", in the sense of an outstanding sports figure, goes back to at least 1917.

And an issue of The Michigan Alumnus from 1902 appears to reference the same concept.

So I would link "All-American Boy" to the "Jack Armstrong" radio show, but the term "All-American" to earlier sports use.

From there I'll leave it to the sports fanatics to pin down the origin of "All-American".

Update

Well, since no one else is doing it, here is the apparent origin of "All-American" in the sports sense:

The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best American college football players at their respective positions. The original usage of the term All-America seems to have been to the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Caspar Whitney and published in This Week's Sports in association with football pioneer Walter Camp. Camp took over the responsibility for picking the All-America team and was recognized as the official selector in the early years of the 20th century.

Note that the team is called the "All-America" team, presumably due to selecting the best players from across the country (*), but the members of the team were/are referred to as "All-Americans".

(*) Apparently even in 1899 there was dissension in the ranks as to whether the best players were being chosen, vs favoring those of the East Coast.