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.
Part 2
Interview by J, Ward Russell
February 25,1995
This is February 25 , 1995. I am Ward Russell (JWR), member of the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club, a committee that has been conducting oral interviews of some of our most prominent members.Today it is my pleasure to interview Past President Tom Arnott (TA). We are in the Duke Room of the Club on a very beautiful Saturday mornlng.
JWR: Tom, good morning.
TA: Good morning, Ward.
JWR: I am delighted to have you here. Let’s have a little background on you. Where were you born?
TA: I was born here in Honolulu, at the Kapiolani Maternity Hospital, on August 26, 1921.
JWR: Twenty-one, that makes you…..
TA: That makes me 73.
JWR: Tell me a bit about your parents.
TA: My father was from London, England, and my mother from Portland, Oregon, and my dad met my mother on a trip around the world. He was taking a trip from England, going all the way around. He met my mother here and married her here and never left. He remained as an English citizen, never becoming an American. I’m an American, but he never made it.
JWR: Do you have any brothers and sisters?
TA: Yeah, my brother, Bob. He passed away quite a few years ago. He wasn’t a member of the Outrigger. My brother had two sons, Bobby and Tom, and they were both members of the Outrigger. Then they both left and moved to Hawaii and gave up their memberships. They were active in volleyball, paddling.
JWR: What about you, what kind of a family do you have?
TA: I have one son, adopted, he’s 40 years old, he lives in California. He’s in a very important trade which he seems to like – that is sales. He’s sort of taken on my position when I was sales manager for Carnation Company, in the food sales business.
JWR: Let’s talk about your educational background. Where did you go to school?
TA: I went to school at Roosevelt, Roosevelt High School, and I attended, but did not graduate from, the University of Hawaii. The War broke out and that sort of nullified that. Then I was studying to be an architect before the War, going to night school, and then when the War broke out I was drafted into Pearl Harbor. They recruited me right in there and I became a draftsman there. I was at Pearl Harbor all during the War as an architectural draftsman.
JWR: How did you go from architecture to Carnation?
TA: Yes, that is a good one. [Laughter] Just perchance I met a guy by the name of John Wilkinson who was a vice president of Carnation and we became very friendly. About three days later he said, “Come down to the Royal, I’d like to interview and talk to you”. That’s how I became associated with Carnation. I decided there was a little too much after all to go into architecture again, I was away from it for four years – so I figured there was a chance of going with this thing. I enjoyed it and I was with Carnation for 41 years.
JWR: 41 years.
TA: . . . in sales, became district manager-Pacific, for all of Hawaii, Micronesia, Guam, Saipan and all that.
JWR: Have your activities taken you to visit all these places?
TA: Yes. Uh-uh.
JWR: Really?
TA: Yes, at least two times a year, I’d go on a tour. We had four sales
managers who we worked with and I’d go and do my sales work with them.
JWR: You are retired now?
TA: I am retired, am retired for five years now.
JWR: Let’s go back to your days at Roosevelt High School – what sports were you in?
TA: I was in track. I ran the 440 and I played football – not extensively because I was too tall and too light. I was a good runner but I just didn’t have the weight to make a good football player.
JWR: What year were you running the 440?
TA: That was way back in 19 . . . oh, god … ’39, ’40, somewhere there…. about that time. We ran against our great competitors, Punahou. [Laughter]
JWR: Was that in the late thirties?
TA: Yes, it was in the thirties.
JWR: When did you join the Outrigger Canoe Club?
TA: I became interested in the Outrigger Canoe Club when I was nine years old. I used to come down here with my uncle who was a member, Robert Katshner. He was an avid member and wanted me to join the Club, and he sponsored me, that’s how I became a member.
JWR: What year was that?
TA: Let’s see, nine years old, that goes back – I’d have to figure that one out. Anyway, I’ve been a member for 64 years.
JWR: How old are you now?
TA: I’m 64 years!
JWR: You’ve been a member 64 years!
TA: How about you, Ward?
JWR: I’ve only been a member…I didn’t join until after World War II. I’ve only been a member forty-some years. What are your recollections of the old Club, when you first joined?
TA: I can go back and remember the old, old Club, you know when we had the Hau Terrace. That was still on Kalakaua Avenue. We had a parking lot you had to go in and it could only park about 30 cars at the most. That was at the front entry to the Club. It was a one-story structure with an upper structure that was a dance hall which we used to rent out every Saturday night. It was quite a going thing. The lower structure was locker rooms and a little area which had to do with the Front Desk where old Pop Ford used to be. Those were the days of Lex Brodie, Waldo Bowman and all the great athletes that went up through the ranks; and Lex, at one time was a tremendous high jumper and volleyball player. I had all my basic training with those guys.
JWR: You remember Alexander Ford – was he around?
TA: Oh, yeah. He was a cute little guy. He always wore a white suit and he always looked ruffled, do you remember? He never looked like he was neat, sort of a dirty looking guy, but a very nice fellow, very nice. In the second Club he’d climb up the rungs of the entry to the Club where there was a gutter, and he’d reach up and clean up the gutter with his hands.
JWR: Really?
TA: Yeah, and he’d do that every day. It was sort of a ritual [Laughter} Here comes Pop! [Laugh]
JWR: For goodness sake.
TA: And he was a very sort of intense individual. He didn’t meet a lot of people. He wasn’t very friendly. He was quite a guy.
JWR: Let’s see, you were nine years old when you joined the Club.
TA: Uh-uh.
JWR: What other recollections of the Club do you have?
TA: The old Club?
JWR: Yeah, the old Club.
TA: Well, I can remember the stand at the old Club where we mounted the famous large clock. Do you remember that?
JWR: Yes, yes.
TA: That was on a separate stand that was out on the beach, and we would time ourselves when we went out to go surfing. We could see that clock and come in as close as we could, and then paddle back out and time total amount of hours that we were out there. We’d always try to outdo each other. I remember one time when I was out there for eight-and-a-half hours surfing [Laugh] came in with all the duck bumps [Laugh], just trying to outdo each other, you know.
JWR: When did you first get on a surfboard?
TA: Gee, whiz, l guess when I was about eleven years old.
JWR: How did you first learn, because they were big heavy boards?
TA: It took two of us to take those redwood boards out, we’d make our own boards. We used to go down to, I’ve forgotten the name of that place near the Ala Moana Shopping Center, right across the street. There was a big mill there, and we’d go down and get their . . .
JWR: Lewers & Cooke.
TA: Lewers & Cooke, yes. We’d go down and get these big planks and then go up and shape our boards. They weighed a ton.
JWR: [Laugh]
TA: And then we began to get a little smarter. We’d cut out the center of the board, and then put a plate over it. This made it a little lighter. Then we went into Swastika boards, they were balsa boards. Do you remember those?
JWR: Yup.
TA: Balsa – they were laminated, redwood and balsa. That was a good board.
JWR: Did you make your own balsa boards?
TA: We did make our redwood boards, but the Swastika was a brand that came out of California.
JWR: What did you call it?
TA: Swastika.
JWR: Swastika?
TA: It had a swastika imprint on it. And from there we went into hollow boards. I had a hollow board and oh, they were great. Nice and light, easy to surf. In fact, you’d get into the heavy winds – you could fly over the back of the waves they were so light.
JWR: Where did you first surf, what section of the beach?
TA: In an area called Cornucopia.
JWR: Where would that be?
TA: That would be right out in front of the Royal. It’s where you could go out, there is a sand spit there, right next to Canoe Surf and you could stand up, so when a wave came in it was easy to push off, and that’s how I learned most of my beginning surfing. I gradually got over to Canoe Surf and on to an area called Ka Dung which is a break right near there.
JWR: In previous interviews I have made the mistake of not asking people to identify where these surfing areas are specifically located, now you mentioned you surfed at Cornucopia and then the next one . . .
TA: Well from there you go to an area called Blow Hole.
JWR: Blow Hole would be where, now?
TA: That’ s out in front of the old Club, and then further going towards Queen’s Surf would be Canoe Surf, and then from there would be Ka Dung and then. . .
JWR: I’ve never heard anybody use that word Ka Dung.
TA: Ka Dung [Laugh] Ka Dung was when you went through Canoe Surf and you would slide right. Ka Dung was the wave that would break over you and get you, so we always called it Ka Dung [Laugh] It was always a challenge to make it through Ka Dung, if you made it through Ka Dung you were great.
JWR: Well then what was the other surf?
TA: Well, behind Canoe Surf was First Break and then Zero Break was off in the middle of the bay, and then further out – way out – was called Bloopers. That was out in blue water, once every five years you’d get them. Then, to the right (west) in front of the Halekulani Hotel is Popular Surf, that was a good surf. The great surf areas were Popular, Canoe and the Queen’s Surf.
JWR: Then the surf toward Diamond Head, what about that?
TA: Toward Diamond Head – I didn’t go out there that often. As you went out there right next to Queen’s. . .
JWR: Cunha. . .
TA: . . . Cunha, yes that’s right. Cunha was right along in that area right in front of . . .
JWR: Right out from Aoki’s Store.
TA: Right. Gee whiz you go back a long way, too. [Laugh]
JWR: Then Public Baths and Castle.
TA: Castle is outside.
JWR: Right out – way out, toward Bloopers.
TA: I remember one day surfing with Duke, David and Sam Kahanamoku when we went out and caught a huge wave at Castle’s. You know where the reef is, along there? We went in towards the reef – cut left, and went all the way right up to Canoe Surf and up to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. When I sat down on the board, I was just shaking.
JWR: Shaking?
TA: I couldn’t even pick the board up, and Duke and the rest went back out. I couldn’t, that was it for me. [Lauqh]
JWR: Then, your favorite surf was the area in front of Waikiki?
TA: Yeah. But in those days you know that was the only place to surf; now there is Makaha and all the way around the Island. We never had surf reports, we’d call the Club and they’d give us the condition of the waves. That was when I was living in Manoa and we couldn’t see the ocean to see what it was like. I’d call the Club, “Are there any waves? What are the waves like?” OK, I’ll be down. [Laughter]
JWR: Tell me about Duke. I know that you were one of “Duke’s Boys”.
TA: Yeah.
JWR: Tell us about that.
TA: Well, I met Duke through the Club in surfing and doing things like that and we became friends. He decided he would start a six-man crew for the Outrigger. We had them, but they were really not that good. So one day a bunch of us were all sitting around on the beach in front of the Club and Duke came up and said, “Hey, you kids look like you are in good shape, do you want to learn how to paddle a canoe – really learn how to paddle a canoe? If you will come along with me … ” Sure, we’ll go, so he started us on paddling a canoe. He was a very strict, particular, hard guy to work with. I used to get so darned mad with him at times. I remember one time I had a bad cold, I was waiting on the beach and I said, “Duke I don’t think l’d better go, I’ve got a bad cold.” So he got into the canoe and said, “Get into the canoe.” We started paddling and I just felt real bad. So we went out and at that time we had markers outside for the Walter Macfarlane Canoe Race and they had the flags out, so we practiced going around the marks, and the third time around I jumped overboard. I quit when we got in close to shore. For a month after that I would go down everyday and sit on the beach. He would have nothing to do with me, not even talk to me. Finally he said, “Kid, get in the canoe.” I had a real good lesson, so – he was that kind of a stickler. Boy. when we would go out and paddle from the old Outrigger along parallel to the beach up the Ala Wai Canal, back down the Ala Wai Canal back up to the Outrigger and then he’d say, “OK, one time around the flag” that was out for the Walter Macfarlane. At that time the flag was a mile out; it wasn’t a quarter of a mile, it was a mile. We’d go out, go around the flag, and come back in. We’d expect him to say, “Right on, OK.” No way! We would go around again – and again – just continuous to where we were in absolutely fantastic shape; no one could touch us. It was because of that shape and that conditioning that we never lost a race, we never even got close to it. We would swamp a canoe coming in, and then catch up with the other canoes that had passed us – we were in that good condition. Fantastic. One time – on a Sunday that was awards day he would really give it to us – we started at seven o’clock in the morning and we’d be pau, maybe around 10:30 or 11 a.m., we’d go out into blue water, way, way outside then he’d say, “Wane-off”, and we stopped and we’d all jump overboard, relax and loosen up. Then we’d come back into the Club and take our showers and have a nice big brunch and go and see the first show at the Waikiki Theater. Duke would go along with us and we’d all be sitting there in the back seats, look over at Duke and he’d be sound asleep. He didn’t see the show. [Laughter] This was every Sunday, he’d go to sleep.
JWR: You paddled and he got tired!
TA: Yeah. But he was a stickler for conditioning, that was the main thing. If we didn’t have the conditioning we couldn’t have been so successful.
JWR: You had quite a record of winning.
TA: We never lost a race.
JWR: Never lost a race.
TA: Never lost a race. even in two-man with Jimmy Pfleuger. I paddled as steersman and Jimmy was the stroke, two-man; then they had four-man and six-man and we never lost any one of those races at all – Duke was a stickler, he was a coach!
JWR: About how long a period was that?
TA: About seven years.
JWR: Really? Seven years?
TA: Seven years. We stuck together, the crew was there all the time. We even had competitive crews from the Club – two competitive crews from the Club – two competitive crews that came up and they couldn’t touch us because of our condition, they were “fat okole” kind of paddlers, they just couldn’t work as hard as we could.
JWR: That’s interesting.
TA: We paddled in Honolulu Harbor, raced there for awhile – in dead water. We really had to paddle there – you know that was hard, that was really hard, because there was no motion in the water. You get out in open water and you have the wind and you have the currents and all that to help you.
JWR: Is there anything more about paddling or Duke you can remember?
TA: I used to . . . I started with Duke. I crewed with him about four years. l learned a lot about sailing from Duke and then I got interested in sailing in TRANSPAC. I sailed in three TRANSPAC races.
JWR: You sailed in three TRANSPAC races?
TA: On Larry Doheny’s boat, the Kamalii, a 76-foot ketch, in fact I sailed on the Kamalii all down through Mexico to Acapulco and then all the way up to the Northwest. Larry and I were talking about that, we figured that I sailed 38,000 miles on his yacht.
JWR: How old were you then?
TA: Ah, let’s see, I was about 40.
JWR: Really?
TA: Yeah.
JWR: You’ve had a remarkable water career, haven’t you?
TA: Oh, yeah, it was a lot of fun, sometimes you’d get out there in the TRANSPAC… You’d start, it would be a lot of fun . . . everybody would be together in the crew and then the race would start and you’d go out into the ocean. In one race out about 25 miles we got into the doldrums, there’d be no wind, you’d just sit there, waiting, the sail making all this lapping sound, and you’d go down below and it would be hot and humid and you’d sweat in a wet suit and you’d say What am I doing out here, what is all this about, they call this a sport, what the heck is it? It is funny, then finally about the third day we got into the trades – then, oh boy, was that good, going around in swim suits getting a tan and enjoying it, oh, it is just beautiful and the camaraderie was great, too.
JWR: How did you finish?
TA: We had, let’s see, 70-some odd boats in that race and the closest we ever got, we came in ninth, which is all right, what the heck.
JWR: A wonderful experience.
TA: Yes, it is. lt’s the camaraderie that does it, you know the closeness you have with your fellow crew members.
JWR: Some people say after those races, “Well, never again”, and then next time the race comes up they are back again.
TA: That’s right. That’s what I said.
JWR : What am I.
TA: Again! [Laughter]
JWR: How about volleyball?
TA: Volleyball. Oh, I played volleyball way back in ’46 with Sargent Kahanamoku, we had a two-man at that time. guess they still have it. We became two-man volleyball champs in 1947. I played a lot of volleyball. Sargent was a crazy kind of guy. He had a lot of good friends and some who didn’t like him very much be cause he was a clown. He’d yell “pukaball, surferball” and I would pass it over to him and instead of getting the ball in his hands he’d let it bounce off his head and it would go over the net, [Laugh] and he’d cause a riot. “Hey, you can’t do that.”
JWR: He was a character.
TA: He really was.
JWR: What is your recollection of the Kahanamoku brothers? How many of them did you know and which did you know?
TA: Oh, I knew all of them. Bill, I guess is still around, he’s a hunchback. And then Sam was working with Doris Duke Cromwell. He worked for her as a driver and housekeeper, I guess. David was a captain in the Army, then he retired and had a home over on Maui for quite a while. He married and divorced. Duke, you know him. Louis, I guess he went into the military, didn’t he?
JWR: I think he worked for the government in Honolulu and then he and his wife moved to Kona.
TA: Yeah, yeah, and then he passed away.
JWR: He was sort of the father of canoe racing on Hawaii – very active.
TA: Yes. That’s right they both were very active, that’s right.
JWR: It was due to them, they brought the Tahitian canoes to Hawaii and created problems in the HCRA.
TA: [laugh]
JWR: The canoes didn’t conform to the specifications of the HCRA (Hawaii Canoe Racing Association).
TA: They also brought their own paddles with the T-tops.
JWR: You’ve seen a number of clubs – the old Club – the 1941 Club.
TA: Yeah, that’s right. I was going to school, and during the summer – Ralph Woolley was the guy involved in the 1941 Club, he built it, he was the contractor and I worked for him.
JWR: Oh, did you?
TA: … worked on the foundation – with a shovel for the 1941 Club, so as soon as the whistle was blown I’d run down, and take off my… I had my swim suit on underneath – and surf for an hour after work. That was good fun, you know, to be right there all the time. So I actually watched the construction of the 1941 Club.
JWR: Well , a lot happened in your 64 years, there have been so many changes.
TA: Yeah, yeah. All of them good. Even the change we have right now, it is a great, great addition to the Club.
JWR: You must have some pretty good memories of some of the characters that. . .
TA: Oh, yeah.
JWR: How about the managers? Is there any one particular manager that you…
TA: Oh, what was his name?
JWR: One I remember was Ted Magill.
TA: Oh, Magill, he was a character. I was thinking of the guy who, er – the canoe that’s in the Club now, that’s up in the bar, up on top, it’s called the Stephanie that was after his daughter. He was manager of the Club at that time. I can’t think of his name.
JWR: We’ll think of it.
TA: Anyway, he was a real character, a very hot tempered kind of guy. He’d really get into fist fights with some of the members.
JWR: Really?
TA: If they weren’ t . . . Henry DeGorog! Remember him?
JWR: Oh, yes.
TA: God, he was a feisty son of a gun. I’ve seen him get into fights. I don’t know why he sticks in my memory, but he was a character. Who was the other one that you mentioned? The other manager.
JWR: Magill. Ted Magill. He was manager twice. He came back and…
TA: Then we had a guy who just lasted about a year, Freddy Mosher. He was in there for a while.
JWR: Well, he was quite an athlete at one time; he was active in paddling, and canoeing and everything else. What’s happened to him, do you know?
TA: Gee, I don’t know. I think he moved to the Mainland. I couldn’t tell you.
JWR: I liked him very much.
TA: Yeah. He was good.
JWR: Can you remember any other employees? Maxie?
TA: Oh, Maxie. Oh, gosh he was great. He was good to us, always gave all of us old members a little extra. He’d go to the kitchen to get an extra scoop of rice, a little more gravy. [Laugh]
JWR: Remember Richard?
TA: Richard, yes, oh boy! The fountain in the downstairs bar.
JWR: Anzai?
TA: Yes, the bartender. Anzai’s Banzai!
JWR: Have you seen him since he retired?
TA: Anzai lives in Hawaii Kai. I used to go to a friend’s place and he was a few doors down, I’d go over and see him. He looks just the same. If you ever wrote a book about us and our experiences with Anzai’s Banzai, it would be grounds for blackmail!
TA: Sure would! I remember one incident when a prominent younger member climbed into the canoe which was anchored to the ceiling over the bar and wouldn’t come down!
JWR: Can you think of any other old-timers who might have done something like that?
TA: Oh, I’d say there were a number of them . . . Mark Buck…Oh, Ron Sorrell . . .
JWR: Right, real rascals who became presidents of the Club! [Laughter] How about you?
TA: I never made it up there – too old by that time.
JWR: … but you made President.
TA: Yes, I made President.
JWR: Let me ask you a few questions about the period prior to your becoming President. I remember you served on a number of committees. What were the committees you served on?
TA: Oh, I think I served on . . .the only committee I didn’t serve on was the Budget. I guess I didn’t have any interest in that, but I served on every one of the others.
JWR: Were you Club Captain?
TA: Club Captain at the old Club and at the new Club. That was when we were rebuilding the athletic program at the new Club. It is amazing the different areas the Club has gone through in different athletic endeavors. Like when we first started we were interested ln paddling, canoeing and volleyball and look at it now, baseball is in it, sailing, tennis, golf, jogging, weight lifting, marathon running and all kinds of areas – kayaking.
JWR: We used to have a track team.
TA: A track team, right. That’s right we did.
JWR: We have old pictures in our archives of our track team.
TA: I think Lex (Brodie) ran, and I think Waldo was in there, too. Waldo Bowman. Too bad we didn’t have Lex stay on with us.
JWR: What year were you President?
TA: 1966-1967, for two years.
JWR: Before that, Treasurer, Vice President?
TA: I was V ice President and then I was the Treasurer, and was on every doggone committee that they had before, and I served on the Board for six years.
JWR: Six years. Did you take an interval off and then go back on the Board?
TA: No. I took my two years as President.
JWR: You can say you served your, sort of, civic duty…
TA: That’s right.
JWR: . . . and leave it to the younger folks.
TA: Yeah. Members would ask “Why don’t you get back on the Board?” No way. The Club seems to work out all right without us, Ward. [Laughter]
JWR: One thing you haven’t mentioned that I know about you – how about the Winged “O”?
TA: Oh, the Winged “O”. Yeah, well that was formulated when l was President of the Club. Bill Brooks came to me and said we’ve got to start recognizing some of our outstanding athletes, and really put them into an area where they can have a little togetherness; where they can work together in meetings to help build Club athletics. And I said that’s a good idea, so we got a bunch of athletic members together, put a whole bunch of names together and formed the Outrigger Winged “O” Committee. We meet about two times a year, and we formulated activities that have to do with athletics, and also we created more athletic activities, That’s the idea of the whole thing. It’s like a hui, a group of fellows to keep the interest in athletics. There is always a fear in back of all our minds that maybe one day the Outrigger will be a social club and that was one of the main reasons we started the Winged “O”.
JWR: I think it has served as an inspiration to a lot of …
TA: Yeah.
JWR: . . . to strive to be recognized. Incidentally, what is the name of the group that…..
TA: The Kamaaina Hui? That’s something that generated the Winged “O”, the Kamaaina Hui.
JWR: I remember when I was invited to join the Kamaaina Hui. It was really an honor.
TA: Yeah, you and the old timers. We used to meet over at Bill Hollinger’s and then at the Club.
JWR: Then when we moved down here it sort of petered out. I guess when we moved away from the old location people felt the new Club had to prove itself. Then, of course, the Winged “O” came into being. It was wonderful.
TA: There are only 37 members of the Winged “O”. Some years we don’t have any recommendations to sponsor new Winged “O” members. One year we had three, and for two years we had zero; so it just depends on the athletes.
JWR: Getting back to the planning for the move to the Club’s present location, did you serve on any committees at that time? I have a recollection that you were very active.
TA: Yes, I was. I was on the Building & Grounds, and I remember the Directors of the Club with their shovels making the first dig for the foundation of the Club. That was an experience because it was a different trend of what the Outrigger Club was going to be – what it was, at the old site, in 1941 then moving to our new site up here. There was a great transition at that time because there were old members who said we’d never make it – we are not in Waikiki – the new club would never be the same and we lost a lot of members because of that. Then I was on the membership drive, went out and called individual old members and explained what we were doing, which way we were going, we wrote letters and did everything possible. Amazingly in about five or six years we started to see the wheel turn and come back to where we picked up some of the old members. We had membership drives, no initiation fee. Come and join us, and we picked up a few that way. And then all of a sudden now that we are into an initiation fee of $10,000 to become a member, there are old members who have been away from us for quite a while who have come back into the fold.
JWR: What is the initiation fee now?
TA: Gee, $10,000. I know that the initiation fee for a Nonresident is fifteen grand, and that’s the highest. The higher Nonresident fee was established originally to minimize applications for this category of membership so as to protect the interests of the large number of applicants who were on our waiting list for regular membership.
JWR: We’ve been down here now for thirty-one years.
TA: It’s hard to believe.
JWR: Hard to believe – a whole new generation.
TA: That’s right.
JWR: Are you currently on any committee?
TA: Yeah, Admitting and Membership. It always amazes me when I sit there watching the new members coming in to apply, and I see the son of a friend applying. I think, my God, do you mean to tell me he has a son who is 22 years old. [Laugh] There he is applying for membership, it’s amazing.
JWR: During your presidency were there any events that were interesting or outstanding?
TA: I think the biggest drive we had during my presidency was trying to get old members back into the Club, and we were very worried as to whether we would succeed, really, and it was a hard struggle. That was the biggest thing when I was President. It was tough. We had a very small membership, they were dropping like flies and we didn’t know which way to go, really, it was a tough, tough trip.
JWR: That’s interesting. Can you think of any other outstanding events in your long membership that you’d like to be recorded for posterity? [Laughter]
TA: Well, l think, one of the biggest things that happened in my life has been the Outrigger. It was through the Club, and being associated with the Club, that l became employed with Carnation Company, where I met this man John Wilkinson the Vice President and my association over the years that had to do with everything that pertained to athletics and to sailing, like on the Kamalii, that started at the Outrigger. All sorts of social activities that I became acquainted with, started at the Outrigger. My father, the Englishman, used to always say when I had chores to do on Saturday morning, “You have to mow the lawn and you have to trim that side of the hedge”, and all sorts of things, so I’d take off and finish the whole thing and then, “OK, Dad, I am going down to the Outrigger”. He’d say, “That God-damned Outrigger Club”. [Laughter]
JWR: The best thing that happened.
TA: That’s right.
JWR: Tom, this has been a very interesting lnterview.
TA: I’ve enjoyed it, I’ve enjoyed talking with you, Ward, it has brought back a lot of old memories.
JWR: I thank you for your kokua and for all the contributions you have made to the Club.
TA: Thank you, Ward, thank you.
HONORS
1968 Elected to Winged “O”
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE OUTRIGGER CANOE CLUB
Board of Directors
1963 Assistant Secretary
1964 Secretary
1965 Vice President
1966 President
1967 President
1968 Director
Admissions & Membership Committee
1976 Member
1977 Member
1988 Member
1993 Member
1994 Member
Athletic Sponsors Committee
1969 Chair
Beach Services Committee
1945 Member
Canoe Committee
1942 Member
1945 Member
Canoe, Swimming & Surfing Committee
1945 Member
Club Captain
1963-1964
Junior Athletic Committee
1961 Chair
Long Range Planning Committee
1971 Member
1972 Member
Nominating Committee
1969 Chair
1977 Chair
1988 Member
1989 Member
Sailing Committee
1945 Member
Winged “O” Committee
1972 Member
1975 Member
Athletic Achievements
Macfarlane Regatta Championships
1943 Senior 6 Men
1944 Senior 6 Men
1944 Senior 4 Men
1944 6-Man Relay
1945 Senior 6 Men
1945 12 Man Relay
1946 Senior 6 Men
1946 2 Man Paddle
1947 Senior 6 Men
1947 2 Man Paddle
1947 12 Man Relay
1950 Senior 6 Men
6-Man Volleyball Club Championship
1948
1950
1952
4-Man Volleyball Club Championship
1951
Club Doubles Championship
1948