History Making Men’s Eight Crew Inducted into Row Ontario HOF
The history making 1984 Men’s Eight become the latest inductee into the Row Ontario Hall of Fame on Monday, as the members of the crew were recognized for their outstanding accomplishments.
The crew, which consisted of Blair Horn, Dean Crawford, J. Michael Evans, Paul Steele, Grant Main, Mark Evans, Kevin Neufeld, Pat Turner and Brian McMahon (cox) earned the gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The first-place finish was the first time a Canadian men’s eight won a gold medal at an Olympic Games or World Rowing Championship.
“We are honoured to be inducted into the Row Ontario Hall of Fame,” the crew said in a collective statement on being inducted into the Hall of Fame. “Particularly as most of us started and spent most of our rowing careers on lakes, rivers and ponds all over Ontario, under the watchful eyes of many great coaches, boatmen and club officials. We would like to dedicate this honour to the memory of our fellow teammates, Neil Campbell (coach), Dean Crawford, Kevin Neufeld and their families.”
Coached by the legendary Campbell, the crew came together just a few months before the Olympics in 1984 and trained out of St. Catharines in preparation for the event. Although new to competing in the eight together, many of the members of the crew had competed together in other crew prior to joining forces in the eight. Among their ranks were Pan American Games medallists, World Junior Championships medallists and medallists in several other prestigious events such as the Henley Royal Regatta.
Heading into the Olympics the crew from New Zealand was the favourite having won the gold at the last two World Rowing Championships. In their opening heat, the Canadians finished in second behind the Kiwi’s by just over two seconds, sending them to compete in the repechage round. In the repechage, Canada again finished second, this time behind Australia by five seconds. The crew saved their best for the final, warding off a furious last-minute challenge from the home-crowd favourites from the USA. They crossed the finish line just .42 seconds ahead of the Americans to claim the gold in the historic race.
While the Olympic Games victory was the crew’s crowning achievement, they also won gold at the Lucerne International Regatta in Switzerland. All the rowing nations of the era, including the Soviet Union and East Germany, two rowing powerhouses, were present in Switzerland with the Canadians coming out on top. The success of the 1984 Men’s Eight helped lay the foundation for numerous Canadian Olympic and World Championship victories in the men’s and women’s eights that followed.
Row Ontario will be announcing the inductions of the 2025 Hall of Fame class throughout the week as part of ‘Hall of Fame Week’. The first member of the 2025 induction class, Ian McFarlane (Coach), was announced in May. Stay tuned this week for more announcements on the 2025 induction class of the Row Ontario Hall of Fame.
Photo Credit: Canadian Olympic Committee
