‘Fill-in’ still involved 52 years later
Row Ontario inducts Ken Campbell as first member of hall of fame
Row Ontario’s first inductee in its hall of fame was introduced to the sport by dipping his toes into the water, and then only occasionally.
Ken Campbell was an 11-year-old attending Dalewood Public School in his native St. Catharines when his older brother Brian became involved in rowing. Ken tagged along for something to do, as younger siblings with time on their hands are wont to do.
“I used to go and trail my brother down. He was a coxswain and I used to hang out at the rowing club and fill in every once in a while as a coxie,” Ken Campbell, now 63, recalled in an interview 52 years later.
As well as his older brother, Campbell can also thank a teacher in elementary school for hooking him up with a sport that became a lifelong passion.
“We had a teacher in public school who took a bunch of out rowing a few times.”
“Family ties” also played a role in turning Campbell into a rowing lifer.
“My brother rowed, my father rowed. It looked like it would be fun and it ended up being fun.”
His involvement in the sport continued after he graduated from Governor Simcoe Secondary School. Two years after he stopped competing, he started coaching the novice crews at Governor Simcoe as well as helping out with the junior lightweight crews during the club season in the summer. He coached for about eight years in all.
“I liked it and I wanted to help out and give back. I’ve always had the motto, ‘If I’m still having fun at it, I’ll continue,’” he said.
Campbell was part of a gold medal-winning crew at the Canadian Secondary School Rowing Association championships and “unfortunately a bunch of silver medals at Henley, which they don’t give out,” he pointed out with a chuckle.
Only gold medals are awarded at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta, which is held annually on Martindale Pond in St. Catharines.
Campbell, who retired after 31 years working at General Motors, considers himself “one of the lucky ones” as he looks back on four-plus decades with St. Catharines Rowing Club. There were no crack-of-dawn practices during his scholastic career at Simcoe Simcoe nor for the eight years he coached.
“I don’t recall having any earlymorning training and coaching. I was lucky there,” he recalled with a laugh.
All of that began to change when became he involved in an administrative role and began running regattas.
“There have been a lot of early mornings organizing.”
Campbell began volunteering with St. Catharines Rowing Club in 1980, but his contributions have been limited to the sport at the local level. He served on the Row Ontario board of directors in the 1980s and chaired the umpires committee for five years.
He has been an umpire since 1987 and he has held a FISA international licence since 1992. The senior world championships in 2011, Bled Slovenia, and 2018, in Sarasota, Fla., are among the high-profile events he has officiated.
Campbell also was on the umpire jury at the 2015 Pan American Games, which were held in Toronto and at sites in southern Ontario, including rowing in St. Catharines and canoeing in Welland. He also was on the jury for the 1999 Pan Am Games in Winnipeg and the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.
At the 2022 Summer Games, which are taking place in St. Catharines, he will be chair.
“You sometimes get tired and ask yourself, ‘Why am I still doing this, it ties up a lot of your time,’” Campbell said. “But there’s also payback you get. You meet a lot of people from around the world and make a lot of friends everywhere.”
Being surrounded all the time at regattas by young athletes has to make him feel younger than his years, right?
“I don’t think so. No, it makes you tired,” he answered with a chuckle.
Son Jeff and daughter Courtney also rowed but they now live in centres “where rowing really isn’t available.”
Any retirement plans on the horizon?
“Eventually it’s going to come but I have no plans right now.”
Campbell’s apprenticeship as an official consisted of accompanying an umpire and doing the timing of the race.
He acknowledged officiating a regatta can be difficult knowing that a decision has the potential to break the hearts of young athletes.
“You hope that never happens, but it does happen occasionally.
You feel bad but you try to find your way around it,” Campbell said. “If you can’t, unfortunately you have to break the hearts of a bunch of kids.”
“It’s just like any sport when you get a penalty or you get a foul. There are consequences and you can’t just let it go.”
With regattas cancelled due to COVID-19, this year has been a washout as far as high school and club rowing is concerned.
“It’s a whole different year this year. The other day I was talking to someone and said, ‘I actually go to do some golfing this year.’”
He was surprised by his induction into Row Ontario’s inaugural hall of fame.
“It’s very humbling. There are a lot of people out there who are welldeserving of this,” Campbell said. “I never thought I would be there.
“There are so many footsteps that I was able to follow and learn from over the years to help make this sport safe and fun for the athletes to be able to compete at their best.”
“My brother rowed, my father rowed. It looked like it would be fun and it ended up being fun.”
KEN CAMPBELL ROW ONTARIO HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE