Tracy Phillips Darling was inducted into the Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame last night and I believe she deserved this accolade more than most because in my opinion, she has shown what it takes to be great and she is a Hero of mine…

Forty-five plus years ago Tracy and I started paddling together…she was always my steersman as I sat in different seats in our boat for seven years. She was not yet 13 years old, maybe 80 pounds, and not even 5 feet tall when she first started…steering a 400 pound canoe with five 135+ pound women in sometimes rough conditions was no easy task, but she persevered…I LOVED paddling, especially with her as she always kept the straightest course and winning medals seemed effortless, but for me when I turned 25 years old my boss at the time told me, “You can serve only one master, your job or your canoe…your career will require all your hopes, dreams, and desires for you to succeed because you are a woman and it will take everything you have to break the glass ceiling, choose wisely”. I reluctantly gave up paddling for the real estate world…

Tracy went on to make her career in water sports with 33 Molokai-to-Oahu paddling races, in kayaking as a multiple United States Champion, many North and South American Championships, and a three time Olympian (1988, 1992, 1996)…she even had time to become the State of Hawaii’s Racquetball Champion for several years before she left for her first Olympic camp at Lake Placid…

Two years ago, I was sitting at the Outrigger Canoe Club bar and Tracy and I started talking and I said to her, “You know, you’re my Hero…3x Olympian, so many championships, you did it, you lived the dream for us”…She came over and gave me the hug you see pictured and said, “Stephany, you were as good as me, stronger in fact, you could have been an Olympian too, you just went on a different path…being an athlete is like anything else, hard work, training, high competition, it all makes or breaks you…I have watched you in real estate and you have done the same things an athlete like my peers and I have done…you are my hero too”…

Who would have thought, me, HER Hero? Heroes come in all shapes and forms; mothers, fathers, firemen, police officers, teachers, Olympians, and even real estate Divas…As you go through life and define who you are, whether you are a young person or an older one on the verge of retirement…Always do right, with people, animals, and the world…be a Hero…people are always watching and you may never know your impact for years…BUT what ever you say and/or do will have positive reverberations if you are true to yourself and your word…

Congratulations Tracy…job well done!!!