Duke Kahanamoku

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 had five brothers, including Samuel and Sargeant, and three sisters.
 
In 1893, his family moved to Kālia, Waikiki (near the present site of the Hilton Hawaiian Village) to be closer to his mother’s parents and family. Kahanamoku grew up with his siblings and 31 Paoa cousins.  He attended the Waikiki Grammar School, Kaahumanu School, and the Kamehameha Schools, although he never graduated because he had to quit to help support the family.
 
“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 were from prominent Hawaiiann 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, a descendantt of Alapainui. They were kahu, retainers and trusted advisors of the Kamehamehas, to whom they were related. His maternal grandparents Paoa, son of Paoa Hoolae and Hiikaalani, and Mele Uliama, were also of aliʻi descent.
 
Growing up on the outskirts of Waikiki, Kahanamoku spent much of his youth at the beach, where he developed his surfing and swimming skills. In his youth, Kahanamoku preferred a traditional surf board, which he called his “papa nui”, constructed after the fashion of ancient Hawaiian olo boards. Made from the wood of akoa tree, it was 16 feet long and weighed 114 pounds. The board was without a skeg, which had yet to be invented. In his later surfing career, he would often use smaller boards but always preferred those made of wood.
 
On August 11, 1911, Kahanamoku was timed at 55.4 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle, beating the existing world record by 4.6 seconds, in the salt water of Honolulu Harbor. He also broke the record in the 220 yd (200 m) and equaled it in the 50-yard. But the Amateur Athletic Union, in disbelief, would not recognize these feats until many years later. The AAU initially claimed that the judges must have been using alarm clocks rather than stopwatches and later claimed that ocean currents aided Kahanamoku.
 
He was initiated, passed and raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in Hawaiian Lodge, Masonic Lodge No. 2,1 and was also a Noble (member) of the Shriners fraternal organization.