Murphy Inducted in 2024 Row Ontario Hall of Fame Class
An influential builder in the Ontario rowing community was recognized for his outstanding contributions on Wednesday as Mike Murphy became the latest inductee in the 2024 Row Ontario Hall of Fame Class.
Although he is going into the Hall of Fame as a builder, Murphy was also a successful athlete and coach. His involvement in rowing dates back over 50 years. A Canadian, University, and Henley champion, he also was a member of Canada’s 1970 World Championship (coxed pair) and 1971 Pan American Games (coxless pair) teams. He would continue his career as a masters rower, winning multiple Ontario, Canadian, and Royal Canadian Henley Championships and medaling at both the World Masters Games and World Rowing Masters Championships in 1985. As a coach, Murphy served as head coach of the London Rowing Club from 1973-78 and was the Coaching Coordinator for the Ontario Rowing Association from 1978-84. He also was the Chair of the 1998 FISA Coaches Conference, which he helped bring to the Ontario rowing community in London. However, where he accomplished the most through his involvement in rowing was as a builder, which included pursuing his life-long vision of establishing his hometown of London as a centre for rowing excellence.
“This is a great honour and I thank the committee for selecting me,” said Murphy. “I started rowing as a freshman in 1967 at the University of Western Ontario, where I was inspired to continue in the sport by coach Dr. Phil Fitz-James and the Western Olympic Trials crew of 1968. I hung up my oars in 1972 at age 24 thinking it was time to get on with life. In 1973, I started teaching at a London high school, where I coached football, basketball, and rowing. It was this group of students plus those from other high schools (I was rowing convenor for the London Board of Education) who formed the nucleus of a rejuvenated London Rowing Club. These were exciting times, as many others joined with me to make the Club one of the largest and most successful in the country. Quite a number of LRC athletes, moreover, won international medals, while others enjoyed different facets of the sport. That excitement – the joy of rowing and the opportunity to share it with others – led me to undertake responsibilities with the Associations listed elsewhere in this release. Each of these organizations had tremendous leaders and volunteers, too many to name here, and it was a privilege for me to work with them to improve (our) sport at all levels and in all aspects.”
Murphy’s efforts as a builder are numerous and resulted in the growth of the London Rowing Club and the establishment of the London Rowing Centre where Al Morrow coached the phenomenally successful gold medal-winning women’s crews in the 1990’s. After working with others to establish the Centre in the mid-to-late-1980’s, Murphy chaired countless committees and personally solicited and donated funds to improve the National High Performance Rowing Centre (HPC) in London. The Centre was a partnership between Rowing Canada Aviron, Row Ontario, Western University, the London Rowing Society, the Middlesex Western Rowing Club, and at times the London Rowing Club. As Chair of the London Rowing Society, which coordinated Centre activities, Murphy also submitted grant applications for facility and site improvements and hosted rowing events such as the Commonwealth Rowing Championships, Canada Summer Games, World Transplant Games, Police and Fire Games, Ontario Summer Games, as well as and national, provincial and high school, championships. He also organized Olympic send-off dinners, and spearheaded efforts with local construction companies, architects, engineers, surveyors and others to provide roads, lighting, repairs and improvements to the boathouse, grandstand, judges’ tower, and start-bridge on Fanshawe Lake.
Additionally, when the Commonwealth Games Association deleted rowing from its programs Murphy, at very short notice, organized two Commonwealth Regattas in London. He sought and obtained civic support and was able to host well-attended and successful events. When an attempt was made to move the Royal Canadian Henley from St. Catharines to Montreal he also played a major role in brokering an agreement between the parties that left the Regatta in its long-established home in St. Catharines.
Murphy has held countless volunteer positions at the regional, provincial, national, and international levels over the years, including Row Ontario President (1985-89), RCA President (1989-92, 98, 2010-13) and London Rowing Society President (1994-2019). Just some of the other prominent volunteer positions he’s held over the years include member of the Canadian Olympic Committee (1989-92), President, Commonwealth Games Rowing Association (1990-2002), President, Canada Gold Foundation (1995-96), Chair, 2001 Canada Summer Games, and Chair, Sport Alliance of Ontario (2007-08).
Row Ontario will be announcing the inductions of the 2024 Hall of Fame class throughout the week as part of ‘Hall of Fame Week’. Already announced as inductees this week were Bill Donegan (Umpire) and Doc Fitz-James (Coach). Stay tuned the rest of this week for more announcements on the 2024 induction class of the Row Ontario Hall of Fame.
