Rowers/Scullers/Coxswains Who Became Famous

Occasionally, people ask about rowers/scullers/cox’ns who became famous people. The following is an attempt to develop a list. If you can think of anyone to add, please send a message with name, place rowed/sculled/coxed and why they’re widely known. bmiller@rowinghistory.net

compiled by Bill Miller

William E Gladstone (Prime Minister, Parliament) “sculler constantly” at Eton
Oliver Wendell Holmes (poet) sculler on Charles River, Boston
Dean Acheson (Secretary of State) rowed at Yale
Anderson Cooper (news journalist) coxed at Yale
Pierre de Courbertin (founded Modern Olympics)
Anita DeFranz (USOC/IOC) rowed at Conn. College
David T. de Varona (heart surgeon & father of Donna de Varona) rowed at Cal-Berkeley with Gregory Peck
Charles Eliot (Harvard president) rowed at Harvard
Averill Harriman (statesman) rowed at Yale
Stephen Hawking (physicist) coxed at Oxford
Graham Hill (Formula One champion) stroked London RC VIII 1953
Richard Hillary (UK WWII pilot/hero, author) rowed at Oxford
Jake Kilrain (boxer) aka John Killion, 1883 stripped of NAAO sculling championship
Hugh Laurie (actor/comedian) rowed at Eton/Cambridge/Henley RR/Jr. Worlds
John Lehman (Secretary of the Navy)
George Mallory (d. 1924 Mt. Everest expedition) rowed at Magdalene College
& Andrew Irvine (d. 1924 Mallory’s climbing partner) rowed at Merton College/Boat-Race 1923 & 1923
William Middendorf (Secretary of the Navy) rowed at Harvard
Franklin D Roosevelt Jr rowed at Harvard 1936
Lord Colin Moynihan (British Minister of Sport) coxswain, 1980 Olympic silver medallist
Admiral Chester Nimitz, stroked Navy 1905
Edward Norton (actor) rowed at Yale
Elton (Gregory) Peck (film star) rowed at Cal-Berkeley 1936
Robert McNamara (Sec. Defense) rowed at Cal-Berkeley 1935
Admiral Robert E. Perry (explorer) rowed at Bowdoin College, 1877
Vincent L Price (actor) rowed freshman crew at Yale, Class of 1933
Robert Reich (Clinton administration Secretary of Labor) coxed at Dartmouth
Stanley Resor (Secretary of the Army) rowed at Yale
Teddy Roosevelt (U.S. President) rowed freshman & sculled at Harvard, 1877
Leverett Saltonstall (Governor/US Senator of Massachusetts) rowed at Harvard
George A Selwyn (1st Bishop of New Zealand (1841-1867) rowed for Cambridge in the 1st Boat-Race (1829)
Capt. Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (astronaut) rowed at Navy
Dan Snow (UK TV presenter/historian) rowed at Oxford
Lord Snowdon (UK photographer, married Princess Margaret) coxed Cambridge in 1950 Boat Race
Dr. Benjamin Spock (baby MD/author) rowed at Yale-Gold Medal 1924
John L. Sullivan (boxer) sculler
Steve “Crusher” Casey (wrestler) 1936 All-England rowing champ & disqualified after winning GB Olympic trials
King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV (ruled Tonga 1967-2006) rowed “at school”
William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) rowed at Cambridge
Payne Whitney (investments) rowed at Yale
Dean Witter (investments) rowed at Cal-Berkeley
Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss (Social Network movie fame) rowed Harvard/2008 US Olympic Team/2010 Boat Race
Julian Clary (UK actor/entertainer) coxed for Kingston
Bradley Cooper (actor) rowed at Georgetown
Bram Stoker (actor of Dracula) coxed in Ireland
Rudolph Hess (Nazi deputy Furher) coxed in Germany
John F. Lehman, Jr. (Secretary of the Navy) rowed at Cambridge
Olaf V (Prince/King Norway) rowed Balliol/Oxford 1924
Harold V (Prince/King Norway) rowed Balliol/Oxford 1960
Bruce McLaren (race car driver/manufacturer) rowed in New Zealand
Albert deLande Long (builder of Tyne Bridge & Sydney Harbour Bridge) Wingfield Sculls champ 1869 & 1870
R C Sherriff (author Journeys End, script Goodbye Mr. Chips & Dam Busters) Kingston School BC
Lord Bruce of Melbourne (Australia Prime Minister 1923-29) rowed at Cambridge 1907
Rupert E.C.L. Guiness (Earl of Iveagh) rowed at Eton/Cambridge/Thames RC/ Leander/Remenham
H.I.H. Prince Takamatsu, Japan “expert” sculler 1920s