Waterman: The Life and Occasions of Duke...

Waterman is the primary complete biography of Duke Kahanamoku (1890–1968): swimmer, surfer, Olympic gold medalist, Hawaiian icon, waterman.
Lengthy earlier than Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz made their splashes within the pool, Kahanamoku emerged from the backwaters of Waikiki to grow to be America’s first celebrity Olympic swimmer. The unique “human fish” set dozens of world data and topped the world rankings for greater than a decade. Kahanamoku used his Olympic renown to introduce the game of “surf-riding,” an exercise unknown past the Hawaiian Islands, to the world. No American athlete has influenced two sports activities as profoundly as Kahanamoku did, and but he stays an enigmatic and underappreciated determine: a dark-skinned Pacific Islander who encountered and overcame racism and ignorance lengthy earlier than the likes of Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, and Jackie Robinson.

Kahanamoku’s connection to his homeland was equally essential. He was born when Hawaii was an unbiased kingdom; he served because the sheriff of Honolulu throughout Pearl Harbor and World Conflict II and as a globetrotting “Ambassador of Aloha” afterward.

In Waterman award-winning journalist David Davis examines the exceptional lifetime of Duke Kahanamoku, out and in of the water.