Duke & Nadine Kahanamoku with John Wayne Photo by Walt's Photo Service 1950-51

Description

A fabulous, fresh 4 X 7 inch black and white photo of John Wayne with Duke Kahanamoku and his wife Nadine taken between 1950-51.
Very well preserved, a rick black and white photo with only one slight corner bend. Reverse is stamped: Walt's Photo Service with a
Honolulu address and phone number. Surfing #2
4 by 7 inches
Duke Paoa Kahanamoku
1890-1968
Born in Haleakala, Maui son of Duke Halapu Kahanamoku and Julia Paoakania Lonokahini Kahanamoku, young Duke had
six brothers and three sisters. He attended Waikiki Grammar School, Kaahumanu School, and the Kamehameha School for
Boys. As a youth he became a master surfer on a sixteen-foot koa- wood board weighing 114 pounds. In 1910 he developed what
he called "The Hawaiian Crawl", a basic swimming completion stroke today known as "The American Crawl". Kahanamoku
won an AAU meet in Honolulu Harbor, breaking United States record for the 100-meter event; in the same year he broke his own
record at Hamburg. Returning to Hawaii, he worked as a reader of water meters, on surveying jobs, and as a beach boy. He entered
competition again in 1916 and broke more records with his distinctive style. During World War I, when the 1916 Olympics were
cancelled, Kahanamoku made a tour of the mainland United States, demonstrating his skill to raise money for the Red Cross. At
almost thirty years of age, he beat his own 100-meter freestyle record at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920 by making the course in
one minute flat. Kahanamoku began a Hollywood film career in 1922, playing Polynesians, American Indians, or Hindus- everything
except Hawaiians. He lost his title in 1924 Olympics in Paris to Johnny Weissmuller, who set a new record of 59 seconds. Kahanamoku
became a national hero when, on June 14, 1925 he rescued on his surfboard eight of the twelve men saved from a capsized fishing boat
in high surf off Newport Beach, California. He won medals in the 1928 Olympics and continued acting until 1929, when he returned
to Honolulu and worked as a janitor at City Hall. In 1932 he failed to place in the Olympic swimming trials but won a spot on the
United States water polo team and thus appeared in four Olympic  competing in twenty years. While running a gasoline service station in
1934, he was elected sheriff of Honolulu, a largely ceremonial post that he held until it was abolished in 1961; he was then appointed official
city greeter. Kahanamoku married Nadine Alexander in 1940. He was a familiar figure at the Waikiki Outrigger Canoe Club on Waikiki Beach
and was known to thousands of visitors to the islands. He was selected in 1965 as a character member of the Swimming Hall of Fame.
He became one of the twenty-six all time sports champions in 1967, the year after he was named to the first Surfing Hall of Fame. Kahanamoku
name is perpetuated in the annual World Surfing Championships.