Don Johnson: One of the Regatta’s most popular figures
Don Johnson’s genial disposition and wonderful sense of humor contributed to his popularity throughout the Newfoundland and Labrador sporting community.
At the start of the men’s competition at the 1994 Canadian Rowing Championship, participating teams rowed in procession past a huge grandstand, adjacent to the race course.
The event marked Newfoundland’s first involvement in the national competition.
Officials in the grandstand were more than a little surprised when they noticed the Newfoundland rowers were not wearing t-shirts. What could have been an embarrassment was handled tactfully by the announcer who requested, “All rowers competing in the starting race, please put on your T-shirts.”
When reminded of the incident, Johnson recalled, “Of course, we all knew who they were talking about. Ours were the only rowers not wearing shirts. Our boys got the message and dug under their seats to retrieve their shirts and put them on.”
However, the story did not end there.
The ladies race was next on the agenda, and as the Newfoundland women neared the grandstand, Johnson startled officials by running in front of the stand, hands waving and shouting, “Hold on! Hold On!”
The emcee, from the stand, replied, “Yes, Mr. Johnson, what is the problem?”
Johnson, with a straight face, answered, “Our girls are rowing there now, and I didn’t hear any announcement about putting their tops on!”
Upon hearing these comments, everyone on stage broke out in laughter.
Popular as Mayor Andy Carnell
Don Johnson passed away May 12. He was 82-years-old.
He was probably the most popular and well-liked Regatta figure since Mayor Andy Carnell, who went door to door along the Water Street business strip soliciting contributions to keep the St. John’s Regatta going during financiallyhard times in Newfoundland.
An indication of the respect and popularity of Johnson is that he was the only non-Newfoundlander to hold the post of Regatta Committee president in 150 years.
Don was born in Nova Scotia and came to Newfoundland in the late 1950s.
One of the highlights of Johnson’s presidency of the Royal St. John’s Regatta Committee was the two consecutive years in which St. John’s rowers beat Olympic rowers and won the Canadian Rowing Championships in both the men’s and the ladies’ competitions.
Johnson, who had been instrumental in bringing Newfoundland hockey into the national association, did the same for rowing in 1994.
The decision to join the national body was beneficial to the rowers and was enthusiastically welcomed by the national association.
“I felt strongly that our rowers would benefit from being part of the national body,” he said. “We got insurance and the opportunity to participate in the Canadian Rowing Championships. At our first meeting with the Canadian executive, speaker after speaker was expressing delight with our choice and were saying that, ‘Newfoundland was coming to join us.’
“Then, one member made a comment which I felt was one of the nicest compliments we received. He said, ‘Look, I have been listening all morning to members saying that Newfoundland is coming to join us. The truth of the matter is that we are joining with Newfoundland because they row a boat the way a boat was rowed 100 years ago, and we changed to sliding seats.
‘The Newfoundland rowers are the purists, and we are really going back in history to the origins of rowing with a group who row boats the way boats were rowed.’ He made a very interesting point.”
Johnson recognized nationally
Newfoundland, with 890 participants, became the largest group in the Canadian Rowing Association.
The national body recognized Don Johnson’s efforts on behalf of rowing and at its 1994 annual meeting, awarded him the President’s Award which is the association’s top executive award.
The involvement of Newfound- One of Regatta’s most popular builders was Don Johnson, who recently passed away. He is shown here being interviewed by Jack Fitzgerald for a Telegram Regatta feature in 2009. — land rowers in the Canadian championships marked the first time in the history of the St. John’s Regatta that crews competed outside Newfoundland.
The races took place in the Olympic Basin at Montreal, the same place where the 1976 Olympic competitions took place.
“Most people in Newfoundland thought, because we were the only fixed seat rowers, that we would be rowing against each other at the nationals. But that was not the case.
“When we got there, the Olympic rowers showed a great deal of interest in our fixed seat rowing shells, and they were eager to row in them and to compete against us.
“Our Newfoundland men and women won both the 1994 and 1995 Canadian Rowing Championships. They beat Olympic rowers.”
In the 1994 nationals, Smith Stockley-Outer Cove won the men’s championship, while OZ-FM was victorious in the ladies championship.
In 1995, the Butternut Crew outdistanced the Ontario crew to win the men’s championship and Keyin Tech crew won the ladies championship.
At the end of the 1994 men’s championship, which was rowed over a one-way course, Johnson jokingly, told the crew:
“Well, for the first time in your lives, you can’t blame the coxswain for a bad turn because the course is a straight line. They laughed, but one rower commented, ‘ Don, I will never do that again!’ I said, ‘ What are you talking about?. You had a straight course all the way.’ He answered, ‘Back home, when we were half-way along the course and turning the buoy, we get a chance for a blow, we can rest. But up here, we had to row the entire time.’”
World-wide rowing
While a member of the Canadian Amateur Rowing Association, Newfoundland was invited to participate in a world wide rower’s association meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, where plans for a world fixedseat rowing championship were explored.
Among those representing Newfoundland at that meeting were Charlie Cook, Brian Henley, Roger Grimes and Don Johnson.
Johnson said that although 10 countries expressed support for a world championship, none used shell-type boats like those used at Quidi Vidi Lake.
“We could not find a boat like those used in the St. John’s Regatta anywhere in the world,” he recalled. “Canada had agreed that our boats should be used for the fixed-seat World Rowing Championship.
“Our hope was that we could get our rowing shells adopted as the standard boat for world fixed-seat competitions. Even though there was interest in the idea of a world rowing regatta, the idea did not materialize. Had the idea been accepted, it was expected that the championship would have taken place on Quidi Vidi Lake.”
After two seasons of participation in the Canadian Amateur Rowing Association Championships, the St. John’s Regatta Committee withdrew its association with the national group due to differences in opinion over how the fixed seat and sliding seat organizations should come together.
Johnson served the St. John’s Regatta for more than 30 years. He worked to support Committee programs behind the scenes for 12 years before becoming a member of the Regatta Committee.
His involvement deepened through the variety of responsibilities he held while on the Committee, including secretary, treasurer, Captain of the Course, vice-president, president, past-president, and, both chairman and secretary of the Regatta Hall of Fame Committee.
Through his service, he gained recognition for his ability to get along well with others and his tact and diplomacy in handling potentially difficult situations.
In 2005, his accomplishments were officially recognized when he was inducted into the Royal St. John’s Regatta Hall of Fame.
In discussing some of the historic events that took place during his service to the Regatta, Johnson was quick to recognize the contributions of others.
One such hallmarks in St. John’s Regatta history was the awarding of the prefix ‘Royal’ to its name, by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
“Frank Dinn deserves the credit for the idea of pursuing the prefix Royal to the St. John’s Regatta,” he said. “He was like a dog with a bone, and kept bringing it up, meeting after meeting. Some, including me, at the time thought he was nuts.
“So, when I was president of the Committee, he brought it up again. By then, I had warmed up to the idea, and thought, ‘Perhaps if I got the right person to handle this, we might be able to do it.’
“Geoff Carnell immediately came to mind as someone smart and bright enough and who has a record of getting things done.
“I approached Geoff and he readily agreed to take on the project. Geoff made a very effective presentation which was met with rapid success. Geoff Carnell’s request happened quicker than it ever happened in the history of the British Monarchy.
“From his passing of his letter to Lt. Governor Fred Russell to the day the prefix Royal was granted was just 38 days.”
In his capacity as a member of the Duke of Edinburg Awards Committee, Johnson, along with several others, attended a private luncheon with the secretary to Prince Edward during the Prince’s visit to St. John’s.
He told the secretary of the rapid response to the Carnell letter.
He later described the secretary’s reaction:
“I sat next to him and when I described the speed with which Geoff Carnell’s request was dealt with in London, he said, ‘ Mr. Johnson, I just met you, and I wouldn’t dare suggest you are lying, but if what you are telling me is true, I am telling you, you have a world record. Buckingham Palace doesn’t work that way. That is the quickest time that Buckingham Palace have ever moved on anything that I know about.” Despite the decline in men’s participation in the Regatta over recent years, Johnson had remained optimistic over the future of the Royal St. John’s Regatta.
He pointed out that the Regatta has a solid foundation in respect to the female involvement, but felt a concerted effort needed to be made to attract male rowers.
Indeed, Regatta history is filled with challenges which, if had not been overcome, would have caused a collapse of the event.
Yet, the Committee was always up to the challenge.
One way to deal with this problem, Johnson had maintained, is to target high school students throughout the city.
To attract them, perhaps rowing shells could be made available after Regatta Day to September to introduce students to the sport of rowing.
Another attraction which youth might consider is to point out the benefits of the great physical conditioning involved in rowing.
This aspect, he feels, could be a big attraction, particularly to students involved in other sports like hockey, soccer, basketball and so on.
He said these things have been discussed before and may form the basis of any recruitment program undertaken by the Regatta Committee.