Happy Birthday Bro!

Happy Birthday to a man who changed my life, inadvertently, Duke Kahanamoku. Today would have been his 117th Bday. Anything connected to the number 17 is alright by me. The profile is from the Surfer's Hall of Fame.


DUKE PAOA KAHANAMOKU(1890-1968) First athlete from Hawai'i to win an Olympic gold medal.Father of surfing.
Duke Kahanamoku was Hawai'i's first Olympic medalist. He participated in four Olympic Games: 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden (one gold and one silver medal); 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium (two gold medals); 1924 in Paris (one silver medal). Duke won a total of five Olympic medals! He is a member of the Olympic Hall of Fame. At age 42, he retired from competitive swimming.

In Hawaii we greet friends, loved ones or strangers with ALOHA, which means WITH
LOVE. ALOHA is the key-word to the universal spirit of real hospitality,
which makes Hawaii renowned as the world’s center of understanding and
fellowship.Try meeting or leaving people with ALOHA. You’ll be surprised
by their reaction. I believe it and it is my creed. Aloha to
you.”
—Duke Kahanamoku

Duke also won the 100-meter free-style Amateur Athletic Union Outdoor Championships in 1916, 1917 and 1920. A Hawaiian representing the United States, Duke preceded Johnny Weissmuller as "The World's Fastest Swimmer." Duke replaced the outmoded "scissors kick" with his novel "flutter kick."
In Paris at the 1924 Olympics, three of the Kahanamoku brothers qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team - Duke, Sam and David. Duke won a silver medal in the 100-meter free-style swim, and Sam won a bronze medal in the same division.
Duke was involved with other sports, as well. In 1908, Duke and his friends organized one of the first amateur surfing clubs, Hui Nalu (Club of the Waves). They discussed the condition of the surf and formulated some of the rules in use today. As a famous swimmer, Duke traveled abroad to teach water-safety methods for the Red Cross. Wherever he traveled, Duke introduced his first love - surfing
Duke also pioneered tandem surfing (one surfer sitting on the shoulders of another) in 1919. He was the first to wind-surf (to use a sail attached to a surfboard) and the first to wake-surf (on the wake behind a motorboat).
In 1966, Kahanamoku was the first inductee into the Surfing Hall of Fame.