When Duke Kahanamoku broke the world record...
in the 100-yard free-style swim by 4.6 seconds in Honolulu Harbor on August 11, 1911, the Hawaiian Amateur Athletic Union telegraphed the news to Union headquarters. Officials in New York were incredulous and reportedly replied, "What are you using for stop watches? Alarm clocks?!" Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku went on to become a three-time Olympic gold medal winner in swimming, and the father of modern surfing. Born August 24, 1890, Duke Kahanamoku was a blend of the old Hawaiian culture and the new: he spoke Hawiian, ate poi, and spent much of each day in the water; he also competed internationally and acted in Hollywood.
Kahanamoku swam using his unique combination of an Australian crawl stroke with a flutter kick to add speed. He also rode a sixteen-foot 114-pound surfboard, a longboard modeled on those of the ancient Hawaiian kings, and paddled an outrigger canoe. His love of the water, combined with his great physical strength, set the stage for his becoming a world-class athlete.
Kahanamoku participated in four Olympics and won three gold medals in water sports. His first gold was for the 100-meter free-style swim at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics where he also won a silver medal in the 200-meter relay event. Although the 1916 Olympics were not held because of World War I, Kahanamoku broke his own record at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics to win gold in both the 100-meter sprint and as a member of the U.S.'s 800-meter free-style relay team. At the 1924 Paris Olympics, he brought home a silver medal in the 100-meter free-style (his brother, Sam Kahanamoku, won the bronze while Johnny Weismuller captured the gold). Kahanamoku also won a bronze in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics as a member of the U.S. water polo team.
Along with others, Duke Kahanamoku revived the ancient Polynesian sport of he`e nalu or wave sliding, known today as surfing. Although Thomas Edison filmed Hawaiian surfers in 1898, surfing was a dying art when men like George Freeth, Alexander Hume Ford, and Duke Kahanamoku brought it back to life. Kahanamoku served as an unofficial ambassador for the sport and taught eager surfers from Malibu, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and on around the world.
In the mid 1930s, Duke Kahanamoku was elected as Sheriff of the City and County of Honolulu, an office he held for thirteen terms before being appointed the city's official greeter. In the latter role he was a good will ambassador for surfing and Hawai'i. When Duke Paoa Kahanamoku died in January 1968, thousand's of mourners lined Waikiki beach near the Royal Hawaiian Hotel where, after an English and Hawaiian-language ceremony, fourteen canoes paddled single file out to scatter his ashes at sea.
- A search across the American Memory collections on the word surf will reveal images such as the Surf Club in Atlantic Beach on Long Island, New York, and the 1876 song "Surf: Down Among the Bathers."
