The difference from Friday and Tuesday was marked; just a few tourists but no weekenders.
We ate lunch at Luibueno's again and had another Matsumoto shave ice (root beer for me this time), and then looked through some shops we hadn't tried on Friday.
In one of those shops I found a book on Duke Kahanamoku, one of the most celebrated swimmers/surfers/Hawaiians in history. Here is his incredible story:
Duke Kahanamoku statue on Waikiki (which he never wanted)
Waikiki in 1890 was very different from the hotel-strewn beaches of today. A relatively unknown outpost in the Pacific, Hawaii was far from the hustle and bustle of world capitals like New York City, London and Paris. Who knew that a young swimmer/surfrider would put the islands officially on the map.
Born August 24, 1890, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was the eldest of 9 surviving children. If "Duke" sounds decidedly un-Hawaiian, it's because the name was given to his father on the day of his birth in 1869...the same day that the Duke of Edinburgh (Queen Victoria's son, Albert) arrived in Hawaii to much fanfare.
So the elder Duke passed the name on to his eldest son. Duke Senior, who had royal connections to the Kamehamehas through his mother's lineage, moved his family to Kalia, Waikiki when the last of the male royal line died. Political unrest was rampant so the Kahanamokus moved to a quieter locale.
The whaling industry was hit hard when women stopped wearing whale-bone corsets and jobs were scarce. Hawai'i did not have the tourist industry to fall back on as it does now, so Duke Senior became a policeman.
Young Duke loved living near the ocean and said he learned to swim because "my father and uncle just threw me into the water from an outrigger canoe. I had to swim or else."
Along with his many cousins Duke spent most of his childhood in the water...diving, fishing and surfing.
Children were not able to speak the mellifluous native Hawaiian language in school, as it was kapu, banned. So Duke learned perfect English until he dropped out of high school. His diving job helped pay the bills for the burgeoning Kahanamoku family (6 boys, 3 girls).
The peaceful Waikiki changed forever when the Moana Hotel opened in 1901. Journalists began to arrive, political and economic stability led to an influx of new population, and the waterfront began to change from the idyllic village to a business center.
The Honolulu Promotion Committee announced that 1909 was its best tourism year, with an average of 300 visitors per month. Doesn't seem like much as my airplane (which arrives each day) was carrying nearly that many visitors!! But Hawai'i was still an unknown in the early 1900s and was not as easy to get to. The arrival of the haoles (outsiders) also meant the natives had to adjust to racism as well. Duke felt this when he was left off a haole outrigger, which led him to found the Hui Nalu, Club of the Waves.
1910 would be a huge year for Duke, when Hawai'i joined the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). He competed in swimming events and clipped 4.6 seconds off the world record in the 100 yd open water race. But mainland officials doubted his time, citing faulty markers and ocean tides for his magnificent time.
Duke took the disqualification in stride and set out to prove the world wrong.
In 1912 he was gone for 9 months while he competed in the AAU National Swim Championships where he secured a place on the Olympic team headed for Stockholm.
In Stockholm he won gold in the 100m freestyle (setting a world record) and silver in the 4x200 freestyle relay. The story of his gold medal is one of sportsmanship. The Australian champion, Cecil Healy, was Duke's main competition. When Duke did not show up for his semifinal due to a snafu, officials wanted to disqualify him. Healy protested (even though he would have won the gold) so Duke could swim. The officials declined so Healy refused to swim. Facing a unique dilemma, the judges finally relented and Duke beat Healy by a whisker.
The name Duke Kahanamoku was now headlined in newspapers around the world, and Hawai'i became the focal point. His competitors were awed by his "Kahanamoku Kick" and his quiet, respectful demeanor.
The 1916 games in Berlin were cancelled so Duke waited for the 1920 games in Antwerp to make a big splash!
He won 2 golds (100m freestyle, 4x200 freestyle relay) and played water polo as well, placing 4th. He said the water was so cold that he turned purple!
With his gold-medal status and athletic good looks, Paramount Pictures in Hollywood (Haolewood as Duke called it) gave him a movie contract in 1922. Even with his celebrity status he found it hard to find good parts being a dark-skinned man. The one thing he was really good at was swimming, but because of his amateur status could not take money for swimming, much less be in a swimming movie.
At the next Olympics in Paris (1924), Duke had new competition from a teenaged Johnny Weissmuller. The future Tarzan won the 100m freestyle with Duke taking second and Duke's younger brother, Sam, finishing in third. Duke was happy that three Americans had secured the top three spots on the podium and Weissmuller told the press, "I learned it all from him (Duke)." The two became lifelong friends and competitors.
Duke (left) and Johnny Weissmuller (second from right) after training
Johnny and Duke in their later years
Duke and younger brother, Sam (silver and bronze in Paris)
The Olympics in Amsterdam (1928) did not find a Kahanamoku in them. Duke was sick and didn't make the team. He returned to Hawai'i, a much different place than he had left.Being a celebrity you would think Duke would be treated as a king, but he wasn't. Racism from white haoles grew more frequent as the Hawaiian Islands became popular with travelers.
Finding it hard to secure a good job, Duke and an 18-yr-old from Wisconsin set out to change the surfing industry. Tom Blake's introduction to Duke secured his future:
"Duke shook my hand. He held out his big, soft paw, and gave me a firm, hearty handshake. I took it as my own personal invitation to Hawai'i."
Duke worked with Tom to innovate the olo (longboard), experimenting with ancient designs, modern compounds, fins, and sails.
Blake was in awe of Duke and said,
"To see Duke coming in at Waikiki on his olo board was to see surfriding at its best...to me, the Duke is...the man by which to measure the race, the surfrider by which to measure the surfriders of all time."
Despite his age (42), Duke still felt the pang of competition and was an alternate on the US Water Polo team at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932. They won a bronze medal, which brought Duke's tally to 6. His world record in the 50yd freestyle still held after 21 years.
Duke as a young surfer (top) and in his 60s (bottom)
Duke's life took another turn when he was elected to the City and County of Honolulu Sheriff's post, which he held for 26 years.
He married at age 50 to his lifelong admirer, Nadine.
The two didn't have children but that wouldn't stop Duke from helping and inspiring kids in Waikiki. He formed "Duke's Boys," a canoe group that never lost a race. But Duke was more concerned with their character than their winning record. He wanted all kids to learn respect and humility and to stay out of trouble on the beaches.
In 1959 Duke became the official Hawai'i Ambassador of Aloha. Just three weeks before his death at age 77 in 1968 he welcomed the one-millionth visitor to the state, a state that this great Hawaiian/American/athlete/man helped to put on the map.
Aloha, Duke
The six Kahanamoku Brothers on Waikiki (Duke to the right)
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