Downtoearth rower made NZ sports history
Rower
HE was part of the smalltown crew that conquered the British Empire.
George Paterson was the youngest member of the Empire Games gold medalwinning Oamaru coxed four crew in 1962.
It was the peak of a career during which he also raced at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964.
He died in Christchurch on July 26, aged 79.
Paterson teamed with fellow Waitaki Boys’ High School old boys Win Stephens, Bill Smedley and Keith Heselwood and Waikato cox Doug Pulman at the 1962 Games in Perth.
Coached by Rusty Robertson — at the time considered the doyen of New Zealand sports coaches, alongside Arthur Lydiard — the crew edged Australia for gold.
At that time, New Zealand would send an entire crew to international events, rather than picking individuals from various crews around the country.
Longtime Oamaru rowing coach Owen Gould called it the ‘‘greatest sporting event that’s ever happened by Oamaru’s sportspeople’’.
Having begun rowing that year as a 14yearold, Gould said it was something he would never forget and it had a huge influence on his involvement in the sport.
Gould said Paterson was not just a wonderful rower but an admirable person.
‘‘A neat guy, a real neat guy,’’ he said.
‘‘Down to earth — the whole four of them were very down to earth, actually.’’
Born in Milton on November 6, 1940, to Andy and Chris Paterson, George Murray Paterson began rowing with Stephens in 1959.
The duo had success as novices and won the novice pair at a Waihola regatta that year.
A year later, they won the junior pair and combined with Smedley and Heselwood to form a four.
Robertson told the crew a year later it was as good as any of the crews at a championship event in Wellington. One of those had five New Zealand representatives.
In an Otago Daily Times oral history of the crew’s win, published on the 50year anniversary in 2012, Stephens said that had been the start of the team’s belief in themselves.
The crew then beat an Auckland four at a trial in Christchurch to qualify for the Games.
Once in Perth, they faced an unbeaten Australian crew that, with 500m to go in the final, looked to be heading for gold.
However, the New Zealanders hauled in the three boatlengths they trailed by to claim gold by 76cm.
‘‘We were little country bumpkins,’’ Paterson said in the ODT’s oral history.
‘‘But we had selfbelief. We wanted to do the best we could. I was just absolutely over the moon.’’
Meanwhile, the newspaper described the reaction back home in Oamaru.
‘‘Drivers of cars and lorries pressed their horns. Telephones rang everywhere. People slapped each other on the back. One man even hoisted a flag.
‘‘The fire signal came 40 minutes before a vague radio announcement.’’
The crew received a heroes’ welcome in Oamaru.
However, it did not continue much longer. It raced in 1963 and was beaten.
At that point, the others began to turn their attention to marriage, work and other interests.
Paterson continued and attended the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo as the sevenseat in the New Zealand eight, and was the reserve for the 1968 Games in Mexico City.
By that point, New Zealand was picking composite crews from around the country.
After the latter Games, he left behind Oamaru and his job as a carpenter, moving to Christchurch to work for New Zealand Breweries.
He had two children, Simon and the late Fiona.
His influence in the sport extended to coaching and in 1997 he guided the New Zealand under23 four in an Australasian test regatta in Sydney.
In 2018, he was awarded a legacy medal by the New Zealand Rowing Foundation, in celebration of his contribution to the history of New Zealand rowing.
— Jeff Cheshire