WAHIAWA — In 1956, Luis Hangca accomplished what no Hawai'i resident had done before by winning a silver medal in beach sprint at the International and Australian Surf Championship Carnival, held that year in conjunction with the Melbourne Olympics.

Hangca, 79, has been nominated to the Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame as a pioneer for being the first Hawai'i resident on the first Hawai'i team to compete there and win a medal.

His daughter Peggy Hubacker, who nominated him, said he fits in the pioneer category because he was the first from Hawai'i to place in a world competition that draws thousands of athletes each year. In the year he competed, some 166 sprinters were vying for the title, Hubacker said.

Hubacker said although her father talked about the competition when she was growing up, it wasn't until a few years ago that she realized the extent of his accomplishment when he handed over all of his memorabilia to her.

"I took a look at that and realized he did something significant," she said. "He did an outstanding thing and I think he should be recognized for it."

The Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame has its own criteria to select inductees, said Gil Tam, volunteer executive director for the organization. Anyone can nominate a person by logging on to www.alohafame.org and filling out a form, including all relevant information. Three to five people a year are nominated, a committee makes the selection in December and induction takes place in February.

"The whole intent of the Hawai'i Sports Hall of Fame is set up for world-class athletes," Tam said.

That includes pioneers who were the first to accomplish something and contributors to sports like Dave Shoji, for developing the University of Hawai'i women's volleyball program, he said.

Hangca, born in Kahana in 1926, was a star football and basketball player at Kahuku High School, helping the football team take its first championship. He was a 5-foot-9, 165-pound fullback who also excelled in swimming competitions.

But he wasn't always "good," away from athletics, said Hangca, who is deaf and speaks with difficulty.

Hangca said he started life as a "bad boy." His father was a Filipino plantation worker and his mother, a Hawaiian, died when he was young. Hubacker said the government wanted to take away Hangca and his four siblings when his mother died, but the father took them into Kahana Valley to hide.

By the time he was 15 he was beginning to show athletic ability, and that changed his life, Hangca said.

"As I got older I became an honest and good man," he said.

Hangca left school in 1945 just prior to graduation to be with his friends who had joined the Army, where he became a lifeguard — among other duties. He joined the first La'ie surf life-saving club in 1953 after leaving the military.

In 1956, clubs from around the island formed a 10-member team that would go to the Australian competition. Hangca was the only rural resident to make the team, then coached by two Australians. Hangca was 31 when he competed. Several of his teammates were Outrigger Canoe Club members, and the team trained in Waikiki.

Hangca, who lived in Sunset Beach, said he trained on his own.

"Nobody trained me," he said. "I trained myself."

His training included running from Sunset Beach to Waimea Bay and sprinting in the sand, Hangca said, adding he would then swim and surf. Training was limited to after-work hours as he had to hold down a fulltime job at Schofield to support his family of five, including three daughters.

Hangca said he ran several races in Australia, and the last was the toughest. The competitors were all younger than him — in their 20s for the most part, he said. The man who beat him was 19. The race was close.

Back in Hawai'i, Hangca didn't compete anymore, but he did coach swim teams for about five years.

"I only train for the pleasure of surfing and swimming — but not to compete," he said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.