Crew

1952 Argonaut Eight - 2023 Hall of Fame Inductee

1952 Argonaut Eight
Induction Year: 2023
Category: Crew

The 1952 Argonaut Eight’s crew members were Ted Chilcott, Jack Taylor, Bo Westlake, Frank Young, John Sharpe, Mervin Kaye, Jack Russell, George McCauley and Norm Rowe (Coxswain). They are best known for their memorable rowing season in the 1952, which saw them qualify for the Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland

The crew punched their ticket to the Olympics by winning the 1952 Olympic Trials in St. Catharines. Their main competition was the UBC crew who were left playing catch up when the Argo’s crew burst out of the starting gates and jumped out to a boat length lead after ten seconds. The Argos went on to win by nearly two boat-lengths of open water and earned the honour of representing Canada at the Helsinki Olympics.

Upon their arrival in Finland, the Argo crew received the devastating news that their boat had been smashed beyond repair during the voyage across the Atlantic. The crew was forced to participate in track workouts for their first three days, while arrangements to borrow equipment were being made with the University of Helsinki. Unfortunately, Finnish boats were stroked from the opposite side, which had a major impact on their training when they were finally able to return to the water. Coach Harry Kaysmith found a rowing club in Stockholm that had an old eight, that would only be suitable once a number of modifications were made. After almost two weeks in Helsinki, they finally got back to their regular training in the converted Swedish eight. Much work was done on the boat to attempt to make it competition-ready for the Olympic regatta.

In their first heat of the Olympics, despite the issues with the boat, the Argonaut eight finished with the fourth fastest time. The following day in the repechage round, they went to the first ever ‘photo finish’ in rowing against the eight from Sweden. They caught the Swedes right at the line after trailing for the entire race. The judges declared the race a tie when no winner could be determined and both boats advanced to the semi-final round. The crew lost to the Germans in the semi-final, ending their hopes of an Olympic medal, but they performed admirably under difficult circumstances and would have been one of the favourites to medal if not for the complications with their boat.

The 1952 crew marked the end of an era as they represented the last Argonaut big-boat club entry into the Olympics as the composite and then National Team system started replacing club-only entries.

Career Highlights

  • Won 1952 Olympic Trials in St. Catharines, beat UBC by two boat lengths
  • Competed in 1952 Helsinki Olympics
    • Coached by Harry Kaysmith
    • One of the medal favourites heading into the Games
    • Boat was destroyed during voyage across Atlantic Ocean • Converted an old Swedish Eight in weeks leading up to Olympics, much work needed to be done to make it competition ready
    • Preparation for Olympic regatta was severely impacted, despite that they advanced all the way to the semi-finals before losing to Germany
  • Last Argonaut eight to qualify for the Olympics as composite and National Team systems began to replace club-only entries