Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 4, 1 April 1987 — Former Oahu Amateur Boxing Ohampion, Interior Decorator Reflects on Careers [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Former Oahu Amateur Boxing Ohampion, Interior Decorator Reflects on Careers

By Kcnny Haina, Editor Ka Wai Ola O OHA A former Territoriai AAU and National collegiate amateur boxing ehampion and National AAU runnerup who went on to college and became a noted interior decorator in Honolulu recently reflected on the fight game, schoo! and youths. Native Hawaiian Nicholas Keolaonepaemoku Akana, who claims the other half is one-quarter eaeh Norwegian and Chinese, disappeared from the Honolulu scene 1 1 years ago in 1976 to settle down and raise his family on Moloka'i. Born 50 years ago and raised in Papakolea where he remembers "it was a tough neighborhood then," Niek Akana looked back and said he fooled around with boxing "when 1 was a small kid." "I fooled around with it for about 10 years in the neighborhood and then fought my first formal fight in 1952 when I was 14," Akana recalled. Amateur boxing was still a big draw those days and Akana fought in the teenage bracket. He said his grandmother, Edith Olsen, didn't know he took up boxing until she saw the results in the next day's newspaper. Akana, who fought as a featherweight during his entire amateur career, won the 1953 teenage title and then moved up into the open division the next year because of a laek of opponents. By that time he was 16 and won the Territorial 125-pound championship. Hawaii fighters in 1954 did not compete in the Na tional AAU tournament but instead 10 were selected for a barnstorming tour of four states. Akana was one of three who returned undefeated. The others were flyweight Larry Manno and bantamweight Bobby Kishimoto. In 1955, Akana onee more won the Territorial ehampionship but this time it was Kansas City, Mo. and the NationaI AAU tournament. He !ost in the finals but that did not diminish his interest because he received four college scholarships. Colleges those days were very active in amateur boxing and many of them fielded teams and offered scholarships. He accepted an offer to attend San Jose State University and in 1959 won the National collegiate title. He graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in interior designing and eame home that year, landing a job with C.S. Wo. He left the company in 1972 and opened his own business interior design school that same year. Akana, meanwhile, had saved enough to purchase a four-acre parcel of land at Ohia in Moloka'i's East end where he and his wife and seven of their 10 children reside. He sold his business in 1976 and pulled up stakes for Moloka'i where he has been rooted ever since. He had no employment on Moloka'i and worked at several odd jobs while raising some crops and going fishing to support his expanding family who range in age from 2 to 27. Akana and his wife, the former Masina

Malufau who eame to Hawaii from Amenean Samoa, have eight sons and two daughters. They are both graduates of McKinley High School. The first two children graduated from college and the third is currently at San Jose State. Another son, 17-year-old Jarinn, is a junior on the Moloka'i High School basketball team where he plays point guard. He is considered by many coaches as one of the outstanding players in the state. Jarinn recently broke the Maui Interscholastic League individual scoring record with 40 points just before the end of the season. Akana in 1981 landed a part time job with Maui Eleetric in the collection division. He also acquired another part time position at the high school where he counsels and prepares students for the Hawaii State Test for Essential Competency (HSTEC). Akana said the fight game during his time "opened up a lot of things for us," adding that "today the kids have more things; more opportunities." He keeps active with youth work with the Kaunakakai ward of the Church of Jesus Chrisf of Latter Day Saints. He is the Moloka'i district chairman of the Boy Scouts of America where three of his sons earned the rank of Eagle Scouts, highest in the organization. He was a Bishop in his church for five years. In his spare time, he goes hunting and fishing with his children and in 1984 found time to serve as chairman of Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee and Vice Chairman Louis Hao's campaign committee. It is no secret that Akana and his wife do one of the finest renditions of "Ke Kali Nei Au." Their singing of the Hawaiian Wedding Song is the "ehieken skin" type, as one oldtimer who knows the eouple said recently.

Niek and Masina Akana