I Into the International Spotlight - The Frank Read Years
The Depression Years began with major achievements for the athletes of the VRC. At the 1931 N.P.A.A.O. Regatta the VRC won all the single sculling events - Babs Jaggard the junior, Ed Snead the 140 lbs., Noel de Mille the Senior, and Ned Pratt the 1/4 mile dash. The Rugby team won the Miller Cup in 1931 and again in 1932. In 1932 Ed Snead won the Junior 140 lb. Singles at the Canadian Henley.

The same year, Ned Pratt and Noel de Mille represented Canada at the Los Angeles Olympics and took Bronze in the Doubles to give the Club its second crew of Olympic medallists. Another VRC crew, which had been unable to row in the Olympic Trials due to the depression, decided to go to Los Angeles on its own. With $800 assistance from the Club, Bill Merritt, Don MacKenzie, Frank Read and Alex Gordon piled oars and baggage into MacKenzie's 1929 Model A roadster and drove 1900 miles to Long Beach to compete in a post-Olympic Pacific Association of Amateur Oarsman Regatta. In a borrowed shell, with a borrowed coxswain, they defeated a San Diego crew in a time four seconds faster than the U.S. Olympic Winners. Immediately following that victory, Merritt won the Junior Singles. Fresh from their Olympic success, Pratt and de Mille joined the four and easily won the Doubles, which de Mille followed by taking the Senior Singles. In all, the six brought back to Vancouver four Pacific Coast Championship Trophies and two Olympic Bronze Medals.

The VRC faced a deficit at the end of 1932 due to the exceptional expenses of the year. These included a new doubles shell for Pratt and de Mille, and $600 for the construction of a new mooring float for the Club's yachtsmen who, in this year, formed themselves into the Burrard Yacht Club. It was finances that continued to dog the club throughout the decade. The N.P.A.A.O. did not hold a regatta in 1933; the first time this had happened since WWI. In 1934 the Club's long time caretaker and equipment repairer, "Skipper" Jaggard constructed the first eight ever built in Canada, the "S. C. Sweeny," which George Pocock pronounced perfect. In 1935 Monty Butler and Johnny Dickinson travelled to St. Catharines to compete in the Royal Canadian Henley where they won both Doubles events, and Butler won both the 140 lb. Junior and Senior Singles. They returned to a ticker-tape welcome in Vancouver. Local rugby was dominated by U.B.C.'s "wonder teams" from 1935 to 1938.

With a slow return from the depths of the depression in 1939 the Club developed large-scale expansion plans. It was planned to add Cricket, Wrestling, Football, Table tennis and Track and Field. The plans ended with the first group of members departing for overseas in World War II. Cricket was the only sport to make it, and the first games were played that summer.

By the end of hostilities 176 members had seen service. Unlike World War I, sports at the Club managed to continue at a much-reduced level. High school rowing continued, and visiting service men with under age youths kept Rugby and Cricket operating. From 1942 to 1944 a large part of the Club's main floor was taken by H.M.C.S. Discovery for storage.

After six years of war, few pre-war oarsmen returned to active rowing and high school rowing had failed to bring in many full members. In 1949 it was decided that steps had to be taken to increase rowing membership and as a result a new arrangement was made with the University of British Columbia. The Club agreed that the students would become full members with the University paying half, and the students the other half. The annual dues having returned to $25.00. These new members were called VRC/UBC oarsmen.

Frank Read took on coaching these crews with an annual budget of $200, compared to the University of Washington's $70,000. With an arduous training schedule involving an hour or two every morning and evening, 7 days a week these student crews started to show results against the US University crews on the West Coast.

In the meantime plans were progressing for Vancouver to play host to the 1954 British Empire Games. After astounding the Canadian Rowing establishment by soundly defeating much-favoured eastern crews to represent Canada at the games, on August 5th the VRC/UBC "Cinderella" crew faced off against a heavily favoured English eight:

"The biggest upset in the 1954 Games occurred... when the Canadian Eight, a crew of green kids from [UBC], finished the 2,000-metre course 2 ½ lengths ahead of the English shell... . The Canadians after a faltering start when they caught two crabs in the first eight strokes, which nearly brought their lunging shell to a stop, caught up with the Englishmen at the 500-metre mark and, with an unbelievable, sustained, 40-to-the-minute stroke, pushed steadily ahead from then on. This amazing crew had had only one race during the 1953 college term, and only a few races between that time and the Games; some of the members had never grasped an oar before last February. This unheralded and unorthodox eight from U.B.C. won for Canada her first-ever gold medal in rowing events at any Games." (from The Official History of the Fifth British Empire and Commonwealth Games.)

HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, who attended the B.E.G. rowing events, upon meeting Frank Read shortly following the upset remarked, "You must come to Henley." It was taken as a Royal Command and the decision was made to enter the eight in next summer's Henley. Nelles Stacey set about raising the necessary funds and by the spring of 1955 had raised $25,000. Following their final exams in April, the crew ate, slept and trained twice daily at the Club while also working to raise funds for the following year's tuition.

On July 1st (Dominion Day), 1955 the "Cinderella" crew faced the defending Russian Champions: "the Russians jumped to a quick ¾ length lead, rowing a 43½ to Vancouver's 42. At the quarter-mile the Russians dropped their rate to 36, Vancouver to 33. Then our crew spurted and at the half-mile post Russia's lead had been cut to six feet. By the three-quarters post we were ahead by six feet. When that was announced, the vast crowd, expecting an easy win by the Russians, rose and let out a roar. To an ever-increasing din our boys gradually drew away to win by 1¼ lengths. A tremendous reception awaited them at the boathouse as the crowds left the stands to see the winners."(from The Vancouver Rowing Club by J. Carver.) The next day in the Grand Challenge final, the VRC/UBC eight lost narrowly to the University of Pennsylvania crew by 1/3 of a length, but their defeat of the Russians remained the highlight of that year's Henley Royal Regatta.

The crew returned as the darlings of Canada. Congratulations on their exciting performance came from the House of Commons. Mayor Hume of Vancouver welcomed the crew home at the airport, and after a motorcade through the city, gave a formal address on the court house steps and presented each member or the crew with an inscribed gold medal.

During this period, activity at the clubhouse had begun to pick-up. Club rowing was gaining steam in part due to the interest caused by the approaching B.E. Games and later by the success of the VRC/UBC crew. The N.P.A.A.O. held its first regatta since 1939 in August of 1954. In 1955 VRC Rugby won the Miller Cup for the first time since 1932. Cricket was also gaining strength, winning the Fyfe Smith Shield (BC Mainland 1st Division Championship) in 1956 and 1957 and in 1959 fielded three teams for the first time.

III Olympic Gold - The Frank Read Years Continue