When Chad Haaheo Rowan was given the ring name of "Akebono" or "dawn" in Japanese, few imagined just how prophetic it was for the sport of sumo.
For the rise of the Waimanalo giant did, indeed, usher in a new dawn for the centuries-old sport.
In 1993, the former Kaiser High basketball player became the first foreign-born sumotori to reach the sport's exalted rank of yokozuna and the 64th overall. Since then two others, including Fiamalu Penitani of Wai'anae, have followed the trail to the top that Akebono blazed.
The 6-foot-8, 515-pound Akebono won the Emperor's Cup, emblematic of a championship in Japan's national sport, 11 times in his 13-year career and posted a 566-198 record in the top division before his ceremonial retirement in 2001 at age 32.
When Japan played host to the 1998 Winter Olympics, Akebono was chosen as a symbolic figure to represent the country in the opening ceremonies.
"I never thought of myself as a star," Akebono liked to say. "I've just been very fortunate. Somebody up above in the clouds was with me."
Nevertheless, his rivalry with two brothers, Takanohana and Wakanohana, who were the sons and nephews of former sumo stars, filled arenas and captured television audiences in the late 1980s and early '90s.
The January 1993 match with Takanohana that clinched the promotion for Akebono was seen by nearly half the television households in Japan.
Akebono was "discovered" at a family funeral by Larry Aweau, a cousin of stablemaster Azumazeki, the former Jesse Kuhaulua, who became Akebono's coach.
