Leander’s Paddy Cline Inducted into Row Ontario Hall of Fame
Long-time Leander Boat Club coach George Weldon ‘Paddy’ Cline was honoured on Tuesday as he became the third coach in history to be inducted into the Row Ontario Hall of Fame.
Born in 1899 in Hamilton, Ont., Cline was a charter member of the LBC when it was first established in 1927 and he later stroked the first Leander victory at Royal Canadian Henley in the lightweight eight. Not long after he became a coach at the club and began an extraordinary coaching career. He first became an assistant coach, learning under the tutelage of another legendary Leander coach Robert Hunter from 1932-37. He took over from Hunter and would remain the head coach at Leander from 1937-60.
During his tenure at Leander, Cline coached many successful crews at the national and international level. Throughout the 1940’s his crews dominated the senior heavyweight eight event at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta. Those same crews were also successful at the international level as Cline was named the coach of the Olympic team three times in his career. In 1940, he was set to coach at his first Olympics however the second World War led to the cancellation of the Games. He would make his coaching debut at the Olympics eight years later in London where his crew in the eight won their preliminary round heat and advanced to the semi-final, where they were defeated by the eventual silver medalists from Great Britain. He returned to the Olympics four years later in Helsinki in 1952 as head coach of the men’s four.
Throughout his entire tenure as head coach at Leander, Cline was an unpaid volunteer and coached simply for the love of the sport and to get the most out of the athletes. In addition to coaching he held the position as Clerk of Scales at the Royal Canadian Henley through the 1960’s and 1970’s and continued to sit on the rowing committee at Leander until 1984.
When Cline passed away in 1993, he left the bulk of his estate to Leander Boat Club. His endowment has helped carry the Club through difficult times including the last few years as the club worked through the COVID-19 pandemic
Row Ontario is announcing the inductions of the 2022 Hall of Fame Class this week as part of ‘Hall of Fame Week’. On Monday, Judy Sutcliffe (Umpire) was announced as the first member of the Hall of Fame class. Stay tuned the rest of this week for more announcements on the 2022 induction class of the Row Ontario Hall of Fame.
Visit Row Ontario Hall of Fame for more information.
