Born in 1913, Jim Pogue joined the Don Rowing Club with his brother Bill at a young age — and this association for him continued for more than nine decades.

     The Pogue brothers were consumed with rowing. Their crews — in which Jim was usually the bowman — were winners of many races. Especially notable was their their 150-pound four of 1937 which emerged victorious seven times in various combinations in a single day. Unfortunately Jim’s brother was stricken with tuberculosis and the illness ended his rowing career. But Jim went on achieving greater honours and recognition.

     The club’s mentor, Jack Guest Sr., was the star on the Canadian rowing scene, the fastest sculler those years. Jim and Jack became lifelong friends. Enjoying as much success in business as in rowing, it was a natural thing for Jim to receive a call to join the club’s “by invitation only” executive board, joining some of the giants of Canadian rowing in the 1930s, such as Jack Guest and Bob Dibble. In 1938 this august body informed Jim he had been selected to receive an award of merit from the DRC. Events beyond anyone’s control kept this award in limbo for nearly 40 years. In 1939, the clubhouse blew down then the Second World War broke out.

 

     Three decades later expropriation of the   lakeshore waterfront along the Canadian National Exhibition ground for the development of Ontario Place forced the club to find and move to a new home in 1960. They found the home they still occupy at the mouth of the Credit River in Port Credit — and the rest is Mississauga sports history. First glance of the reincarnated clubhouse told Jim’s wife Mary (soulmate and a faithful supporter) that the building needed a few touches to turn it into a real home, including an upstairs addition. Jim also vowed he would fill the building with new boats. He used the name of his famous friend Jack Guest as a drawing card to raise funds at a few highly successful dinners at the King Edward Hotel. These fundraisers helped pay for several new boats, including two singles that would later produce Olympic medallists Silken and Danielle Laumann.

     Jim’s vision also included a commitment to youth. He launched a bantam program, which he coached himself, sitting in the coxie seat of an eight and barking out commands at unsuspecting 12-year-olds who affectionately called him “Gramps.”

     This sort of vision and commitment to the youth program went a long way to enable Canada to emerge a global power in the sport. A string of Olympic and world championship medallists were first bitten by the rowing bug, or had their competitive careers shaped in one form or another, at the mouth of the Credit River. Silken and Danielle Laumann, Rob Marland, Heather Hattin and Jeff Lay, John Chapman and Kay Worthington spring to mind.

     Inevitably Jim became president of the the Don Rowing Club and for more than a decade he and Mary would host monthly executive meetings with cheese platters, beer and coffee. The Tops and Bottoms regatta was a product of these sessions — and so was the expanded facility that has become more than a mere clubhouse to athletes, friends and supporters. At the opening of the new club house — viewed as the crowning achievement of his involvement, dedication and leadership — Jim had finally received his due for his 1938 award. The James B. Pogue Room was named in his honour.