Born in the post-World War II boom time of Hawai'i and Mainland swimming, the Keo Nakama Invitational is still going strong some 62 years later.

And the former world record holder and All-American from Maui for whom the meet is named is still alive and kicking, as well, at age 88.

The 60th Annual Keo Nakama Invitational (it was not held in 1948 and 1952), regarded as one of the longest running swim events in the nation, starts at 2 p.m. today with opening ceremonies at the Veterans' Memorial Aquatic Center at Patsy Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park. The meet continues through tomorrow and Sunday, with 433 participants representing 28 swim clubs from across Hawai'i, the Mainland, Japan, Guam and Micronesia.

"It's one of the oldest, if not the oldest, swim invitationals in the United States," said Keith Arakaki, who has served as meet director since the mid-1970s. "For anyone in the sport, to be able to compete against and watch swimmers from other islands, other states, foreign swimmers, all in one place, it's something different for our local people."

This year's meet will include two swimmers from Micronesia who are training for next month's Olympic Games in Beijing.

But mostly, the invitational has become a popular mid-summer destination for hundreds of Hawai'i and Mainland swimmers looking for high-level competition in a tropical setting.

In 1946, however, it was a national caliber event featuring some of the world's fastest swimmers.

Nakama, a 13-time Amateur Athletic Union national champion, had suggested to his former club coach from Maui, Soichi Sakamoto, that they bring the team from Nakama's alma mater, Ohio State University, to Hawai'i. Sakamoto agreed, and he organized the meet and named it in Nakama's honor.

That Ohio State team, which included Maui native Halo Hirose, won the Big Ten, NCAA and AAU national championships earlier in the year.

Sakamoto's team, the Hawai'i University Swimming Club, featured future Olympic gold medalist Bill Smith.

The first Keo Nakama Invitational was held at the War Memorial Natatorium in Waikiki, and drew thousands of fans.

Later invitationals featured other college powers such as Michigan, and other national-caliber swimmers.

But in the late 1950s, Arakaki said, the meet evolved toward more age group competition.

"It started to be more (about) youth swimmers," Arakaki said. "They had club teams come in from the Mainland, and later on New Zealand and Australia."

Sakamoto, who was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, continued to organize and run the meet until the mid-1970s (the 1948 and 1952 invitationals were canceled while he coached in the Olympics).

Arakaki, whose Hawai'i Swimming Club co-sponsors the event with Hawaiian Swimming, took over as meet director around that time along with wife, Marcelle.

Arakaki said that while the dynamics and atmosphere surrounding the event have changed along with the sport itself since those early years, he wants the meet to remind everyone of Nakama and the glory days of Hawai'i swimming.

In 1937, a 5-foot-5, 17-year-old Nakama stunned the nation by beating former Olympian and national champion Ralph Gilman in the 400-meter freestyle.

"The more you read about him, the more amazing it is, to see what he did," Arakaki said of Nakama, who at age 41 became the first person to swim from Moloka'i to O'ahu. "We have great local swimmers growing up now, like Hongze Sun, but my mission is for them not to forget these other guys who came before them."

Read his prep sports blog at http://preptalk.honadvblogs.com.