2003 ​INDUCTION CEREMONY & DINNER

Hawai'i Swimming Hall of Fame's second event was held on November 15, 2003.  13 people were inducted. Short bios are included further below.
​
SWIMMING:
Brent Berk, 1968
George Onekea, 1956
Yoshi Oyakawa, 1952, 1956
Richard "Sonny" Tanabe, 1956
OPEN WATER & CHANNEL SWIMMING:
Morris "Mo" Matthews
Diane Stowell
Fred Trask
Jim Welch
MASTERS SWIMMING:
Charlotte Costello
Dr. Pete Okumoto
Joan Osborne
Pete Powilson
​Diane Stowell
WATER POLO:
Dr. Heidi U. McElhaney

​COACHING:
Wally Nakamoto

CLASS OF 2003

BRENT BERK
Brent Thales Berk was born in Florida but grew up in Hawaii and graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu (1967).  He represented the US at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City; he advanced to the event final of the men's 400-meter freestyle and finished in eighth place with a time of 4:26.0.  He went on to attend Stanford University where he was a member of the swim team and was recognized as an NCAA All-American.
CHARLOTTE COSTELLO
Charlotte I. Costello was born on Long Island, New York, but was a long-time Hawaii resident.  She was an elite US Masters swimmer who set numerous US Masters Swimming national records and four world records in her age group.  She was named to the US Masters Swimming All-American Swim Team for 17 consecutive years.  Charlotte was a competitive swimmer throughout her life and was dedicated to teaching swimming to the people of Hawaii.  She passed away in 2005 at age 82.
MO MATTHEWS
Morris “Mo” Matthews was a 4-time US Masters Swimming All-American and a premier open water swimmer in Hawaii.  He placed first in his age group in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim 14 times with seven additional top-three age group finishes.  He was a coach for the Hawaii Preparatory Academy swim team on the Big Island.  From 1980-1988 he was the swim director for the Ironman Triathlon and served as the coordinator and race organizer for Big Island Masters.
HEIDI MC ELHANEY
Dr. Heidi Ursula McElhaney (later Ferguson), born and raised in Hawaii, was an elite water polo player who was selected to the first Women’s Junior National Water Polo Team in 1987 then the Senior National A Team in 1989.  She played for the University of Hawaii women’s water polo team and earned the Top Scholar Athlete Award in 1990 and the University of Hawaii Swim Meet Most Inspirational Award in 1991.  In 1992 she was awarded the NCAA Woman of the Year Award for Hawaii and was named to the 1992 Senior National All American Water Polo Team.  She is a 1999 graduate of the John A. Burns School of Medicine.
WALLY NAKAMOTO
Wallace "Wally" Nakamoto, born and raised in Hawaii (McKinley ’53) was a diver for the University of Hawaii, 1954-57, then went on to become its first diving coach in 1971 through his retirement in 2002.  He earned numerous national coaching awards during his tenure, including US Diving Association’s Cady Meritorious Coaching Achievement Award and US Masters Diving 30-year recognition award. He coached AAU national springboard champion Keala O’Sullivan to a bronze medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics as well as six conference champions at the UH.  He passed away in 2015 at the age of 80 after being inducted into the University of Hawaii Hall of Fame.
PETE OKUMOTO
Dr. Pete Tatsuo Okumoto was a prolific US Masters swimmer from Hilo, Hawaii, who began seriously competing in US Masters swimming his 60s and continued well into his 80s.  He swam all events from the 50 free to the 1650 free and set numerous state, national and world records in his age group.  He was named to the US Masters All American team for a number of years.  Dr. Pete was a respected surgeon in Hilo, Hawaii, and he passed away in 2010 at the age of 94.
GEOGE ONEKEA
George Helela Onekea, Jr. was born and raised in Hawaii and was a member of the 1956 US Olympic swim team which competed at Melbourne, Australia.  At 17 years of age he was attending Iolani School in Honolulu and was the youngest member of the Olympic men’s swim team.  He qualified in both the 400-meter and 1500-meter freestyle events, although he did not medal.  George was the AAU national champion in the 1500-meter freestyle and was named an AAU All-American swimmer as a swimmer at Ohio State University.
JOAN OSBORNE
Joan Dowsett Osborne, born and raised in Hawaii, graduate of Punahou School (’33), was a world-class Masters swimmer from 1973 to 1993, setting four Masters age group world records and 28 Masters age group national records.  She was selected as a US Masters All-American ten different years for accomplishments in pool events and was also named as a long distance All-American twice.  Joan was inducted into the Punahou Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.  She passed away in 2014 six days shy of age 98.
YOSHI OYAKAWA
Yoshinobu “Yoshi” Oyakawa, born and raised on the Big Island, Hawaii, qualified for the US Olympic swim teams in both 1952 at Helsinki and 1956 at Melbourne.  He won a gold medal in 1952 in the 100-meter backstroke.  He continued swimming at Ohio State University, where he won six Big Ten, seven NCAA, and nine AAU championships. In 1956 he was named co-captain of the US Olympic swim team with fellow Hawaii swimmer, Ford Konno.  Other notable achievements:  International Swimming Hall of Fame, 1973; Ohio High School Coach of the Year, 1972; The Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame, 1978; Hawaiʻi Sports Hall of Fame, 1998; Oak Hills Athletic Hall of Fame, 2008.
PETE POWILSON
Peter Andrews Powlison, born in Turkey but raised in Hawaii, began swimming at Punahou School then continued at the University of Washington (with a four-year break as a Marine in WW II).  At UW he set seven records in the 50, 60, 100 and 220-yard individual and 400-yard relay freestyle events and was named to the All-American NCAA teams ('43, '47, '48).  He qualified for the 1948 US Olympic trials making the finals in the 400-meter freestyle.  He began swimming in US Masters in 1979, setting 12 national records and winning five golds in the 1986 World Masters Swimming Championships.  He died in 1987 at the age of 65.
DIANE STOWELL
Diane Gwen McLean Stowell, born in California, raised in Hawaii, began US Masters swimming in 1981 at age 47 and won races locally, then nationally.  She had the fastest time in her age bracket in the US 67 times over a period of 30 years spanning 1981 to 2011.  She set nine US Masters Swimming National Records in the 50-, 100- and 200-meter breaststroke in the women's 55, 65 and 70 age divisions. She won US Masters All-America honors 20 times.  In Hawaii ocean races she was nearly unbeatable with 22 firsts (and one second) in her age group in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim and numerous wins in other ocean events.  She was inducted into the Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame in 2016.  She passed away in 2017 at the age of 83.
SONNY TANABE
Richard “Sonny” Tsugio Tanabe Jr., born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, was an All-American swimmer at Hilo High, then swam at Indiana University where he earned NCAA and AAU All-American honors.  He qualified for the 1956 US Olympic swim team in the 200-meter freestyle.   He also set one American record in the 200 yd. individual medley, two NCAA Records in the 100 yd. butterfly and 400 yd. medley relay, and four US Masters national records in the 50 and 100 yard Butterfly and won six US Masters National swimming championships in the butterfly and the individual medley.  He worked as a high school teacher and a swimming and water polo coach at Kamehameha Schools for 33 years.  He was a founder and first president of the Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame, and in 2014 he was inducted into the Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame.  He also authored three books.
FRED TRASK
Fred W. Trask was born in Wailuku, Maui, and was an elite endurance athlete, US Masters and open water swimmer.  He had 17 top-three age group finishes in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (WRS) - 8 firsts, 5 seconds, 4 thirds - in addition to numerous age group wins in biathlons, triathlons, and marathons.  Fred served as race director for the WRS, 1976-1981, and the swim became a world-class event during his tenure.  He graduated from the University of Hawaii and earned a master’s in civil engineering from Cornell.  Fred also served in the US Army in both WW II and the Korean War.  He passed away in 2011 at the age of 83.
JIM WELCH (Previously inducted in 2002 for Masters Swimming) 
Jim W. Welch, born and raised in Florida, was a bomber pilot in WW II and served in the military until his retirement in 1970 at Hickam AFB.  He was a lifelong swimmer and became a US Masters swimming record holder and champion and was named to the Masters All-American swimming team a total of 17 times.  He was also an accomplished open water swimmer with 8 first place and 6 second place finishes in his age group in the Waikiki Roughwater Swim.  Jim also served as president of the Waikiki Swim Club, 1973-74.  He passed away in 2016 at the age of 98.