Duke Kahanamoku: Father of Surfing

In this installment of ‘Profiles in History,’ we meet a young Hawaiian who becomes an Olympic gold medalist and spreads surfing throughout the world.

Shown here surfing off Waikiki in a 1910 photograph, the "Big Kahuna" and the "Father of Surfing" was also an Olympic swimmer and a well-loved Hawaiian sheriff. Public Domain

Duke Kahanamoku (1890–1968), or more accurately, Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku, seemed born to become a waterman. In Hawaii, to be “waterman” means to understand the ways of the water, a gift typically passed down through the generations. Perhaps more than any other Hawaiian of his generation, he truly understood water.

Kahanamoku was named after his father, who was named by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. She was the great-granddaughter of chief Kamehameha I, who in 1810 united and ruled the Hawaiian islands. She was also the last descendant of this royal line. Kahanamoku’s grandparents were close to Bernice Bishop. The princess named Kahanamoku’s father “Duke” to commemorate the fact that Prince Albert, the Duke of Edinburgh, was visiting the islands at the time of the baby’s birth.

An Unbelievable Record

Kahanamoku was born into a devout Christian home and had five brothers and three sisters. Despite their former connections to royalty, his family wasn’t wealthy. His father was a policeman, and young Kahanamoku eventually had to leave school for work to help make ends meet. What he never left, though, was the water. As a teenager he became an avid swimmer, diver, and surfer.