Whatever
Happened...

An update on past news

Saturday, June 30, 2001

STAR-BULLETIN / 1961
Keo Nakama comes out of the water Sept. 30, 1961,
after swimming from Molokai to Oahu. He was
the first person to complete the swim.

First Kaiwi Channel
swimmer retired
but active

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By Lisa Asato
lasato@starbulletin.com

Question: What ever happened to Keo Nakama, the first person to swim from Molokai to Oahu?

Answer: Keo Nakama, now 81, is also known for an annual swim meet held in his honor. It's been running since 1946, when the meet was held at the Waikiki Natatorium.

This year's 53rd annual Keo Nakama Invitational Swim Meet will be held July 6-8 at Palolo Valley District Pool.

Nakama -- a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and a former world-record holder in the mile swim (20:29) -- said he's never competed in the meet but stops by to watch and present awards. "I just enjoy taking it easy," he said.

"I don't have any aspiration to go after awards anymore. My enjoyment is to see kids get awards."

Swimming awards for Nakama were plentiful -- Ohio State University Big Ten championships in swimming and baseball, five Pan American Games titles and five Australian National Titles.

Nowadays, Nakama, a retired physical education teacher and former state legislator, swims, plays racquetball and lifts weights daily at the Central YMCA, where he hangs out with other retirees in the upstairs Waikiki Athletic Club. On Sundays he half coaches, half watches the all-Japanese Meija League softball games.

STAR-BULLETIN / 1997
Keo Nakama, now 81, stands among his
swimming trophies. An annual swim meet
in his honor will be held July 6-8.

Forty years ago, Nakama, of Puunene, Maui, became the first in recorded history to swim the 27-mile Kaiwi Channel between Molokai and Oahu. The crossing took 15 hours and 37 minutes.

"Finally, at 6:33 p.m., after negotiating the coral reef inside the bay, Nakama walked ashore, looking a little bewildered and smiling shyly," wrote one reporter at the time. "He looked more as if he'd just finished a leisurely afternoon swim than a grueling 35-mile (actual distance covered) channel crossing."

He said to his wife, "I made it, Mama."

Nakama and his wife, Evelyn, have six daughters, 10 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. "None of them swim," he said. "They say too hard work."

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