swimming – Ojai History

The following article was first printed in the Thursday, August 25, 1960 edition of “THE OJAI PRESS” on Page 7. “THE OJAI PRESS” became the “OJAI VALLEY NEWS.” It is reprinted here with their permission. The author is unknown.

Twelve Records Set At Matilija Meet

Twelve swimming records at the Matilija pool were broken during the third annual Ojai Valley swimming meet, Saturday at 11 a.m.

“A high level of excitement and enthusiasm were important in the times achieved,” according to Ojai’s director of parks and recreation Jerry Minford.

Matilija’s pool is seven feet longer than regulation, Minford explained, and the times are a little slower than they would be in a regulation pool, he added.

Typical of the records broken were the backstroke competition: girls, 10 years and under, Beverly Tyoison, 27.02; boys, 10 years and under, Craig Brown, 24.05; girls, 11 and 12 years, Roni Brown, 49.08; girls, 15 and 16 years, Sue Capune, 44.01. In the butterfly, 12 and under girls, Roni Brown, 20.02; boys 13 and 14 years, Billy Hayes, 48.04.

In the freestyle Robby Brown won the six year and under boys competition with a time of 8.01; girls, seven and eight years, Krissie Brown, 22.0; girls, 11 and 12 years, Susan Wendohl, 37.05; girls, 15 and 16, Sue Capune, 36.05.

Craig Brown took the top time in the ten year and under boys breast stroke with a time of 55.03; boys, 13 and 14, Billy Hayes; girls, 15 and 16 years, Sue Capune.

In the individual races, the swimmers were placed as follows: In the butterfly, girls 12 and under, first, Roni Brown, second, Mary Mahon, third, Mary Mahon. In the boys’ 13 and 14 year butterfly competition: first, Billy Hayes, second, Paul Booker. Boys, 15 and 16 years, first Don McIntosh, second, Bob Waggoner, third, Jack Morrison.

In the breaststroke: Girls, 10 years and under: first, Elizabeth Yunger, second, Krissie Brown, third, Carol Mahonm. Boys, 10 and under: first, Craig Brown, second, Steve Olson. Girls, 11 and 12 years: first, Mary Mahon, second, Barbara Yunger, third, Susan Lopez. Boys, 11 and 12 years: first, Kevin Yunger, second, Bobby Christianson. Girls, 13 and 14 years: first, Jan Farnsworth, second, Monica Michalski, third Monica Michalski. Boys, 13 and 14 years: first, Billy Hayes, second, Paul Booker. Girls, 15 and 16: first, Sue Capune, second, Bunny Brunette. Boys, 15 and 16: first, Tom Helm, second, Don McIntosh, third, Jack Morrison.

In the freestyle: Girls, six and under: first, Victoria Rogers, second, DeDe Wilson, third, JoAnn Ledford. Boys, six and under: first, Robbie Brown, second, Lanny Morrill, third, Johnathon Morrill. Girls, seven and eight years: first, Krissie Brown, second, Elizabeth Yunger, third, Susan Chess. Boys, seven and eight years: first, James Gamble, second, Henry Mahon, third, Jeff Norcott. Girls, nine and 10: first, Carol Mahon, second, Susan Bower, third, Anne Chess. Boys, nine and 10: first, Lance Farnsworth, second, Craig Brown, third, Jimmy Nelson. Girls, 11 and 12: first, Susan Wendohl, second, Roni Brown, third, Mary Mahon. Boys, 11 and 12: first, Bobby Christianson, second, Kevin Yunger, third, Charles Miller. Girls, 13 and 14: Monica Michalski, second, Michele Michalski, third, Jan Farnsworth. Boys, 13 and 14: first, Billy Hayes, second, Jimmy Christianson, third, Paul Booker. Girls, 15 and 16: first, Sue Capune, second, Bunny Brunette, third, Eileen Jacobs. Boys, 15 and 16: first, Kirk Spicer, second, Jack Morrison, third, Don McIntosh.

In the backstroke: Girls, 10 and under: first, Beverly Tyoison, second, Krissie Brown, third, Susan Bower. Boys, 10 and under: first, Craig Brown, second, Steven Olson, third, Lance Farnsworth. Girls, 11 and 12: first, Ronnie Brown, second, Mary Mahon, third, Barbara Yunger. Girls, 15 and 16: first, Sue Capune, second, Janice Noren, third, Eileen Jacobs. Boys, 13 and 14: first, Billy Hayes, second, Paul Booker, third, Thomas Mahon. Boys, 15 and 16: first, Jack Morrison, second, Don McIntosh, third, Kirk Spencer.

THEY PASSED — Standing with their instructor, Mrs. Eleanor Brown, are, left to right, Charlene Kuenzly, Diane Bower, Mrs. Brown, and Terry Coultas who just passed the second session of the Red Cross swimming classes at Matilija pool. There were 519 youngsters who participated in the courses this year.

NEW RECORDS — Twelve new records were set at the Matilija swim meet Saturday, and Sue Capune, left and Billy Hayes, right, are being congratulated for their victories by Mrs. Stanford Brown, Red Cross instructor at the pool. Miss Capune set a new mark for the 15 to 16 year old girl’s backstroke, and Hayes set a new record for the butterfly.

The Duke Comes to Ojai

Written and compiled from various sources by Tony Thacher.

Sherman Day Thacher and Duke Paoa Kahanamoku at The Thacher School in 1922.

On a dry and dusty afternoon in late October of 1922 this unlikely pair were captured on film standing near the top of the alluvial fan emanating from Horn Canyon in the northeast corner of the Ojai Valley. Sherman Day Thacher, as headmaster of the school he founded 33 years before, is shown flanked by Olympic swimming gold medalist Duke Paoa Kahanamoku of Honolulu, Hawaii. Duke had been invited to come up from Los Angeles to give a demonstration and instruction in swimming to the assembled student body in the Thacher School’s pool. In reality this crude concrete structure was a rather murky irrigation and fire reservoir full of biota from the creek that filled it.

Duke’s swimming skills, superb physique and good looks had already made him a star both in and out of the water. And his gold medals and promotion of board surfing had made his reputation as the “Father of Modern Surfing” and the “Ambassador of Aloha.” From almost the moment of his birth on August 24, 1890 in Honolulu, Kahanamoku’s life revolved around the warm Pacific waters surrounding Oahu. While that on its own might not have been a particularly unusual accomplishment for an Hawaiian Islander of the time, what was unusual was his speed through the water. In the first officially sanctioned Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) swim meet in Hawaii in August of 1911, Duke knocked over 4 seconds off the world record for the 100-yard open water event, causing stateside AAU officials to declare there must have been an error and refusing to sanction the time.

Although not used to swimming in a pool, Duke continued his winning ways in the water stateside. At the Olympic games of 1912 held in Stockholm, there was no mistaking Duke’s incredible speed and power, and he won the 100-meter freestyle, again breaking the world record and easily taking the Gold medal. Over the next few years, Kahanamoku’s reputation grew to new heights as he continued shattering world aquatic records in various competitions around the globe. Duke Kahanamoku continued swimming for the rest of his life, winning his last Olympic medal at the age of forty-two. His remarkable twenty-one year career as an Olympic champion remains today a record achievement.

Duke Kahanamoku (holding hat at left) at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden.

At the same time, he was credited for popularizing the sport of surfing. In a series of widely attended demonstrations around the world, Duke would ride the waves on his handmade long board to the delight of onlookers, and thus the ancient sport was revitalized along the coasts all over the world.

Duke Kahanamoku surfing with Diamond Head at left in the background on Oahu Island in the Hawaiian Islands.

As someone identified with the Hawaiian Islands it is easy to forget that Duke Kahanamoku ever spent significant time anywhere else, yet he was a regular presence in Southern California throughout the 1910’s and 1920’s. The Southland was equally charmed with Duke making many friends and becoming a particular favorite of the movie colony. And, of course, his worldwide fame and good looks didn’t go unnoticed by the studios. In 1925, Famous Players-Lasky (Paramount) offered Duke a film contract. However, his promising film career was hobbled by an ironic twist – he couldn’t appear on-screen doing what the world best knew him for – swimming. AAU rules strictly prohibited Duke from accepting money for swimming. And Duke had no intention of giving up his amateur standing in athletics just for Hollywood film making, which he considered nothing more than a fun lark. So the studios found themselves with a non-swimming swimming star and were forced to come up with creative ways to use him in non-aquatic roles. They tried their best and over the next few years, Duke made appearances in a number of films. Without being able to be seen as the aquatic champion, his career in movies in the ‘20’s quickly fizzled. However, in later years, Duke would return to the screen on several notable occasions. In 1948 he played a native chieftain opposite another famous “Duke,” John Wayne, in The Wake of the Red Witch, and in 1955 he again played a native chief in the John Ford-directed Mister Roberts with Henry Fonda and James Cagney.
Kahanamoku left a legacy in his native Hawaii, where he became its most revered citizen and goodwill ambassador. For more than twenty years he served as Sheriff of Honolulu and after Hawaii became the 50th State in 1959, he was made the State’s official “Ambassador of Aloha.” Kahanamoku died at the age of seventy-seven, just three weeks after greeting Hawaii’s one-millionth visitor.

TWO DUKES: John "The Duke" Wayne and Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. — TWO DUKES: John “The Duke” Wayne and Duke Paoa Kahanamoku.

Today, there are many memorials and monuments to Duke Kahanamoku on the Hawaiian Islands, outside Sydney Harbor and elsewhere, but all too few stateside. However, in Ojai, it’s Sherman Thacher’s unheated and untreated irrigation reservoir that can still be linked to the legendary swimmer and surf rider, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku.

Sherman Day Thacher at The Thacher School swimming pool which was really a reservoir.