History of UTS Haberfield Rowing Club
Outstanding Oarsmen
The Haberfield Rowing Club at all times in its history has had on its membership, numerous oarsmen who no doubt deserve a place and special mention in this chapter. It may be invidious to single out any for special mention, but the Committee felt rather than select members at random, that the qualification for inclusion in this section of the book should be reserved for those individuals who had won 50 or more races in open company either as an oarsman, coach or coxswain.
Alexander Arthur Eddie
Born Leichhardt April 1918. Educated at Orange Grove Primary and Petersham Intermediate High Schools. First steered crews at Leichhardt Rowing Club at the age of ten. Two years later was chosen to cox N.S.W. Ladies fours in Australian Championships. Was coxswain again in 1931, 1932 and 1933. In that period his crews won three National titles in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. Lost only one race in Hobart, Tasmania. Rowed first race with Leichhardt Club in 1935, the following year Alex transferred to Haberfield winning his first crew race on 18th June, 1936.
First senior win at Riverview Regatta, Gold Cup Eights 1937. Won N.S.W. Champion Fours in 1938 and 1939. Selected and rowed bow in 1939 King's Cup crew which finished second to Queensland in the Australian Title. Enlisted in the A.I.F. 1942 and served overseas being discharged in 1946. Won Grand Challenge Cup Australian Henley, Melbourne 1946. State Champion Fours 1948, and Champion Eights 1947, 1948. Rowed in N.S.W. Olympic Test Fours, Ballarat Victoria in January and seven in the N.S.W. Kings Cup crew that won the Australian Championship. Hobart, Tasmania in April in the on year 1948. Also rowed against the touring New Zealand Champion Eight, beating that crew in the Senior Eights at Haberfield Regatta 1948-49 season. Has won 94 races in his 14 years with Haberfield Club - more than any other oarsman.
A member of the Club Committee for many years, and former Club Secretary. Marries Lilian Hughes in 1942. Has two children.
John Wilfred Eddie
Born 21st April, 1916 at Leichhardt N.S.W. Educated at Orange Grove Primary and Fort Street Boys' High School. First interest in rowing as coxswain at Leichhardt Rowing Club started in May 1928. Commenced sculling with that club in January, 1934 in which year he won several handicap sculling races including the 1934 Walker and Hall Cup.
Jack transferred to Haberfield Rowing Club in May, 1936. Won his first crew races in the same year. In that first year with Haberfield he won 15 races including status races from lightweight maiden fours to senior eights, (Gold Cup at Riverview 1937). Won Champion Eights of N.S.W. in 1938-39, 1946-47, 1947-48, stroked the N.S.W. crew that won the King's Cup and Australian Champion Eights in Hobart, Tasmania 1948. Two years earlier he rowed bow in the Haberfield crew that won the Grand Challenge Cup at the Australian Henley Regatta. Also stroked the Club Senior Eight against the touring New Zealand crew in 1948. Won State Champion Fours 1947-48, 1948-49, while in 1949 on a tour of the Northern Rivers of N.S.W. won the Champion Fours of both the Richmond and Tweed Rivers. As a lightweight champion he won the Champion Fours in 1938 and Lightweight Champion Eights 1940. On the death of Dr. J. A. Parkes, was elected Senior Coach and selector, in 1947 he had coached the State Junior Champion Eight. In the 1949-50 season his crews won the Stewards Cup at Henley and the Australian Empire Games Test Four at Ballarat, Victoria. Was selected as the coach of the four-oared crew at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland.
Seved in the Army from 1941 to discharge in January, 1946. Hon. Treasurer part 1941, while he has been Captain from 1942, 43, 47, 48, 49, 50. Has also served as a Delegate to the N.S.W.R.A. In his fourteen years of active rowing with the Haberfield Rowing Club (of which he is a life member) he won 88 races.
Kevyn Parke Webb
Born at Ashbury, March 21st, 1923. Educated at Haberfield Demonstration School and Fort Street Boys' High School. Played First Grade Rugby and Water Polo. Represented Fort Street at Combined High Schools, swimming and athletics, won C.H.S. backstroke 1939. First coxed at Haberfield 1935, but did not steer in any races. Joined Haberfield Club as an active member 1938.
Won Walker and Hall sculling cup 1939. Represented to the New Zealand Centennial Games 1939-40 Season. Won the Victorian 2000 metres Sculling Championship 1941. Enlisted the same year, serving overseas with the 9th Australian Division, discharged 1946. Won N.S.W. Champion Eight 1945-46. Rowed six 1946 King's Cup Crew at Penrith and 1947 Crew Perth, Western Australia, both of which crews finished second to Victoria in the Australian Championships. Won N.S.W. Champion Fours 1946-47 season and Olympic Test Fours on Nepean, forced to withdraw from crew with injury to back. With Erwin Eder won Champion Pairs of Victoria at Ballarat 1948. After being runner up at Australian Henley in 1946, won Silver Sculls Henley 1948. Defeated New Zealand Champion Sculler, Joe Schneider during the New Zealand tour of Australia 1948-49 season. Won with Ron Rawlings 1949-50 N.S.W. Champion Double Sculls. Represented Australia at the 1950 British Empire Games. Won sculls at Hamilton New Zealand and Invitation 400 metres sculls at the Empire Games Regatta, Karapiro. Has won 87 races in 12 years with Haberfield Club. Coached N.S.W. Lightweight Champion Fours and Junior Champion Fours 1946-47 season.
Has rowed at Pittwater, Windsor, Nepean, Sydney, Tweed, Lismore, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Lake Colac, Ballarat, Port Adelaide, Torrens, Fremantle, Perth, Hamilton, Mercer, Auckland, Wanganui, Wellington and Lake Karapiro, New Zealand.
Member of Committee from 1940, Assistant Secretary 1941, Vice-Captain 1946-47-48-50. Delegate to N.S.W.R.A., 1940, 41,45, 46, 47, 48, elected member of the N.S.W.R.A. 1949, 1950. Life Member of the Haberfield Rowing Club from 1945.
Lance Robinson
Lance began his rowing career with Leichhardt Rowing Club, and with Dr. Parkes, Jack and Alex Eddie and Malcolm Ruffels transferred to Haberfield Rowing Club in May 1936.
His first Senior win came in the 1937 Riverview Gold Cup Regatta when he stroked the Haberfield crew to an outstanding victory. In both 1938 and 1939 he won the Champion Fours of N.S.W. In the later years he stroked the first Haberfield Eight to win the Champion Eights of N.S.W. He was selected and rowed stroke of the 1939 N.S.W. King's Cup crew which finished second to Queensland in the Australian Titles.
At the start of the 1939-40 season he was selected as stroke of the representative crew to compete at the New Zealand Centennial Games in Wellington. Stroking the N.S.W. crew to an outstanding win in the New Zealand Champion Eights.
He enlisted and saw service in the Australian Army. On his return to civilian life he continued his outstanding rowing career, winning the 1946 and 1947 Championship Eights and Fours of N.S.W., representing in the King's Cup at Penrith 1946 and Perth 1947.
In 1948 he stroked the winning No. 1 Olympic Trial Four in the N.S.W. test race, and lost by a narrow margin to Victoria in the Australian Olympic Test Regatta. In December 1949 his bad luck in Major test races continued when in a commanding position in the Empire Games Pairs Test race his boat ran into one of the piers of the Penrith Bridge forcing him out of the race - his crew lost the re-row of this trial some two weeks later. As a result of this accident moves are now being made to have all future Olympic and Empire Games trials rowed on the 'G.P.S.' course on the Nepean River.
There is little doubt that in the period 1936 to 1950 Lance Robinson has proved himself Haberfield's outstanding stroke oarsman.
Owen Ruffels
Born 1920, first joined Haberfield Rowing Club in 1937. Won first race Junior Four at Pittwater Regatta 1937-38 season. Won Champion Fours of N.S.W. 1938 and 1939. Rowed in Haberfield first Champion Eight 1939, which won the State Title. Selected and raced in the seven seat of the 1939 King's Cup Crew, Brisbane, which finished second to Queensland.
After World War II, Owen won the Champion Eights of N.S.W., in 1946 and rowed 7 in the 1946 King's Cup Crew which finished second to Victoria at Penrith N.S.W. Won Champion Fours in the same year and the Grand Challenge Cup for Senior Eights at Australian Henley Regatta, Melbourne, Victoria. Again won Champion Eights of N.S.W. and rowed 7 for the third successive time in the Australian Championship at Perth, West Australia. Won N.S.W. Olympic Test Fours on the Nepean 1947, and rowed three in the Australian Test Race at Ballarat. Was selected to represent Australia at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, but due to lack of finance, the Olympic Federation sent only one rowing reserve.
Emergency to the Haberfield Eight which represented N.S.W. in the 1948 King's Cup race and won the Australian Championship in Hobart, Tasmania. At times Owen held the office of Property Manager, Vice-Captain and member of the Club Committee. In his twenty years with Haberfield Club he won 71 races.
Erwin Eder
Erwin, at 22 years of age has won the King's Cup, Australian Champion Eights, Grand Challenge and Stewards Cups at the Australian Henley and the Empire Games Test, making him as the youngest, and one of the most successful in the Club's history. His story, as he told it to me is as follows: -
"I was born at Petersham, Sydney on 14th November, 1927. For years I was one of Shore's staunchest supporters when the Head of the River came around and it was then that love of rowing was planted.
"Even in those days I think my mother used to hope that rowing would attract me as a sport. In 1940 I entered Fort Street Boys' High School and passed the Leaving Certificate there in 1944, and during that period represented the school firstly in the Seconds and then in the First Grade Football team, Third Grade Cricket and was reserve for the mile at the C.H.S. Athletic Carnival.
"Early in 1940 my family and I witnesses a regatta held on the Hawthorne Canal. We barracked for Haberfield and on that day I made up my mind that some day later on I would participate in such regattas. In September, 1943, therefore, I joined Haberfield Rowing Club, and which was only a half a mile from home. I was overawed by such great club oarsmen as Owen Ruffels, Lance Robinson, Vic Aitken, Kevyn Webb, Jack Eddie, Alex Eddie, Malcolm Ruffels and possibly the greatest of all, my late friend and coach, Dr. J. A. Parkes, whose reputation as a great coach was widely known, and who was mentor, coach and physician to many of the boys. He stood for "Play the Game" in rowing.
"The first crew that I raced in was a Lightweight Maiden Four at the Anniversary Regatta in 1944 in which we were unplaced. Then followed a succession of seconds in this class of race until the J. B. Sharp Regatta on the Balmain course in which I rowed 3 in a Maiden Eight to record my first win. At the J.B. Sharp Drummoyne Regatta I entered four races to record two firsts, one second and one third in the Lightweight Maiden Fours, Maiden Fours, Junior Fours and Maiden Eights.
" The first great thrill was at Leichhardt Regatta of the 1945-46 season when Vic Aitken, bow man of the Senior Eight was late arriving, and I was asked to row bow. We won the race and I was in a dream for days.
"It was about this time I first joined forces with Bill Winkworth when we both were members of a Maiden Eight, and from then on he has been a members of every winning crew that I have raced in, except two pair-oared races in Victoria in which I rowed with Kevyn Webb.
"The following season Bill and I were tried out for the Senior Eight and were both successful to our great delight, and on 22nd November, 1946, we were both members of the first Haberfield crew to win at Henley when we won the Grand Challenge Cup in record time. Three months later our crew won the Champion Eights by 300 yards. in the 1947-48 season Bill and I were members of the Champion Fours, and Champion Eights and went on to be chose in the N.S.W. crew for the King's Cup and won that coveted trophy on 24th April, 1948, on the Derwent River at Hobart.
"Of all the wins and successes of my rowing career to date nine races stand out in my memory so vividly that I would call them my greatest wins. They are.
1946 Grand Challenge Cup, Henley on Yarra
1947 Champion Eights, N.S.W. Penrith
1948 Senior Pairs, Lake Colac, Victoria
1948 Champion Pairs of Victoria, Ballarat
1948 King's Cup, Hobart, Tasmania
1949 Champion Fours, Richmond River, Lismore
1949 Champion Fours, Tweed River, Tweed Heads
1949 Stewards Challenge Cup, Henley on Yarra
1949 Empire Games Test Race, Ballarat
"Although I have won many other races some of them more important, to me these races mean comfortable, relaxed rowing, where we were able to give of our best all the way and where the effort of giving has developed a racing rhythm that has never been beaten - many of these races were close and hard that have been most enjoyable. I was vey happy to win my 50th race on the day of my 21st birthday party, a very memorable occasion and to March, 1950, have registered 67 wins, at the age of 22 years.”
Cecil William Winkworth
Born 29th May, 1924 at Strathfield N.S.W. Moved to Haberfield at the age of two. Educated at Haberfield Demonstration School, Fort Street Boys’ High School, Sydney Grammar School. First came to Haberfield Club as a coxswain in May 1937. Won six races in the stern, the last in 1942. Joined the Club as an active oarsman in August, 1941.
Won first race at the opening Regatta of 1941-42 season on 18th October, 1941. First Senior crew win, 5th October, 1946. Won Champion Eights of N.S.W. 1946-47, and again 1947-48. Rowed four in N.S.W. crew which won King’s Cup and Australian Champion Eights in Hobart, Tasmania, 1948. Won Grand Challenge Cup, Australian Henley, Regatta1946, and the Champion Fours of N.S.W. twice, 1947 and 1948. Also rowed against touring New Zealand crew 1948, scoring a victory at Haberfield Regatta. Won Champion Fours of Richmond and Tweed Heads 1949. Stewards Cup, Australian Henley and Empire Games Test Fours race Ballarat, Victoria 1949. Represented Australia at the 1950 British Empire Games, Aukland New Zealand. Has rowed at Hobart, Melbourne, Ballarat, Lismore, Tweed Heads, Coolangatta and Lake Karapiro, New Zealand. In his nine years with Haberfield has won 59 races in 86 starts.
Elected to the Club Committee at 1942 Annual Meeting, Hon. Treasurer since December, 1944. Holds the record for longest continuous term in office.
Malcolm Ruffels
Like Lance Robinson, Jack and Alex Eddie, three fellow 50 races or more winners, Malcolm began his active rowing career with Leichhardt Rowing Club, transferring to Haberfield in 1936. Won first Senior Eights race at Riverview Regatta - "Gold Cup” in 1937. Won Champion Eights of N.S.W. 1939. Rowed six in the 1939 State King’s Cup crew which finished second to Queensland.
Won first post-war Champion Eight of N.S.W. and rowed five in the Australian Champion Eights, the N.S.W. crew finished second to Victoria. Coached Haberfield crews to Henley in 1947-47. In which year he was elected an Hon. Life Member. Was Club Captain 1943, 44, 45 and part 46. Was Property Master, 1938-39, and served for many years on the Club Committee. Holds the wonderful record of having won six “Gold Cup” Eights at Riverview Regatta and finishing second, beaten by three feet only, on two other occasions.
Since 1949, he last rowed for Haberfield in the Senior Eights at Lismore Regatta, has coached at Sydney Rowing Club. Scoring during 1949-50 season, two outstanding wins, namely: the Founders Cup for Junior Eights at Henley, and the N.S.W. Junior Champion Eights at the J. B. Sharp Memorial Regatta. In his active years with Haberfield Club he has won 60 races.
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It would be impossible to pass over in this chapter of Champion Oarsmen, Colin Cogle who won 45 races and rowed in the 1946 King’s Cup crew at Penrith, and the 1947 crew at Perth, West Australia. Colin’s father, Jack Cogle also rowed in the N.S.W. King’s Cup crew immediately after World War 1, after rowing in the Peace Regatta with the A.I.F. No. 2 crew.
Frank Smith with 48 wins failed by only two races to reach the required number, but like Vic Aitken 41 races rowed in the 1946 King’s Cup crew, with K. ‘Nobby’ Vale who left for America soon after the Australian Championship of that year and has since been lost to Haberfield Rowing.
In 1948 when Haberfield as an entire club crew, won the King’s Cup, the crew included Tom Brennan who as a member of the Police Club rowed in the 1939 crew.
Ken Gee who rowed three in this crew, the following year won the Stewards’ Challenge Cup at Henley and the Games Test race at Ballarat. Ken as a result was selected in the 1950 British Empire Games Team.
Other members of the 1948 Cup team were Doug Malligan and Bill Shepherd. Les Montgomery present club Vice-Captain, stroked the Haberfield four in all its wins last year including the victories at Henley and Ballarat, Les toured New Zealand with the 1950 Australian Games Team.
Other Post War Stars include the two great lightweight scullers Norm Hobson and Norm Cannon, both of whom have won State titles. Cannon with Les Howell, Alan Green and Ron Russell won the only post war lightweight crew Championship.
Outstanding among the pre-war stars in the heavyweight class were the members of the first Haberfield four to win a State Championship. Namely, Ted Firth, 1935 King’s Cup representative, Les Howlett 1933, Stan MacGilvray 1933, 1935 and 1936, and first Haberfield oarsman to actually row in an Australian Champion crew, and Vic Massong.
While outstanding among the Lightweight, Harold McCann who won five State Championships including three fours and two lightweight eight titles.
In sculling, Jack Scott won both the Challenge Sculls at the Australian Henley and the Australian Champion Sculls in 1930. While Herb Turner, later Olympic representative, and 1938 Empire Games Champion, while a member of Haberfield Club won both the State titles, the Silver Sculls at Henley and the 1932 and 1933 Australian Titles.
Milton Kent was our first Championship winner when he won the 1925 N.S.W. Sculling Title.
Bill Bradley of Sydney Rowing Club fame, was formerly a member of Haberfield. Bill, with Cec Pearce won the 1938 Empire Double Scull race.
The 1939 King’s Cup crew included other than those oarsmen already mentioned, Gordon Harrison, Dave Marks, and Bruce Williams, while Bill Taylor was emergency to the N.S.W. crew which toured New Zealand in the 1939-40 Season.
Ron Rawlins who raced to within a foot of Olympic and Empire Champion, Merv Wood in the 1950 Australian Championship won four races with Haberfield Club including the Champion Double Sculls of N.S.W. with K. Webb in 1949.
Bernard S Williams
Mr. Williams commenced his rowing career with the Leichhardt Rowing Club in 1914, winning numerous races with that club. He afterwards went to Adelaide, South Australia, joining up with the Mercantile Rowing Club in that State. On his return to Sydney he became one of the founders of the Haberfield Rowing Club, was Club Captain for four years and was chiefly instrumental in securing the State Junior Premiership on several occasions.
"Bernie" as N.S.W. sole selector, holds the unique record of having selected four successive King's Cup winners. No doubt, his long experience as an oarsman and coach endowed him with the necessary judgement and contributed largely to his remarkable performance. He first coached at St. Joseph's College Eight for the "Head of the River" races in 1929. During that period his crews were successful in winning three times, 1932 and 1933 and again in 1936 when the race was moved from the Parramatta to the Nepean River.
Bernard Searle Williams passed away on 21st October 1937, his loss to our club in particular, and the rowing world in general was felt for many years. He had been one of the Club's first Captains, and first winning coach, a foundation and life member of the club, a singular honour indeed. It is strange to note that the last function he attended, three days before his death was our own Haberfield Regatta.
The Headmaster of St. Joseph's College on hearing of the production of the Haberfield Rowing Club's anniversary book, forwarded the following account of "Bernie's" services as a coach with that famous school.
"Bernie Williams, on account of his success with his Haberfield crews and of his sound judgement as sole selector for N.S.W. was a well-known figure in rowing circles when he came to St. Joseph's College shed in 1929 to undertake the coaching of the College eight for the Head of the River. His associate was Fred Cronin who had charge of the Fours.
Bernie's doctrine of "length and legs" soon began to have its effect, as in his own quiet efficient way, he developed the rowing skill of his charges and gave them a real love for the sport which he himself adorned. Although a very busy man, he would be found day after day waiting on the pontoon for his crews. The boys appreciated this generosity and they simply worshipped their coach. He could never ask too much from them - aching backs and tired legs were forgotten when Bernie called for a finishing burst.
Bernie was indeed the ideal teacher for with his marvelous knowledge of rowing technique he as always the perfect gentleman, always inculcating the highest standards of sportsmanship. He was not the blustering, abusive type of coach. Quietly and ever so patiently he undertook the tedious task of eradicating rowing defects and of instilling the team spirit into his crew. Often in the shed after a practice row, he could be seen taking a boy aside and telling him in a quiet talk what mistakes he was making in his rowing, why he was wrong and how he could remedy his errors. The next day on the water one might hear from the coach these words of praise and encouragement:- "Well rowed No. 3 you're right now". No St. Joseph's oarsman could win a more cherished prize than a word of commendation from Bernie Williams.
He put eight crews on the water for St. Joseph's all remarkable for their polished workmanship, and he won the Head of the River three times in 1932, 1933 and 1936.
When Bernie died suddenly in the early months of 1937, the boys of St. Joseph's, as a last tribute to their beloved coach, formed a guard of honour as the coffin was borne to the grave at the Field of Mars."
Dr. J. A. Parkes
To the sport of rowing there has been more contributed by the coaches than the sport itself has given to them in return. The record of rowing's steady progress through the years bears out such a contribution.
Perhaps the most famous and fabulous figure in Haberfield rowing history was Dr. J. A. Parkes who in his fourteen seasons with our club coached his crews to eleven State Premiership wins. From the "Story of Dr. Parkes" published in a Sydney sports magazine we learn that in the year 1934, in Sydney a young doctor was becoming worried about an increase in weight. In an accidental sort of way he joined Leichhardt Rowing Club. He has a brainwave to go out in a skiff. Ultimately he was persuaded to take over a crew more for disciplinary purposes than to develop skill.
A few days after he agreed to start coaching, Parkes stopped by a library and took out a book on rowing by Steve Fairbairn. After reading and partially memorising all available volumes on our sport he began working on his first crew. The Dr. sought out Ernie Keary and Bernie Williams (both former Haberfield coaches) learning all he could from them. It was not long, however, before his ideas on the Fairbairn "heresy" clashed with then orthodox Committee of Leichhardt Rowing Club. In 1936 Dr. Parkes transferred to Haberfield Rowing Club.
In his first season 1936-378, the Club won the Junior Pennant, and the Dr., coaching 15 winning crews. In April 1937 he won his first Senior Eight, the Anniversary Gold Cup in State record time.
The "Doc" (titles are often used in connection with sporting figures, but Parkes, a doctor of medicine, was also called the "Doc" by Haberfield men with a pride and visible, if unostentatious affection) with a runaway win in the N.S.W. Champion Fours and in 1938 took his first crew interstate to race at Henley in the Grand Challenge Cup. A fine heat win started the crew favourites for the final, after a great race the crew lost to Mercantile Club, Victoria by a few feet. The Doc swore he would return and win the Grand, but some eight years including six years of the worst war in history, were to pass before his ambition was realised in 1946.
May, 1939, saw the Doc as coach of the New South Wales crew in Brisbane for the King's Cup and Australian Championship. Queensland won, only after Victoria (who were disqualified) and N.S.W. lost upward of two lengths in an effort to avoid buoys which had been placed along the course to keep crews in their lanes. These buoys were indiscernible in the glare of the sun. During the war years the Doc carried on with what little time he could spare. Haberfield remained top club, winning the N.S.W.R.A. unofficial Premiership each year till the wars end.
With the end of hostilities and the return from overseas service of many of his pre war stars, Parkes won the first post war Champion Eights, and this entire crew represented the State in 1946 King's Cup race.
The Doc's next trip was in May 1947 to the Australian Championships in Perth Western Australia as N.S.W. coach, again his crew finished second to Victoria. He coached the 1948 N.S.W. Olympic Test Four to Ballarat, Victoria, and in the same year the N.S.W. crew which won the King's Cup and Australian Championship in Hobart, Tasmania.
Of the "Doc" himself, the article quoted earlier, had this to say. "There is a tradition of gruffness about him. When in the midst of making a crew his strict disciplines never relaxed. In a launch Parkes would occasionally rip out a cuss word, when it was necessary. His crews were always in perfect condition. he was looked up to and liked by all the men who had worked under him. He was outside his coaching, shy and very sincere. He was on familiar terms with only a few a few of his crew men.
He regarded rowing as the finest, cleanest and most beneficial of all spots. The finest because of the things required of one who would excel in it. He believed that you would find in the crew squads of clubs the very highest type of young man. There is no more unselfish sport than rowing. Finaly, it is a significant fact and a further indication of Parkes' coaching ability, that not one ex G.P.S. oarsman has ever been in his first crew, The Doc brought all his oarsmen up the hard way.
The Club was shocked to learn that one week before the 1949 Champion Eights Dr. J.A. Parkes passed away in the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, and was buried with full rowing honours at Wentworth Falls.
Since he joined Haberfield Club he coached over 130 winning crews, including the Australian Champion Eights, the Grand Challenge Cup at Australian Henley, and numerous state champions., Haberfield oarsmen of the last two decades regard him as the greatest teacher of rowing who ever lived.
Other outstanding coaches in Haberfield's twenty-five years of active rowing, include G. McGilvray, Norm Elphinstone, who coached the N.S.W. Lightweight Champion Eights and Fours in 1932-33. Owen Ruffels 1939-40 Lightweight Champion Eight, Jack Eddie who became Senior Coach upon the death of Dr. J. A. Parkes, with whom he coached the 1946 Champion Eight. Jack's Senior Four last season won the senior fours at both Henley (Stewards Challenge Cup) and the Empire Games Test race. K. Webb in 1946-47 coached two State champion fours, namely the Lightweight and Junior Titel winners. Ernie Keary coach of numerous N.S.W. crews abd the 1938 Australian Empire Games Eight and Charlie Saleh now famous Mercantile and Wesley College coach.
Edward Healey
Ted came to Haberfield in late 1940 and coxed our crews almost without a break to 1949. In that period he won 76 races. His first State Championship was won in 1946, when he coxed the Haberfield Championship Eight. The 1946 King’s Cup Crew at Penrith followed. Won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley in 1946, the 1947 Champion Eight and Australian Championship races were both raced in by Healey. Was cox of the crew which finished second in the N.S.W. Olympic Test races, and the crew which finished second in the Australian Test Race at Ballarat.
His greatest win came in 1948, when Haberfield rowing in N.S.W. colours won the King’s Cup and Australian Champion Eights in Hobart, Tasmania. After a period of forced retirement caused by working in the country, Ted Healey returned to the sport this year, coxing the “Guinea Pig” Eight in the State Championship and coaching the Sydney Rowing Club’s Junior Champion Eight.
Norman Ella
Gained fame as coxswain of Haberfield's first eight oar crew ever to race in an open regatta, and won the first four oared race in which the club was successful. Coxed the Lightweight Champion Four of N.S.W. 1927-28 and the Haberfield crew which won the Lightweight Champion Eight of N.S.W. 1928-29. Norm won the New South Wales Rowing Association's premier coxswains trophy for the most wins in a season. After leaving Haberfield, Norm coxed with the newly formed Police Club and won state Championships with that club. In 1936 he represented Australia at the Berlin Olympic Games. Norm returned to Haberfield during the war years to coach. In his seven active coxing years he won 50 races.
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Among other coxswains who gave good service to Haberfield Club over the years were Ray Schneider, 22 wins, steered the first crew to win a State Champion Eight 1939, in which year he was selected to cox the N.S.W. King’s Cup crew which raced into second place in the Australian Championships on the Hamilton Reach at Brisbane, raced into second place in Brisbane that year, Ray won the 1938-39 Champion Fours.
Kevin Fox, won the Stewards Challenge Cup at Australian Henley, the National test race at Ballarat and represented Australia at the 1950 British Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand.
Other coxswains who won State Championships include S. Kerr, E. Lloyd, C. Ritchie, R. Davies, E. Everitt, W. Chandler and R. Chapman.
Two former Haberfield coxswains who have raced with great success with other clubs are Tom Chessell, who toured England with the 1939 crew to Henley, and who this year coxed the 1950 King’s Cup crew, and Doug Bowden who coxed the 1938 crew, and managed the 1939 and 1950 N.S.W. crews. To Brisbane and Melbourne.
Whilst on the subject of outstanding oarsmen, it is worthy of mention that two club members gained representative honours in other sports, namely, the late Jack ‘Streak’ Malone, who represented at Rugby Union, and Fred De Belin who toured England and France with the Australian Rugby League Team.