Duke Kahanamoku's 125th birthday: Google doodles legendary Hawaiian who brought surfing to the world

New Delhi: A popular sport today, surfing was first brought to notice by Duke Kahanamoku who was a Hawaiian-American competition swimmer, an actor, lawman, early beach volleyball player, and a businessman.

Born in Honolulu in 1890, Kahanamoku has featured in a dozen feature films and surfed the world’s most imposing swells before Californians knew what surfing was.

Kahanamoku, also known as the Big Kahuna, won five Olympic medals in swimming and was elected sheriff of his beloved home county thirteen times.

One morning in 1925, as he was preparing for his morning ride at the Newport Beach, he noticed a 40-foot fishing vessel called the Thelma in the grip of a sudden and violent squall. Kahanamoku rushed headlong into the maelstrom with his surfboard and, along with three friends, managed to wrest twelve men from the clutches of the Pacific.

Celebrating the 125th birth anniversary of the legendary Hawaiian who brought surfing to the world, doodler Matt Cruickshank has created a special doodle showing Kahanamoku’s iconic 16-foot wooden surfboard and his warm, blithe smile.