Surfboard
Wood
Early 20th century
Owned by Duke Kahanamoku
It's safe to say that Duke Kahanamoku was the most important surfer in the history of the sport. Duke was born in 1890 at Haleakalā, the home of Bernice Pauahi Bishop in Waikīkī, and grew up with his extended family on the beaches near Diamond Head, becoming an expert waterman. As a famous surfer, Olympian, movie star, and celebrity, he popularized not only surfing, but also a carefree beachboy lifestyle.
By the early 1900s. when Duke was a young man, the sport of surfing had nearly been forgotten in Hawai'i. Throughout the 1800s, Christian missionaries had discouraged the pastime, considering it immoral and a sign of laziness. Nevertheless a few still practiced the art of he'e nalu 'ana—literally, wave board sliding.
The boards that Duke grew up riding were very different from the light, high-performance surfboards of today. Back then, boards were wooden, lacked fins, or skegs, on the underside, and were sometimes up to 14 feet long with some weighing more than 100 pounds.
This board weighs 75 pounds and was given to Duke by its maker, surfer and surfboard innovator Tom Blake.
Duke Kahanamoku wasn't the first Hawaiian to introduce surfing to California, That honor goes to three young ali'i, or chiefs, who demonstrated the art in 1885 near Santa Cruz, but Duke's demonstrations in the 1912 in Corona del Mar and Santa Monica caused a sensation. Later in 1915, Duke introduced surfing to Australia, using a board that he fashioned on-site made from the native Australian sugar pine.
Duke's athletic prowess wasn't limited to surfing. In 1911, he stunned the swimming world when he shattered the 100-yard sprint record by nearly 5 seconds. In 1912, he was part of the U.S. Olympic team, and came home from the Stockholm games with gold and silver medals, breaking world records in the process. The New York Times noted that Duke, at one point, held every freestyle swimming record under a half mile.
When Duke competed in the 1924 Paris Olympics, where he earned a silver medal in swimming, he brought this surfboard along.