Hall of Fame: Lorrin Potter Thurston (1916)

Known throughout Hawaii for his distinguished business and public service careers, Lorrin was also an outstanding athlete. The former publisher of the “Honolulu Advertiser,” president of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce and the Outrigger Canoe Club, chairman of the Hawaii Statehood Commission and Hawaii Visitors Bureau, and member of the Hawaiian Polo and Tennis Clubs, was at one time a world record holder in three freestyle swimming events.

This article appears as originally published in the Summer 1981 issue of the Punahou Bulletin.

Known throughout Hawaii for his distinguished business and public service careers, Lorrin was also an outstanding athlete. The former publisher of the “Honolulu Advertiser,” president of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce and the Outrigger Canoe Club, chairman of the Hawaii Statehood Commission and Hawaii Visitors Bureau, and member of the Hawaiian Polo and Tennis Clubs, was at one time a world record holder in three freestyle swimming events.

A two-year letterman in both football and swimming, (the latter was his forte) captain of the swim team in his senior year. Lorrin was the high point man in the Thurston Meet taking first place in diving, 50-yard freestyle, and 50 yard backstroke, and second place in the plunge. He also won the swimming pentathlon. In the 1916 Hawaiian AAU Meet he took first honors against Hawaii’s best divers.

Entering Yale University he immediately captained the freshman swimming team of 1917 and in the period 1917 – 1921 was one of Yale’s top freestyle sprinters. During this period he set numerous intercollegiate records in the 50, 100, and 200 yard freestyle events and world records in the 200, 250 and 800 yard events.

Today he is retired and living in Kailua, Kona.

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