It’s strange…I’ve been thinking about this thread for the past couple of days, trying
to come up with figures from history that demonstrated the aloha spirit…outside of
the context of Hawaii and surfing. I’m totally stumped.
There’s some obvious ones like Ghandi…the epitome of sharing and selflessness.
John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt for preserving and championing America’s precious
parks and natural spaces.
Jesus? Mike
dale salmonson? woody brown for sure, greg noll had/has his own style of aloha
rather than edit my post to correct my omission let’s bump this thread. Herb Spitzer.
My dad got his first bike from Duke Kahanamoku. My Grampa was the super in NYC where Duke had an apartment. Duke had a bike that he was not using so he asked my Grampa if his son had a bike. Of course, being poor, he had no bike so Duke gave him his.
I can only comment from personal experience, not from photos,
articles in mags, or second-hand stories.
My first vote would be Bennie.
When I was in college, I was so haole, I didn’t know I was
haole. My oldest friend had a roommate from Hawaii that was a
friend of Ben’s and asked me to go with him for Christmas break.
I went and Ben Aipa kinda adopted me as the resident dumb haole.
He took me to Sunset, Pipe, Unknowns & lots of other spots including
Westside. He introduced me to the line-ups & bruddas so I wouldn’t
get beat down. He gave me a board to ride when mine broke and asked
nothing in return. I’m just glad I had the chance to see him in the states
& thank him many years later. True Aloha…
Second would be Oneula…
Bernie carries on the Aloha here and in the water. I’m still tryin to
figure out how to pay it back!!! Us older guys could learn a lot from him.
Lastly, there’s guys out there that I would say that have the aloha
spirit and might not get credit because they aren’t from the islands.
You might have one in mind… mine is George Gall. He has given his
help to many here and should be in our minds when Aloha is mentioned.
Thats it for now, aloha bruddas from the hapa…
BKB
Bill Thrailkill =
…“Aloha Spirit” which I casually define as open friendliness.
…“kokua” which (to keep it short) I define as giving all you can, without expectation of reward, because you have what another person needs, and it’s the right thing to help someone in need. …
When we were much younger, we’d see Ben Aipa surfing at Diamond Head or Ala Moana Bowls a lot. He’d be doing these top turns we call off-da-lips, but he’d be doing these off guys in front of him. He is a really powerful surfer, so when he did that to you, it sent a message.
I started talking to him in the surf during late 70’s and found that he was a really nice guy. Always spoke about his design ideas without hesitation. He always had a reason for the designs he made. He seemed a lot nicer than the Ben I remember blasting guys out of the water with a wicked top turn. Over the years, he’s always been friendly and willing to discuss boards in or out of the water. He’s one of Hawaii’s surfing treasures.