Thousands turn out to see U.S. stamp
honoring Duke Kahanamoku
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
A poster with a likeness of the stamp was brought ashore yesterday on the canoe Kamokila from the Hawaii Loa to Duke Kahanamoku Beach for its unveiling.
Thousands of friends, family and fans of Duke Kahanamoku celebrated the unveiling of a stamp honoring the Hawaiian hero on what would have been his 112th birthday.
Stamp's unveiling
Humble personality recalled
honors 112th birthday
City crews take leis off Duke statueBy Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com"It's wonderful to have somebody from Hawaii remembered on a commemorative stamp like this," said lifelong stamp collector Peter Kawaoka, 79, who remembers when Kahanamoku was in the Olympics. "It was a matter of worldwide pride, an Olympic champion from Hawaii."
Kahanamoku is the first native Hawaiian person to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp, said U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Felice Broglio. Stamps featuring the King Kamehameha I statue, Hawaii flowers and "windows of the seas" have been issued, "but no one has been honored like this," she said.
The stamp image arrived on Duke Kahanamoku beach in Waikiki on the traditional sailing canoe Hawaii Loa, accompanied by a flotilla of surfers and canoes. Conch shells sounded its arrival. Hula dancers and chanters performed as the stamp was unveiled.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Rowena Rivera placed first-day cancellations on envelopes and postcards.
U.S. Sen. Dan Akaka praised Kahanamoku as a great athlete, but said one of his greatest legacies was being "an ambassador of aloha, not only in Hawaii and the United States, but he was a global citizen of the world."
He quoted his brother, the late Rev. Abraham Akaka, who said Duke showed "humility in victory ... good sportsmanship in defeat."
Longtime admirer Judy Gima, visiting from Pennsylvania, said she knew of his widow's push for the stamp and said it was too bad she did not live to see it.
"His spirit was wonderful, and he was such a special person that it's nice he's finally being honored for the type of person he was," Gima said. "He was so warm to everyone. ... He just personified aloha."
Surfer Lawrence Peraza, 33, said, "I think we all have a lot to be thankful for what he's taught us, not only in the water, but what he's taught us about how to treat each other."
The ceremony in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village was part of the day-long festivities that included a surf contest, an ocean mile swim and a luau.
In another part of the hotel, a long line of people clamored to get the "First Date of Issue" cancellation stamp on envelopes, postcards and even copies of yesterday's Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which had a special commemorative issue for the stamp unveiling.
"We were stamping just about everything," said Glen Beppu, postal service customer service supervisor, who said he also stamped paintings of the Duke, fliers and Outrigger menus.
The 37-cent, self-adhesive stamp with the image of a young Duke goes on sale nationwide on Monday. Honolulu was the only place the stamp was available yesterday.
An estimated 180,000 commemorative stamps were sold at two Waikiki locations, according to a postal service official. About 1,500 lined up as early as 8:30 a.m. for the 9 a.m. opening at the Hilton Hawaiian Village's Tropics Showroom, while the line outside the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel spilled out into Kalakaua Avenue.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Amidst a throng of onlookers and media, Nainoa Thompson, left, and Joanne Kahanamoku, niece to the Duke, yesterday carried the newly issued U.S. stamp commemorating Duke Kahanamoku up the beach prior to its unveiling. After a ceremony honoring Duke on Friday, the 112 leis that adorned the statue were immediately removed by city crews. See related story for details.
"We want to have some of Duke," said Susan Pacheco of Nanakuli, who purchased 40 stamps and affixed them to postcards and envelopes and waited in line to get the first day of issue cancellation.
The Pachecos had viewed the episode of "This is Your Life Duke Kahanamoku" at a Sunset on the Beach last week.
"We started getting all excited about Duke," Susan Pacheco said.
Honolulu post offices sold out of their initial supply of 4,800 specially designed envelopes, called cachets, that featured the Kahanamoku stamp. The cachets sold for $8 a piece. The Postal Service expects to get more cachets in about two weeks.
A total of 2 million stamps out of 62.8 million printed are for sale in Hawaii, and the Postal Service here is already trying to get more stamps.
The stamps and the first day of issue cancellation are also available by phone at 800-STAMP-24 and online at www.usps.com.
BACK TO TOP
|
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Fred Paoa, first cousin to Duke Kahanamoku, represented his family in the stamp dedication ceremony.
If Duke Paoa Kahanamoku had his way, there would probably be no elaborate dedication ceremony, no luau in his honor, and certainly no United States stamp with his image on it, friends and family say. Relatives recall
his humble personalityBy Keiko Kiele Akana-Gooch
kakana-gooch@starbulletin.com"He didn't like to make a big deal of things," said Clarke Paoa, a Kahanamoku cousin.
But to the hundreds of people -- family members, friends, Hawaii dignitaries, fans and curious onlookers -- crowding the tent yesterday at Duke Kahanamoku Beach, it's an honor befitting the legendary Hawaiian waterman.
"I think it's terrific," Paoa said. "(The stamp) is long overdue."
While Kahanamoku was often in the limelight with his Olympic medals, Hollywood movies, surfing, and duties as an ambassador of aloha, he maintained his humility and soft-spoken demeanor.
The patriarch of the family, 97-year-old Fred Paoa, said of his cousin: "I don't think he knows about being hookano (conceited). He wasn't that kind of person."
Fred Paoa represented his family in the stamp dedication ceremony, presenting a maile lei to ceremony officials.
During the festivities, family members reminisced about the Duke they called "Paoa."
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
During yesterday's unveiling ceremonies of a stamp dedicated to Duke Kahanamoku, Nainoa Thompson, bottom, and others presented to Fred Paoa the lei that draped across the poster of the stamp. Paoa is Kahanamoku's first cousin and his oldest living relative.
Kahanamoku's father, Duke senior, taught the children to swim by tying a rope around their waists and throwing them into the water. "You sink or you float," said Fred Paoa, who was also taught in this fashion.
When Fred Paoa was about 12 years old, he and his younger relatives would catch the streetcar two blocks down and walk to Honolulu Harbor, where Kahanamoku began his competitive swimming career. Paoa recalls Kahanamoku so far ahead of another strong, local swimmer, John Kealii, that three-fourths of the way down, Kahanamoku stopped, slowed down and looked back.
A true sportsman, Kahanamoku would often slow down when he was far ahead of his competitor, he said.
Kahanamoku won the election for Sheriff of City and County of Honolulu in 1934 while in Australia on election day. Some of his family said they didn't even know he was running. He was re-elected 12 times.
But Kahanamoku had his share of obstacles. He was denied admission seven times for the Masonic lodge because he was Hawaiian, Paoa said.
He said Kahanamoku eventually became a mason after six master masons protested on his behalf.
Growing up with "Uncle Paoa," Mililani Morton, Fred Paoa's daughter, said she didn't think much of the medals and trophies as a child. But, she said, "There was something very special about him; we knew that."
