Duke Kahanamoku Featured on American Masters Documentary Series

PBS recently premiered the latest episode of American Masters, featuring 5-time Olympic medalist and world-renowned surfer Duke Kahanamoku. The episode is titled Waterman- Duke: Ambassador of Aloha. It is the 3rd episode of the 36th season and premiered on May 10th, 2022.

The documentary is narrated byHawaiian-born American actor Jason Momoa. It covers the inspiring story and considerable impact of the Hawaiian legend.

Kahanamoku won 5 total Olympic medals in swimming in 1912, 1920, and 1924. He was also an alternate to the U.S. Olympic Water Polo Team for the 1932 Games. 

He was born in Honolulu to a family of native Hawaiians. Between his Olympic appearances and after retiring from competitive swimming, Duke traveled internationally to give swimming presentations. It was on these tours that he popularized surfing, which was previously only common in Hawaii. 

Kahanamoku also worked in Hollywood for a period and his celebrity earned him the moniker, “Ambassador of Aloha”. He appeared in several films, including “Mister Roberts” in 1955. He is also well known for wanting to appear in the film, “Tarzan”, but being passed over for fellow swimmer, Johnny Weissmuller. Kahanamoku’s Hollywood career helped to further his renown across the world, bringing more public attention to the sports of swimming and surfing.

Here is the official trailer for the episode:

From the episode description:

“American Masters: Waterman– Duke: Ambassador of Aloha explores his life, career and struggles with prejudice. As a dark-skinned Pacific Islander, Kahanamoku broke through racial barriers with athletic accomplishments before Joe Louis, Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson; yet relatively few outside of Hawaii know the details of his inspiring story and considerable impact. . .The documentary presents Kahanamoku’s rise to fame and how he became the face of a changing Hawaii as it evolved from an isolated island kingdom to a multi-ethnic American paradise. . .By the time Hawaii became the 50th state, surfing had spread throughout America and around the world because of Kahanamoku’s influence and celebrity. Through his popular surfing exhibitions, he brought the sport to both coasts of the United States and to Freshwater Beach near Sydney, Australia. Additionally, he famously used his surfboard to save eight people from a shipwreck off Newport Beach in California, which was highly documented in news media.”

American Masters is an Emmy-winning documentary series produced by PBS. Since its premiere in 1986, the series has presented hundreds of hours profiling outstanding American cultural artists including Charlie Chaplain, Billie Holiday, Joseph Pulitzer, and now Duke Kahanamoku. 

Waterman is streaming on PBS until June 16, 2022. A number of video clips and written articles that go along with the episode can be found on the episode webpage, here.