Myron Duarte qualified eight times for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo before he retired in 2013 — he was still riding bulls on the pro circuit at the age of 54 after returning in 2021. He has a 38.31 percent ride rate (213 out of 566) for the 8-second requirement to record a score. His average score is 81.03 and his career high is 94. He earned a reserve world title in 2002, just $8,792 behind PRCA World Champ Blue Stone. Duarte has earned more than $1 million riding bulls in pro rodeos. The St. Anthony High School graduate now runs Duarte Trucking, LLC, a livestock hauling business in California.

Bio by Rob Collias

Kai Lenny was born and raised on Maui before developing into one of the most versatile watermen in the world. Stand Up paddling — where he is a seven-time world champion — was one of his first disciplines, but he also stands out at free surfing, big-wave surfing, kitesurfing freestyle, windsurfing wave, windsurfing foil, kitesurfing foil, wing foil, SUP foil, and foil surfing. In 2013, he finished second in the 2013 KSP Kitesurfing World Championships. Among numerous other world titles, the Red Bull athlete also won the Men’s XXL Biggest Wave Award in 2020 for his 70-foot wave ride. Raising awareness for ocean conservation is also a subject close to Lenny's heart.

Bio by Rob Collias

Ilima Kalama is a waterman, Hawaiian legend, outrigger canoe steersman and champion, and tow-in surfing pioneer, who has excelled at longboard surfing, SUP, outrigger canoe, ski, and windsurfing. Ilima Kalama learned to surf with his father at Waikiki Beach on Oahu, beginning his lifelong love for the ocean. He won the United States Surfing Championships in Huntington Beach, Calif., in 1962. Ilima Kalama passed his love for the ocean to his son, Dave Kalama, an Upcountry resident who became a tow-in big wave pioneer at Peahi on Maui’s North Shore. He has competed at a world-class level as a big-wave surfer/tow-in surfer, SUP surfer and racer, windsurfer, outrigger canoe racer, and is also a surf and SUP board shaper.

Bio by Rob Collias

Kenji Kawaguchi could be called the founding father of the Maui Interscholastic League — he was the first MIL executive secretary, from 1960-84. He was instrumental in the MIL adding Lanai and Molokai high schools in 1984. Kawaguchi grew up in Olowalu and graduated from Lahainaluna High School before he became a star football player at the University of Hawaii. He played in the 1951 Hula Bowl. After retiring as the first head man of the MIL, Kawaguchi kept score at baseball games and worked tirelessly to prepare the field at Maehara Stadium for every game day.

Bio by Rob Collias

As the head of Maui Ocean Rescue and Safety for decades, Archie Kalepa was instrumental in starting the use of Jet Skis as rescue and tow-in craft at big wave places like Peahi (Jaws). He is a Hokule’a crew member, was inducted into the Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame in 2012, and helped lead the boom in stand-up paddling, being the first to cross the Molokai Channel. He was instrumental in developing new and better techniques to save lives using Jet Skis and water sleds. Kalepa has shared his ocean safety expertise with lifeguards in ocean communities around the country.

Bio by Rob Collias

Billy Kemper, who grew up in Haiku, Maui, because a four-time Pe’ahi Challenge Champion to etch his name among the best big-wave surfers of all time. Kemper has secured victories in several World Qualifying Series events at Sunset Beach, won multiple XXL Ride of the Year awards, became the Big Wave Tour World Champion, and dominated the lineup at Peahi. In February 2020, in Morocco, Kemper endured a near-fatal wipeout that resulted in a broken pelvis, a collapsed lung, cracked ribs, and a knee that needed to be reconstructed. A year later, Kemper was back competing on big waves — his recovery was the subject of the docuseries “Billy.”

Bio by Rob Collias

Patsy Mink was one of the authors of Title IX, which when it became law on June 23, 1972, stated that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” The unprecedented legislation led to the development of women’s sports. Mink was born in Paia in 1927, graduated from Maui High School in 1944 as valedictorian and died in 2002. She was the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and the first Asian-American woman to serve in Congress. The softball facility at Maui High is named Patsy Mink Field.

Bio by Rob Collias

Jean Okada was one of the first to develop in to a college tennis player under coach legendary Shigesh “Shigeto” Wakida on the public courts on Front Street in Lahaina. She won the state high school singles title for Lahainaluna High School in 1992. She was inducted into the UC Santa Barbara Hall of Fame in 2010, where she was the school’s first All-American in tennis. She advanced to the main draw of the 1998 U.S. Open, reached No. 300 in the world in January 2001 and was inducted into the Hawaii Pacific Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2014.

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Kimo von Oelhoffen walked on at Boise State University for football after graduating from Molokai High School, which did not have a team. Von Oelhoffen was drafted in the sixth round of the 1994 NFL Draft and enjoyed a 14-year NFL career as a defensive lineman. He was a Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005. Talia von Oelhoffen, Kimo’s daughter, played in the Maui Classic college basketball tournament three times here for Oregon State University. Von Oelhoffen played for Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, the New York Jets and Philadelphia in his NFL career.

Bio by Rob Collias

Dusty Payne, a Lahaina native, became the first from Maui to qualify for World Surf League Championship Tour, in 2010. He competed there for nine seasons and has also competed extensively on the Men’s Qualifying Series, where he made his pro debut in 2008. He won the Reef Hawaiian Pro in 2014 and the Drug Awareness Margaret River Pro in 2013. Payne attended Lahainaluna High School. On Jan. 8, 2018, Payne was pulled unconscious from the waters at Pipeline after wiping out, and had to be revived before being taken to the hospital. He had multiple surgeries and months of rehabilitation, but returned to surf a full slate in 2019.

Bio by Rob Collias

One of the greatest all-around female athletes ever from Maui County, Kalei Adolpho Parker was a standout basketball and All-Big West Conference volleyball player at the University of Hawaii. She was a key player for four NCAA Tournament teams in volleyball at UH. In high school, she led the Farmers to the school’s only basketball (2009) and volleyball (2010) state titles and also won the state high jump title in 2011. The Farmers’ state volleyball title is the first in Maui Interscholastic League history. Parker is now the boys basketball coach at her high school.

Bio by Rob Collias

One of the most illustrious paniolo in history, Ikua Purdy was born in 1873 in Waimea, Hawaii, and was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1999. After a dazzling career on the pro rodeo circuit as a renown steer roper and calf roper, he worked another 30 years as foreman for Maui’s Ulupalakua Ranch. Purdy died July 4, 1945. He was the great-grandson of John Palmer Parker, founder of Parker Ranch, and Kipikane, granddaughter of King Kamehameha The Great. Purdy rode his way into legend and song. He was the inspiration for three of the best-known paniolo songs: Hawaiian Rough Riders, Pu’u Huluhulu and Waiomina.

Bio by Rob Collias

Mark Rolfing has been an instrumental force in bringing the island to sports prominence. A golf analyst (NBC/Golf Channel, ESPN/ABC) since 1986, USA Today named him golf’s “best on-course reporter”; he and wife Debi won the PGA of America Distinguished Service Award; he’s a member of DePauw University Sports Hall of Fame and Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame. As president of Rolfing Sports Inc. since 1982, he was organizer, owner, operator for high-profile Maui sporting events including: Kapalua International (PGA Tour), Ka’anapali Classic (PGA Champions Tour), and Maui Classic (now Maui Invitational) men’s college basketball tournament.

Bio by Rob Collias

Kurtis Kiyoshi Suzuki was a 16-year Major League Baseball veteran — and 2019 World Series champion with the Washington Nationals — before retiring in 2022 No. 1 on the list of Hawaii-born major leaguers in games played, plate appearances, at-bats, hits, doubles, homers and RBIs. The 2001 Baldwin High School graduate finished his career with 12,968 2/3 innings caught, 25th on the all-time MLB list and was an All-Star in 2014 when he played for Minnesota. Suzuki was an NCAA champion for Cal State Fullerton in 2004. In the big leagues, Suzuki also played for Oakland, Atlanta and Los Angeles Angels.

Bio by Rob Collias

The fourth Major League Baseball player ever from Maui rose to the AAA level as a manager in the Atlanta Braves organization at the age of 38. Kanekoa Texeira grew up in Kula before attending Kamehameha Schools Kapalama, where he won a state title on Maui as a junior in 2003. He was part of six MLB organizations — Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves. His MLB career consisted of 49 games and 1-1 record in 2010 and 2011 with the Mariners and Royals. He lives on Molokai in the offseason.

Bio by Rob Collias

“I always wanted to make my island proud, I always wanted to make my family proud, I wanted to make the state proud. … I always asked myself: ‘Could I be that Neighbor Island kid that really changed that spectrum of how sports were looked at on the Neighbor Islands?’ ” Shane Victorino said. Maui’s second-ever MLB player (2003-15), the 1999 St. Anthony High School graduate won two World Series, four Gold Gloves, was a two-time All-Star. He also won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 2008 and the Branch Rickey Award in 2011.

Bio by Rob Collias

Shigeto “Shigesh” Wakida developed talent on the courts on Front Street in Lahaina that were named after him for decades. He coached Maui tennis greats Jean Okada (UC Santa Barbara), Kula Oda (University of Hawaii), Malino Oda (UH), Ryan Ideta (LSU), Kari Luna Nunokawa (Washington), all high school state champions and college standouts, as well as dozens of others. Wakida died in 2001 at 85. Wakida did not start coaching tennis until he was 30, but his efforts led to the founding of the Lahaina Junior Tennis Club, and is a member of the Hawaii Pacific Tennis Association Hall of Fame.

Bio by Rob Collias

Wally Yonamine, born in Olowalu in 1925, was one of the first two-sport professionals in the world. When he played for the San Francisco 49ers in 1947, he became the first Japanese American to play professional football. He later became an 11-time All-Star, a three-time batting champion, four-time champion and the first foreigner to be a manager in Japan and was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994. The state high school baseball tournaments are sponsored by his foundation and before his death in 2011, he made sure that the Division I event would be held on Maui once every three years.

Bio by Rob Collias