In 2008, seven years after retiring from sumo, he returned to the islands to promote a worldwide wrestling event and said his ...

David Madison/Getty Akebono Taro, the Hawaiian-born sumo wrestling star ... "When Akebono became the first-ever foreign-born grand champion, sumo’s highest rank, in 1993, he opened the door ...

Akebono became the first non-Japanese-born wrestler to ever reach the grand champion status of Yokozuna, the highest rank in sumo. The world is mourning the loss of Akebono Taro, one of Hawaii’s ...

Other Colorado names in the program include former Pueblo West track and field star Jeremy Cody and four-time Colorado state champion ... the Hawaiian native who became sumo’s first foreign ...