This oral history interview is a project of the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The legal rights of this material remain with the Outrigger Canoe Club. Anyone wishing to reproduce it or quote at length from it should contact the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The reader should be aware that an oral history document portrays information as recalled by the interviewee. Because of the spontaneous nature of this kind of document, it may contain statements and impressions that are not factual.
An Interview by Kenneth Pratt
September 1, 1992
KP: This is an interview with Neal Ifversen (NI) who has been a member of the Outrigger Canoe Club since October 19, 1934. This interview is being conducted on September 1, 1992 at the home of Ken Pratt, 4817 Aukai Avenue. The interviewer is Ken Pratt (KP) representing the Oral History Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The record shows that you joined the Outrigger Canoe Club on October 19, 1934. Do you remember anything about this such a long time ago – dues maybe, or initiation fee?
NI: Yes, I remember very well the day I joined the Outrigger Canoe Club. Of course, it was a long time ago, but I think it cost me $10 – ten hard-earned dollars, and the dues were a dollar a month as far as I remember. We are proud of the Club the way it is now but Outrigger didn’t just happen. There’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears that went into making the Club the club it is today. During the thirties and the forties the Club was really strapped financially, we just didn’t have the money, I was on the Board in those days and the Board members had to bring their lunch because we didn’t have money enough to pay for lunches – in fact, we didn’t even have a dining room, other than a beach stand where we could get stew and rice, rice and gravy, things like that.
KP: Do you remember who ran that stand?
NI: It was called May’s Stand. Oriental lady, nice lady and that stew and rice or rice and gravy sure tasted good when we came in from surfing. In front of the Club was the Wichman’s clock that had to be wound up every night by pulling down one weight and the other weight would go up. That was the job of a man called “Admiral” Tulloch. You remember him?
KP: Oh, yes, Tulloch. He was great.
NI: He and Willie Whittle’s father were the keepers of the clock. That clock is now on the wall at the Outrigger Canoe Club – they don’t have to pull the chain any more, they’ve put an electric motor in it now.
KP: That’s right, it’s right around the corner from the Snack Shop.
NI: Yes, the old Wichman clock that you could see from the surf and know when it was time to come in from surfing.
KP: And that was important, so the family wouldn’t give you hell when you came home late. eh?
NI: That’s right.
KP: That’s interesting. Now, how long were you in the Club when you learned to steer a canoe? You were graded then. Now, I know ……
NI: I always had an interest in canoes and surfing. If I didn’t go surfing or canoeing or play volleyball my day was not complete in those days, but I can’t remember stepping into a canoe and learning to steer other than I had a lot of help from “Toots” Minvielle, from “Yoyo” Ernstberg, “Dad” Center ……
KP: Well, actually, back then you didn’t have so many people to contend with when you were steering a canoe, catching waves at Canoe Surf, did you? Not as many tourists.
NI: Not as many tourists but there were still a lot of bananas out there on surfboards. I think my record is five that I hit on the way in – surfers, that is. In a canoe you can’t jump over them, so you smash into them. I don’t want to get into that sort of thing so much.
KP: Well, actually in 1939 the Club was really desperate. Walter Macfarlane was President then, wasn’t he? What did he do to try and get the Club going again?
NI: I don’t know, Ken. I didn’t have the pleasure of serving under him, although I put twenty years on the Board under twenty different Presidents, but Walter Mac wasn’t one. I think I went on the Board the year he went off the Board.
KP: I see. Now, you were on the Board when “Lefty” Godbold – I shouldn’t say “Lefty” – Wilford, Judge Wilford Godbold was on. Could you tell us something about this man?
NI: Certainly, we went on the Board together. Godbold, myself and “Yabo” Taylor, the three of us were elected together. I don’t remember the date, but I knew that he would be a good President –and that he was, and we had a Board that if it wasn’t for those guys, the financial advisors and all we wouldn’t be where are today, and also we were working hard to build a new Club because the old one was termite-ridden and we really needed a new Club. So we were able to borrow and scrape up enough money to build what you folks call the “Old Club” but we called the “New Club” and it opened on the Fourth of July, 1941. There was a nice party up on the deck by the dining room. At that time we had a manager called Henry DeGorog and a maitre d’ “Maxie”, both of them came from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and were food and beverage people. We had the best food in town at the best prices.
While the Club opened on July 4, 1941, December 7, 1941 was quite a day, and we thought we were gone, because we owed a lot of money on that Club and debts were piling up and here was the War. We thought we’d be wiped out. However, we had a lot of help from Pan Am…..
KP: These were the Pan Am pilots bringing those big babies in?
NI: Yes, they came in, I think once a week a first. Anyway, we opened the Club up also to service membership, it was a temporary membership for commissioned officers of the Armed Forces. Between the Pan Am and the service memberships we were able to survive the War days. I can remember though, going with “Dad” Center down to the Coast Guard to get permission to move the barbed wire entanglement in front of the Club so at four o’clock we could take the canoes out, but we had to have it back by five o’clock.
KP: Oh, oh kidding!
NI: From four o’clock in the afternoon until five we could open up the barbed wire and take the canoes out.
KP: Didn’t give you much time to surf, eh.
NI: Didn’t give you much, but it was better than nothing – the same thing for surfing, because next to the Club, between the Moana Hotel, was a vacant lot and on that lot was a machine gun nest, and if we went out too far Bang, Bang, Bang!
KP: No kidding! That’ interesting.
NI: Yeah.
KP: Actually, can you tell us what the Club looked like? The dining room was on the second deck just on the beach was it? So there was a real good view of the ocean.
NI: On the beach side to the ocean the dining room was upstairs, the bar was on the Ewa side and the dining room … and underneath that was the Beach Patrol with “Sally” Hale and the beachboys and it was also canoe storage. We still had the Hau Terrace. You could go downstairs from the bar area on the Ewa side of the Club and the Hau Terrace was down there. Another interesting thing the hau tree that is planted on the present location of the Club came from the old Hau Terrace.
KP: Isn’t that interesting. Took a root and part of a branch and …
NI: It now covers the Hau Terrace.
KP: Could you just get drinks there, or could you get kau kau.
NI: On the Hau Terrace? On the Hau Terrace you could get drinks, and also pupu platters.
KP: Oh, I see.
NI: Another thing might be interesting, when I first joined the Club it was a men’s club and we didn’t have any women members, so the women got together and started a club called the Uluniu. At that time they were located on the Diamond Head side of the Outrigger Canoe Club, but in 1940-41 when we were going to build our new club we made a trade with them to straighten out the property – the property line was this way, and we made a trade with them so that the Uluniu took all the old buildings and moved them over to the Ewa side.
KP: Ah, yes, I remember that, close to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Used to be close to the Moana, now it is close to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
NI: Right, Of course that was kind of an old ladies’ club, you couldn’t go in without a top on ….
KP: [Laugh] They had a nice second story, do you remember that? You could go up and read……
NI: Uluniu?
KP: Yeah.
NI: Do you remember the Japanese couple who used to serve teriyaki? If you wanted to you could have … they would have an afternoon tea, or they could also fix a sukiyaki dinner.
KP: They washed the suits and kept the place clean. They were great …..
NI: … Just two people.
KP: Yeah.
NI: A man and his wife.
KP: How about er, did some financial … some businesses come in at that time on Kalakaua. Didn’t the bank start a little branch – this was to help pay the lease, I think.
NI: Well, in 1940 when we were building the new Club, as we called it, the front portion which used to be our parking area was made into several shops. We had Honolulu Book Shop in there, there was a real estate office, there was a sporting goods shop. There was a stamp and coin shop, Madame DuBois’ husband ran that one.
KP: Oh, yes. How about the bank? Vin Danford, one of our Presidents had a branch – remember that small branch, right at the entrance?
NI: Yes, but I don’t remember which bank that was. I remember that Tradewind Tours was also there ……
KP: Oh, yeah.
NI: … in that, what we called the foyer, before you went in to the Outrigger Club.
KP: Now, was that when they put a dance pavilion up on the second deck?
NI: Oh, the dance pavilion was a dance floor, we also had our annul meetings there. That was in the ‘Old Club’.
KP: That was the Old Club.
NI: Downstairs were the two locker rooms with cold water showers …..
KP: [Laugh]
NI: … it was a wooden building – a frame wooden building, it was the only meeting room they had at that Club.
KP: Now, Wilford Godbold was President of the Outrigger from ’46 to ’53 – that’s seven years, incredible. Can you tell us something about him? Wasn’t he also involved in negotiations with the Elks Club later on, in all the lease arrangements.
NI: I really don’t know. I know the negotiations with the Elks Club there were Sam Fuller, Vince Danford, Les Hicks who were quite active, and I think Tom Singlehurst, too. I don’t know if Wilford was involved. He probably was if he was the President.
KP: Well, he was a pretty good negotiator. But, I tell you another thing I’d like to hear about. In 1945 Alexander Hume Ford passed away; now he was the founder of the Club. Tell us, I am sure you remember him, he was quite a guy. Tell us a little about him.
NI: Well, “Pop” Ford was a wonderful man. When I think of all the good times and fellowship and friendship the Outrigger Canoe Club has provided so many, many people, and I have to admire old “Pop” Ford. Although in his later years, I can hardly say …..
KP: He got a little bit slovenly, didn’t he?
NI: Yeah.
KP: He didn’t look as though he pressed his pants for two weeks.
NI: That’s right.
KP: But, he was a fantastic guy and …
NI: He was a dreamer and I think in his wildest dreams he wouldn’t have envisioned the Outrigger as it is today. He made an awful lot of people happy with that Club he struggled to get started.
KP: Now, in 1949, the Board of Directors appointed a new Club Captain. “Dad” Center had been the Club Captain for many years, but retired at 38. The new Captain was William F. Barnhart, Jr. – Bill Barnhart. Could you tell us something about this man? It was a long time ago.
NI: Sure. “Whiskey” Barnhart. His father had been President of the Club. Is “Whiskey” still around?
KP: He’s still quite active with the Judges of the Election Committee.
NI: Still going strong.
KP: Yes, “Whiskey’s” a nice guy. Now, when they were building that Club in ’39-’40 and so on – what did we change? The locker room was demolished, I think, and then redone.
NI: Yes, they waited until the last minute to put the new one in there. At the Moana Hotel there was a bathhouse where you could rent bathing suits and things. We made a deal with them where we could change while the construction was going on at the Outrigger.
KP: Neal, I don’t know whether you remember this or not, but in June of 1950, the Chairman of the Club’s Canoe Committee – you were the Chairman that year. You can’t remember? You extended an invitation to nine other clubs and organizations to attend a special meeting, and the Outrigger Canoe Club established the Hawaiian Canoe Racing and Surfing Association. Can you tell us anything you can remember about that organization or the get-together.
NI: That would be too long a story.
KP: Just tell us some of the clubs that were involved.
NI: Well, when I first paddled for Outrigger we have Outrigger, Hui Nalu and Healani. Just prior to that there was a Mytrle Boat Club, but they went out of existence, and we had three clubs that were involved in canoeing. With the advent of the HCRA the interest in canoeing and canoe racking kind of perked up and now I think there are some forty or fifty canoe clubs in the islands, which is great. I encourage the kids, especially the young ones, to get out there and paddle. It’s a good clean sport. When they go to school, they come home from school, go out and paddle for a couple of hours. They go home, eat dinner, do their homework and hit the sack. They are not going to go out and steal hub caps and stuff like that because they are pooped. That’s why I have always encouraged guys to go out for surfing, canoeing or paddling. I have a wife and a son, both of them very much involved.
KP: Your wife has been on a winning team or two, hasn’t she?
NI: My wife’s team seven years in a row won the State Championship. She paddled last year in the Molokai and is training for it again this year.
KP: How about your son, Tommy. What teams has he been on?
NI: Tommy, with a lot of coercion I was able to get Tommy in the Outrigger when he was nine years old, and he steered the 12-and-under Outrigger team to State Championship when he was nine years old; until the time he went to college he was paddling for the Club. So in college, naturally he switched over to crew.
KP: He made the crew?
NI: Oh, he made the crew.
KP: Really?
NI: Not only did he make the crew but the Oregon crew beat California and Washington crews which is quite a feat.
KP: Terrific.
NI: Tommy was on the four-man and the eight-man crews, which is also quite hard, because crewing is one of the hardest sports on the body that they have.
KP: Now, there’s one fellow who is more responsible for canoe racing – canoeing in general – even the building of canoes, construction, “Toots” Minvielle. Can you tell us something about this guy?
NI: “Toots” was an exceptional person. He was a dedicated canoe man. I think he knew more about canoes than practically … well, between “Toots” and “Dad” Center, I would say they were the two top……
KP: Were you on the Board when “Toots” attempted to start the Molokai race and got turned down – I think it was in 1952?
NI: No, I wasn’t on the Board then, but I was a supporter of “Toots” in practically anything he did. The other good canoe man was “Yoyo” Ernstberg. Prior to that we had a man, Edric Cook, who was one of the ….
KP: He was one of the old-timers.
NI: …old-timers. Edric Cook and Gay Harris were canoe people, too.
KP: Remember when Edric Cook used to make surfboards? He’d get these redwood planks from Lewers & Cooke and make surfboards.
NI: That was my first surfboard. It was a redwood plank – one paddle and it would stop, paddle and stop, paddle and stop. [Laugh]
KP: How much did they weigh? 80 pounds?
NI: I don’t know. I’ve forgotten now how heavy they were but …
KP: They were pretty heavy.
NI: What next, Ken?
KP: Let’s see now, in 1952 Les Hicks, the watchdog of the Building Fund, reported that the funds stood at $180,000, and it was important that the Club find a permanent home. He noted that the lease was up in ’63 which was just eleven years away. Do you remember anything regarding the arguments about staying and going – let’s touch base on that – what do remember?
NI: That I remember well. We had to … we knew we had to move because we wouldn’t be able to afford the lease rent at the present location there, which was between the Royal Hawaiian and the Moana Hotel, so we were able to make a deal with the Elks Club for half of their property on a long term lease, and you should have heard the outcry at the Outrigger Canoe Club … What, go way up there to the end of the beach!
KP: [Laugh]
NI: We lost about fifty members at that time.
KP: Lorrin Thurston was very much against it at that time.
NI: Lorrin Thurston, yeah. I remember there were a number of them – as I say about fifty members quit because they weren’t going to go the heck up to the end of Kalakaua. But, I think that was one of the smartest moves we ever made, because I’d hate to be down between those hotels now in that jungle in Waikiki.
KP: Remember that party there at the old Club, I think it was the end of the year, just before they moved down to the new Club? They gave a big party in the old dining room.
NI: I think I remember vaguely, but that was quite a party. Portions of the old Club were stashed away in various homes around here. You got a little more, there, Ken?
KP: Yeah, Oh, you’re doing fine, you’re doing fine … How about telling us about the big move. I don’t know, I was too busy I think, I didn’t help out. Do you remember about that? That must have been a big job, taking the records down, and all the equipment ….
NI: Actually, it wasn’t that big a job because the records hadn’t been kept too well. We didn’t have much stuff to move, it was either old and decrepit and a lot of things were thrown out. The only problem was moving the canoes and surfboards and big trucks took care of that as far as I remember. It didn’t take very long because the Club at 2909 Kalakaua and everything brand new in there. There was some kitchen equipment to move, but not too much. They bought a lot of things new.
KP: Now to get back to “Toots” Minvielle. Did you attend his funeral a few months ago?
NI: Of course.
KP: Now this is rather interesting. We’ve had quite a few of these. Tell us what you remember about this funeral.
NI: I don’t know how to say it. It was kind of a sad occasion for me because I figured “Toots” was one of my … we called him “Uhu”
KP: Yes.
NI: In fact, I knew “Toots” father. I don’t know about the funeral …
KP: Tell us about …
NI: … taking out the ashes, and there were a lot of people there.
KP: They went out in a canoe with four or five paddlers…
NI: Yeah. It was a sad, sad occasion.
KP: “Toots” was such a great guy – he won the Castle Swim back in … three years in a row, I think it was 1919, ’20, ’21.
NI: “Toots” was a good athlete.
KP: He knew the construction of canoes like nobody else did. Now, could you tell us, how do you feel about the move to the new Club. This was a good move, wasn’t it?
NI: I think it was the best thing that could have happened to the Outrigger to move up where we are. Now I worry when this lease comes up for negotiation what we are going to end up with, because there’s a good chance we will have to pull up stakes and move again.
KP: Yes, that would be terrible, but values in Waikiki have gone so sky high that it must be a difficult… Actually, we got a steal from the Elks Club. We’re paying $2,500 a month rent at the present time. I am sure that when the lease comes up for renegotiation that the rent is going to go way up, as well as taxes are going up, and all too. So, we have got to kind of tighten our belts… I saw in the paper a week or so ago where the lease at the Kahala Hilton went up to, I think, $5,800,000 [Laugh]. I don’t think we could afford that, could we?
NI: No, no. For a room in the Colony Surf, which is right next to the Outrigger – you get a nice room there, it’ll cost you $2,000 a month – just for the room in the hotel, where we have the whole area for that; so it’s a good deal for the Outrigger at the present time.
KP: Now, Neal, since 1968 you have either been on the House Committee or on the Board of Directors or Coordinating director somewhere. Could you make a summation of that? Your paper here goes back to 1968.
NI: Prior to that. I think I’ve been on every committee at the Outrigger, either as a Coordinating director or chairman, or a member of the committee, every one except the Historical Committee, because I am not much of a historian, as you can …
KP: I think you’ve done a terrific job.
NI: Thank you. I’m only too happy to give you a little insight of the old Outrigger Canoe Club, and my best wishes for the prosperity of the Club from now on … Aloha.
KP: Thanks a million, I really appreciate it. Thank you.
NEAL IFEVERSEN
1944 – Admissions and Membership
– Volleyball Committee
1945 – BOARD OF DIERCTORS
1946 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
1947 – BOARD DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Admissions and Membership Committee
1948 – BOARD DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Admissions and Membership Committee
1949 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Athletic Committee
1950 – BOARD OF DIRETORS
1952 – Admissions and Membership Committee
1953 – Admissions and Membership Committee
1957 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Volleyball Committee
– Admissions and Membership Committee
1959 – Admissions and Membership Committee
– Canoe Committee, Chairman
– Judges of Elections
1960 – Judges of Election
1967 – House Committee
1968 – House Committee
1969 – House Committee
1970 – Athletic, Chairman Canoe
– House Committee
1971 – House Committee
– Athletic, Canoe Surfing
1972 – Housing Committee
– Athletic, Canoe Surfing
1974 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Entertainment Committee
1975 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Winged “O” Committee
1976 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Admissions and Membership Committee
1977 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Admissions and Membership Committee
1978 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, House Committee
1979 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Assistant Secretary
1982 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Entertainment Committee
1983 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Entertainment Committee
1984 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinating Director, Long Range Planning Committee
– Coordinating Director, ODKF (Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation)
1985 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Assistant Treasurer, Board of Directors
1991 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Coordinator, Special Projects
1992 – BOARD OF DIRECTORS
– Membership Liaison, Special Projects
Life Member: Neal Ifversen
By Helen Sheehan
“It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy” is what they said when Neal Ifversen was voted Life Membership at the Annual Meeting. Since 1944, Neal has contributed so much to the Club. He has served on the Board of Directors many years and has been chair, or served on almost every committee in the Club. During 1972, Neal organized the popular Sunday morning free canoe rides. When not giving his time to the Outrigger, Neal had a very successful career. He was Consul of Peru in Hawaii for 30 years, was one of the original organizers of HMSA and served as general manager for 15 years. Neal also found time to be a reserve police officer. We salute Neal and thank him for his outstanding contribution.