Sports Watch
STAMP of approval. The news the other day that Duke Kahanamoku was named the "Surfer of the Century" should give added impetus to the move to have him honored on a U.S. postage stamp. Let’s hope Duke gets his
stamp of approvalIt's about time, too.
Duke, who died 31 years ago at the age of 77, wasn't just the father of surfing and a gold medalist swimmer in the 1912 Stockholm Games - the first of four Olympics in which he represented the United States. He was ambassador of Hawaii's aloha spirit and the first Hawaiian one thinks of after King Kamehameha I.
Interestingly, Kamehameha was the person from Hawaii featured on a U.S. postage stamp. That was in 1937 when the cost to mail a letter was three cents.
A decision on Duke will be made sometime this fall by William J. Henderson, the U.S. postmaster general. Even he has heard of Duke Kahanamoku, according to Henderson.
Duke didn't make it in two previous tries, so here's hoping that the third time will be a charm.
IF Kahanamoku is approved, undoubtedly you can count on a surfboard, waves and a beach being in the minds of all designers. You hope the dominant color will be blue, maybe the Detroit Lions' Honolulu blue.
In surfing parlance, the Duke stamp will be cool, dude.
Excited about the possibility of a stamp honoring Duke, I had to check out my long-ignored stamp collection.
My interest has abated somewhat in recent years. It was one thing collecting stamps when they were three cents apiece, even 10 cents, then 13 cents for the longest time. But soon it became 20 cents, and now 33 cents.
Besides, a lot of today's stamps are too cartoonish for my taste.
So my commemorative collection waned after the 1970s. Now I only keep mint copies of sports-related American stamps and golf stamps from any country.
Actually, sports is a Johnny-Come-Lately as a subject in U.S. postal history.
The first American stamp featuring sports came out in 1932 because of the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y. Since 1960, the Olympics - Summer or Winter - has been a can't-miss subject.
In 1939, there was a stamp depicting a sandlot baseball game. Thirty years later, intercollegiate football was honored, showing a football player huddling with his coach. The 100th anniversary of the Kentucky Derby was commemorated in 1974.
THE breakthrough in sports came in 1982 when Jackie Robinson became the first sports hero to be individually recognized on an American stamp. He was soon followed by golfers Bobby Jones and Babe Zaharias.
Babe Ruth got his stamp of approval in 1983. Jim Thorpe and Roberto Clemente in 1984, then Knute Rockne and golfer Francis Ouimet in 1988.
Lou Gehrig got engraved in 1989, while Olympians Jesse Owens, Ray Ewry, Hazel Wightman, Eddie Eagan and Helen Madison were part of a special series that same year.
Joe Louis made it in 1993, with a special three-stamp package in honor of the World Cup coming out the next year.
Heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey was part of a special set honoring the decades of the 20th century - the 1910s.
In 1997, legendary football coaches George Halas, Pop Warner, Vince Lombardi and "Bear" Bryant were honored.
I can't wait to add Duke Kahanamoku to my collection, even if the cost of a first-class stamp probably will be 40 cents by then.
Bill Kwon has been writing about
sports for the Star-Bulletin since 1959.