- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDuke Paoa Kahinu Makoe Hulikohoa Kahanamoku
- Height6′ 0¾″ (1.85 m)
- Duke Kahanamoku was one of the great Olympic heroes of all time. Born in Hawaii, Duke grew up swimming and entered the 1912 Stockholm Olympics for the United States (Hawaii was not yet a state, but a U.S. possession)and became an international star by winning the Men's 100-Meter Freestyle, something he repeated eight years later at the 1920 Antwerp games (there was no 1916 Olympics as there was World War I) and he won the silver medal while Johnny Weissmuller won the gold (Duke's brother Sam won the bronze) at the 1924 Paris Olympics. All told, Duke won three gold and two silver medals in four Olympic games. He later had a Hollywood career in which he usually played a native chief or a Hawaiian king.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ken Severson
- SpouseNadine Alexander(August 2, 1940 - January 22, 1968) (his death)
- He was sheriff of Honolulu for twenty (20) years.
- In June, 1925, he was credited with saving the lives of eight people when the yacht they were on capsized. Duke used his surfboard to save their lives.
- While sheriff of Honolulu in the 1930's, Duke and his brother Sam were both lovers of tobacco heiress Doris Duke and were frequent guests at Shangri-La, her nearby oceanfront estate.
- His open-air Waikiki Beachfront bar and restaurant, called simply "Duke's," on the ground level of the Sheraton Outrigger Waikiki in Honolulu, remains a major tourist attraction. Many of Duke's legendary (surfing) long-boards, as well as those of other famed surfers, adorn the walls, along with other Duke memorabilia.
- Brother Sam was also an Olympic swimmer.
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