We’ll skip readers’ photos for one day as, including this post, there are already three light items for this morning (and be sure to watch Matthew’s video of the World’s Greatest Cat Toy two posts down).
When I saw today’s Google Doodle, I knew instantly who the honoree was. Yes, that handsome dude on the surfboard is none other than Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968), the Father of Surfing—the original Big Kahuna. Had he lived, he would have been 125 today.
If you don’t know who he is, Wikipedia gives a good summary in the first paragraph of its long biography:
Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968) was an American competition swimmer of ethnicHawaiian background who was also known as an actor, lawman, early beach volleyball player and businessman credited with spreading the sport of surfing. Kahanamoku was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming.
Click on the screenshot below to go to Google’s own explanation.
Yes, his given name was Duke, and he was born on one of the Hawaiian islands (which one is unclear). He started surfing as a young boy, using a wooden board:
In his youth, Kahanamoku preferred a traditional surf board, which he called his “papa nui”, constructed after the fashion of ancient Hawaiian “olo” boards. Made from the wood of a koa tree, it was 16 feet (4.9 m) long and weighed 114 pounds (52 kg). The board was without a skeg, which had yet to be invented. In his later career, he would often use smaller boards but always preferred those made of wood.
That’s a long way from the shorter and lighter boards of today! Here he is with his board:
Here’s some rare color footage of Duke surfing at the age of 49. I like the music, though most will find it cheesy:
(There’s also a very good short two-part video biography here and here.)
Duke won three gold medals and one silver medal in swimming in the 1912 and 1920 Olympics, traveled widely as an ambassador for both surfing and Hawaii, and landed in Hollywood, where he played bit parts in several films.Here’s a short 7-minute video biography, which, at 2:25, shows one of Duke’s movie appearances:
Duke’s name lives on, and he was widely admired; as Wikipedia reports:
Hawaii music promoter Kimo Wilder McVay capitalized on Kahanamoku’s popularity by naming his Waikiki showroom “Duke Kahanamoku’s”, and giving Kahanamoku a piece of the financial action in exchange for the use of his name. It was a major Waikiki showroom in the 1960s and is remembered as the home of Don Ho & The Aliis from 1964 through 1969.
Kahanamoku’s name is also used by Duke’s Canoe Club & Barefoot Bar, a beachfront bar and restaurant in the Outrigger Waikiki On The Beach Hotel. There is a chain of restaurants named after him in California and Hawaii called Duke’s. A bronze statue at Waikiki beach in Honolulu honors his memory. It shows Kahanamoku standing in front of his surfboard with his arms outstretched. Many honor him by placing leis on his statue. There is a webcam watching the statue, allowing visitors from around the world to wave to their friends.
On August 24, 2002, which was also the 112th anniversary of the birth of Duke Kahanamoku, a 37c first-class letter rate postage stamp of the United States Postal Service with Duke’s picture on, was issued. The First Day Ceremony was held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki and was attended by thousands. At this ceremony, attendees could attach the Duke stamp to an envelope and get it canceled with a First Day of Issue postmark. These First Day Covers are very collectable.
I came to learn about Duke when I was collecting aloha shirts, for there is a line (it’s still around) that carries his name. The vintage Duke Kahanamoku shirts can be quite pricey (I don’t have any of those, but I have a newer one): take a look at these babies. In honor of the Big Kahuna, I wore an aloha shirt to work this morning (I have about fifty). Here I am just at work, with my latte (four shots of espresso today) in my Hili cup (the famous “triple Hili mug”), and sporting my Hawaiian shirt:
All hail the Duke!
Did not know you had so much Hawaiian spirit back in Chicago. Will always remember the 5 years I lived there (83-88). Just over the Like-Like highway in Kaneohe.
The Hawaiian language has only 12 letters and yet everything is hard to pronounce.
I too love Hawaii. I haven’t been there since 2009 and would love to take a vacation back to Big Island.
I find Hawaiian words pretty straight forward – the trick is hearing them before or just after your read them but you get better & better. I guess I got used to it with half my family being from NZ.
I’ve been there once, but would like to return too. Good memories!
I’ve yet to go. I might make it there a year from December….
b&
First there in the early 70s… our family stayed at Ft. Derussy on Waikiki, which has been reduced to one museum building plus some open space next to a Trump tower. When I was there, it was still Army barrack-type buildings. Now it’s wall-to-wall high rises.
My year in Kailua (’77-8), next to Kaneohe, was definitely the most favorite of formative experiences.
If you want to be a TV reporter though, you’d better be ready to tackle some serious pronunciation issues.
Yes, so you were a Pali traveler verses the Like-Like to get back and forth from Kailua to Honolulu.
I worked for an outfit called The Army & Air Force Exchange Service. Sometime during or right after the Vietnam war they had lots of money of course and built a large military hotel right on Waikiki almost next to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. There is also a much better beach on the windward side that is not available to the public at Bellows AFS
The first trip was just a vacation – but did traverse the Pali quite a bit. It was before I was a driver, so had to figure out the buses. We boogie-boarded Bellows all the time – remember it being open to non-military mid 70s. Camped there, back in the day, too. (VW bus). My piano teacher was in Kanehoe & I bused there once a week & chomped the ripe mangoes by the side of the road, as I waited my turn for lessons. A magical place.
That’s great. Maybe the military, by opening it up to civilians just got too many and later closed it down. It was another one of those Morale and Welfare things for the military just like the hotel. Since you mention it, I do recall the bus transportation over there. You could get on a bus and go anywhere for 50 cents I think. Never seen any place like that. You are right…it was a magical place.
I lived on Oahu for three years in the early 70’s (dad in the army). I can remember playing around some old pillboxes from WWII near Barber’s Point, and chasing mice out of the house every time a nearby cane field was burned. We had banana tress, a mango tree, papya, gardenia and a bunch of other stuff in the yard. I remember playing in street during the monsoon rains and getting soaked. We went to the beach every weekend.
I hated the public schools I attended. Even then there was quite a drug problem and a lot of ethnic tensions. The schools were underfunded and some classes didn’t have textbooks (my algebra class for one). But the best teachers I ever had were my 7th and 9th grade chemistry teachers. I loved those classes and ended up going into chemistry as an adult because of those two women.
All of what you experienced is very true. To survive the public schools in Hawaii as a White kid is very tough. I believe Obama attended a private (expensive) school on Oahu so he was lucky.
I did not have kids but many of the others I knew did and they had a really hard time. Some of them sent the wife and kids back to the the mainland. It was like racism in reverse for the kids attempting to go to school. If you were local or oriental – no problem but not so for the white kids.
Every place has to have a down side and that was it for Hawaii.
It was especially hard being a white kid with a military parent. And yes, I got to experience quite a bit of racism at school. I spent three years being called a ‘fucking haole’, and faced regular extortion attempts (lunch money) and harassment. It was bad enough that, except for wearing flip flops, I refused to blend in, especially speaking the local lingo. I was very glad to leave.
Ironically, we moved from Hawaii to Utah (my ‘native’ state). It was the worst culture shock I ever experienced in my life.
I’m old enough now to have better appreciation for the bitterness many Hawaiians felt towards the US military, and I think I would feel the same in their shoes. But I hated being the target. I really hated it.
Love it, and the hokey Hawaiian music as well! It’s always startling to see color film from the 1930’s when we think of everything at that time as being a black & white world. Of course, we know reality was color, but we are so used to seeing only black & white images.
The swim trunks pulled up high above the waist in the first scene crack me up! Maybe that was to prevent losing them when they went down?!
Most interesting.
And you look somewhat recumbent with your mug, there, amigo. Espresso hadn’t kicked in yet?
Surfers sharing a wave! Speaking as a goatboater I think that is the most shocking thing!
Marvalous. I also have a large collection of Hawaiian shirts, but mine are more in the $20-$40 range. Some are pretty ‘festive’ (pink flamingos, hula dancers..), but they are what I wear to work pretty much every day, even through the winter.
All of mine are in that range, with maybe one or two costing $50. I looked at the vintage ones when I visited Honolulu, but they were too pricey for my blood!
My too! (Or me two, as I wrote first!) It’s my daily garb when not wearing tie-dye!
You, me, Jimmy Buffett, Montgomery Clift in “From Here to Eternity,” and the cast of extras from “Hawaii Five-O.”
There are several Duke’s restaurants, and if you are in the vicinity of any, worth a visit, especially Happy Hour in Malibu, by the ocean.
http://www.dukesrestaurants.com/
I enjoyed the music on the first video too. I almost always enjoy hearing examples of the popular music of yesteryear.
Been to Hawaii about twenty times. Will most certainly retire there. Not much of a surfer, but I love swimming and I do like watching locals surf.
All hail Duke, indeed. To be such an important part of shaping not only a distinguishable trait of Hawaiian culture, but to change the way all humans think about waves and how we interact with them…that is impressive.
What a great story!! I had never heard of the duke, but surfing is an amazing sport! It seems like an impossible skill, yet surfers may it look so easy. It should be an Olympic sport. And what about Jerry the trend setter!! That is too cool!!
Wonder how many more medals Duke might have taken home from Berlin in 1916 if the summer games hadn’t have been cancelled due to War One…
Reading about Duke here is almost enough to inspire a body to try to ride the Bonzai Pipeline all the way in from third reef.
I knew it was the Duke! 🙂
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