Harold Amoral
Year Inducted: 2002
Haleakala Ranch | Maui
Harold Amoral remembers that in his younger days at Haleakala Ranch, everything had to be done “the hard way.” At the time, horses were the primary means of transportation, and the easiest way to get cattle from place to place was to drive them, even if it meant crossing the island.
“We used to drive cattle from Haleakala Ranch down to Kahului Wharf,” he recalls. “We’d start at one, two in the morning, in the moonlight.”
Harold, who describes himself as “straight codfish,” or pure Portuguese, was born in 1921 on Grove Ranch, in Haliimaile, Maui. His father, Manuel Amoral, later moved the family to Haleakala Ranch, where he was hired as cowboy foreman, and Harold eventually followed in his footsteps when he was promoted to the position in 1966.
In his 43 years with the ranch, Harold worked with a number of well-known cattlemen, including Manduke Baldwin, whom he once taught an important lesson about the sexes.
One of the ranch’s prize bulls, Big Red, proved to be so dangerous and ornery whenever the cowboys wanted to take him away from his breeding cows that Manduke was ready to just shoot the animal.
“Men is crazy for women,” Harold reminded him, and hatched a plan to surround Big Red with about 15 cows, then drive the whole bunch up to the pasture where the bull was supposed to go.
“We got the bull where we wanted him,” Harold laughs. “Only the women could get him.”