Duke Kahanamoku
To most, his name was 'Duke' or The Duke, and to old Friends, it was Paoa. H was given the name Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku when he was born right outside of Waikiki on August 24th, 1890.
Called the father of modern day surfing and one of the original Waikiki beachboys, Duke Kahanamoku, was known as a true ambassador of Hawaiian water sports. Duke excelled at the water sports of swimming and surfing. He shattered the existing world record in free-style swimming by swimming the 100-yard freestyle in 55.4 seconds in Honolulu Harbor. In 1912 he won his first Olympic gold medal at Stockholm, Sweden to become the world’s fastest swimmer. In 1920, the Duke won two more gold medals for the 100-meter freestyle and the 800-metere relay in Antwerp, Belgium.
Duke was also known as a legendary surfer, with his self-proclaimed longest surf board ride of one and three-quarters of a mile off of the beach called Castles (a surf spot well known for it’s size of waves), in Waikiki. He had the biggest board out of everyone; it was 16 feet long, made out of Koa wood and weighed 114 lbs. Duke was one of the few surfers who even attempted to ride at Castle’s.
Duke was one of the founding members of the club called, “Hui Nalo, or “Club of the Waves”, (Timmons, pg. 26). The club members would meet under a hau tree and the dues were only one dollar a year. The members would swim, surf, and shape surfboards while singing and playing the ukulele. In 1912, Duke surfed for crowds of people in places like Balboa beach and Corona Del Mar in southern California. Although it was George Freeth who first introduced surfing to the US, it was Duke who really got the public's attention. And in 1915, Duke took his surfing and swimming skills all the way to Australia, where the whole country was deeply impacted. In his role as beachboy he introduced the Hawaiian style of surfing to the surfers of Australia and California.
In his later years Duke stayed busy traveling and spreading the spirit of aloha across the globe. He was the first person to be inducted into both the swimming and surfing halls of fame in the year 1965. Duke Kahanamoku passed away on January 22nd, 1968.