MURPH DAILEY
THE QUEEN OF HAWAII POLO
Murph Dailey Welcomes Prince Charles to Hawaii Polo Club
Honolulu Advertiser
Monday, March 4, 1974
“princely-charm gains approval”
by Dave Pellegrin
Advertiser Staff Writer
(verbatim text of article below)
Even for a true-blue poo fan like 11-year-old Mona Castilliano - who lives at Mokuleia and never misses a match - prince-watching was the main event yesterday.
“He the prince, yeah?” Mona asked a friend when the next king of England took off his helmet and walked over to the sidelines at half-time. “Ohhh, he so handsome!”
There were penty of girls there a lot older than MOna who felt the same way. And though he played on the losing team in an 8-5 match, he won the day for all the prince-watchers when he turned on the charm during some ad-lib halftime remarks.
AFTER BEING presented with a welcome kiss by Murph Dailey, wife of Hawaii Polo Club President Fred Dailey, Prince Charles told about his 1966 stopover at Honolulu International Airport - when he was “approached by a strange girl in a grass skirt.”
“I wasn’t sure what she was going to do,” he said, “but she ended up giving me a lei and a kiss on each cheek. Since then I’ve wanted to come back to Hawaii.”
“No so far I’ve had only one kiss, so I’ve more to look forward to.”
Some 4,000 people showed up yesterday - about 3,000 more than for a normal match. And in the Year of the Gas Line, some thought it nothing to wait in line at the gate from 8 a.m. to get a good spot for a match that didn’t start until 2 p.m.
SOME CAME in T-shirts and cut-offs, others in ascots and double-knits. And - like kids who take their mits to baseball game in hopes of snagging a foul-ball - most came with cameras in hopes of snagging a princely snapshot.
The Mokuleia regulars agreed that yesterda’s was a good match. (“Hawaii Polo Club players were divided into two equally matched teams - “Hawaii” and “Mokuleia” - with the prince playing for “Mokuleia.”)
The pricne brought cheers when he scored the final goal fo the game with less than two minutes left. Ronny Tongg, who scored four of the eight winning goals, called him a “fine player.”
After the match, Prince Charles showered and changed into a safari shirt and met about 150 invited guests at the polo clubhouse.
There it was more kisses and more leis - including one from The Advertiser’s own royalty, columnist Sammy Amalu - as the Prince mingled with the mai tai in hand.
“Sir, you have lipstick on your left cheek,” wispered one of the cheekier lasses.
“Oh, yes,” he smiled, “that was from three down the line.” Toward the end, one thoroughly charmed young lady commented:
“You know, it’s almost too bad he’s a prince. He would have made a nice politician.”
