Duke kahanamoku wife and kids

Hawaiian swimmer, surfer and actor

Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968) was a Hawaiian competition swimmer, lifeguard, and popularizer of the sport of surfing. A Native Hawaiian, he was born three years before the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He lived to see the territory's admission as a state and became a United States citizen. He was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming, winning medals in 1912, 1920 and 1924.

Kahanamoku joined fraternal organizations: he was a Scottish Rite Freemason in the Honolulu lodge, and a Shriner. He worked as a law enforcement officer, an actor, a beach volleyball player, and a businessman.

Family background

According to Kahanamoku, he was born in Honolulu at Haleʻākala, the home of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, which was later converted into the Arlington Hotel.

He was born into a family of Native Hawaiians headed by Duke Halapu Kahanamoku and Julia Paʻakonia Lonokahikina Paoa. He had five brothers, and three sisters. His brothers were Sargent, Samuel, David, William and Louis, all of whom participated in competitive aquatic sports. His sisters were Bernice, Kapiolani and Maria.

"Duke" was not a title or a nickname, but a given name. He was named after his father, Duke Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened by Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time. His father was a policeman. His mother Julia Paʻakonia Lonokahikina Paoa was a deeply religious woman with a strong sense of family ancestry.

His parents were from prominent Hawaiian ohana (families). The Kahanamoku and the Paoa ohana were considered to be lower-ranking nobles, who were in service to the aliʻi nui, or royalty. His paternal grandfather was Kahanamoku and his grandmother, Kapiolani Kaoeha (sometimes spelled Kahoea), a descendant of Alapainui. They we

Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968) was a Hawaiian competition swimmer who popularized the sport of surfing. A Native Hawaiian, he was born to a minor noble family less than three years before the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He lived to see the territory's admission as a state, and became a United States citizen. He was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming, winning medals in 1912, 1920 and 1924.

Kahanamoku joined fraternal organizations: he was a Scottish Rite Freemason in the Honolulu lodge, and a Shriner. He worked as a law enforcement officer, an actor, a beach volleyball player, and a businessman.

Family background

According to Kahanamoku, he was born in Honolulu at Haleʻākala, the home of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, which was later converted into the Arlington Hotel.

He was born into a family of Native Hawaiians headed by Duke Halapu Kahanamoku and Julia Paʻakonia Lonokahikina Paoa. He had five brothers, and three sisters. His brothers were Sargent, Samuel, David, William and Louis, all of whom participated in competitive aquatic sports. His sisters were Bernice, Kapiolani and Maria.

"Duke" was not a title or a nickname, but a given name. He was named after his father, Duke Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened by Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time. His father was a policeman. His mother Julia Paʻakonia Lonokahikina Paoa was a deeply religious woman with a strong sense of family ancestry.

Although his parents were not part of the formal Hawaiian Royal Family, they wer

It is the same welcoming gesture captured in Kahanamoku's statue in Waikiki and "it's how I picture their reunion now," said Sandy Hall, co-author of "Memories of Duke: The Legend Comes to Life."

Nadine Kahanamoku died last night in St. Francis Hospice at the age of 92. Her husband, the legendary surfer and Hawaii's first Olympian, died in 1968.

"Nadine had her wedding photo with her in her room," said Hall, who visited her yesterday afternoon. "She drew mana from it. One sensed that time was really precious and that she's been getting ready to meet Duke. She was totally at peace and ready to go up and into his welcoming arms again."

Nadine Alexander Kahanamoku was born in Cleveland, the daughter of an Australian opera singer and an American vaudevillian. She spent most of her youth in Cincinnati, where she was enrolled in the city's music conservatory.

After a brief marriage, she danced professionally before becoming a dance teacher. The late Walter Dillingham hired her in 1938 as an instructor at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

She arrived on the Lurline just after Christmas. Several months later, the vivacious Alexander, with sparkling blue eyes, asked for an introduction to the man she had dreamed about as a teen-ager.

"When I was in high school, I saw his picture in a magazine with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford," Kahanamoku said in a 1990 interview. "They had found this wonderful Hawaiian athlete. "I thought, 'THAT'S the man!' What a gorgeous hunk of humanity."

The couple were married in a private ceremony in Kailua-Kona on Aug. 2, 1940, ending Duke's bachelorhood at age 50. They b

Duke Kahanamoku is widely recognized as the father of modern surfing. He is the ultimate beach boy and, for many, the "Big Kahuna" is the most influential surfer of all time.

Not only did he boost surfing in his Hawaiian Islands, but he was also one of the first to promote wave riding in Australia and California.

Kahanamoku was a good man, a humble Hawaiian citizen proud of his origins, and always ready to promote his homeland as a unique tourist destination.

He is commonly referred to as Hawaii's favorite Ambassador of Aloha.

As an active and enthusiastic swimmer, "The Duke" never competed with a professional status because he always tried to maintain his eligibility for the Olympic Games.

As a result, he struggled to make a living out of his non-sport activities, and there were many profiting from his good nature.

Despite his discrete, low-key personality, Duke Kahanamoku was a friendly and sociable person.

He taught British royalty members to surf, dated Hollywood stars, and partnered with American businesspeople.

The bronze-skinned Hawaiian traveled the world in a time when cruise ships were the only practical means of transport, and he was always welcomed as an exotic star of the Pacific who excelled like no other in the art of swimming and walking on water.

Duke lived 77 years of adventure and glory.

A Life Less Ordinary

Take a look at a few interesting facts you should know about the "Human Fish":

1. Duke Kahanamoku was named after Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who visited Hawaii in 1869;
2. Duke's parents, Duke and Julia, were descendants of Hawaiian royalty;
3. The full name of the "Big Kahuna" is Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku;
4. Duke Kahanamoku played soccer. In 1908, he was a member of the Kamehameha School Soccer Team;
5. Duke Kahanamoku was 6'1'' and weighed 190 pounds;
6. Duke Kahanamoku was the first Hawaiian ever to win a medal at the Olympic Games. He took three gold medals