Reprinted with permission, St. Catharines Standard

By BERNIE PUCHALSKI

With the death Monday of Claude (Sandy) Saunders, Canada's rowing community is mourning the loss of a former Olympian, Canadian sports hall of famer and Order of Canada member.

But the Hamilton resident, who died in his 96th year, was much more than the organizational wizard who chaired the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta for 40 years and developed the Henley and Schoolboy regattas into the world-class events they are today. (Shown here at a Leander event with, from top left, the late John Anderson of Rowing Canada; past RCA president John Carmichael and his daughter, Janice).

He was an athlete, a mentor, a story teller and a best friend.

"Over the years, there wasn't anything he didn't help or touch and he made it glow. He was that type of person. He could get the best out of people by just being nice to them," said Jim Minards, who worked on regattas with Saunders for more than 50 years.

In those 50 years, Saunders changed a lot of things.

"He used to come down here and work his buns off even a week before the regatta because he wanted things to be run a certain way.

"He was instrumental in putting in the rules and regulations and getting them passed at meetings, and getting everything done to improve the organization year after year after year," Minards said.

Among the fondest memories Minards has of Saunders is an annual jaunt to Montreal for Rowing Canada's annual meeting. Saunders would rent a railway coach to shuttle people to the event.

"He would fill it with all the ambitious people who wanted to spend time, not so much time at meetings, but on the town in Montreal."

On the return trip to Toronto, the coach was stocked with all the essentials, including about 10 to 15 pounds of garlic-smelling Montreal smoked meat sandwiches.

"We would be in the middle of a 10-car train so people would be walking back and forth wondering what this wonderful party was. And Claude would be holding forth with some of his wonderful stories," Minards said.

Sue Erskine, who, along with her deceased husband, Bruce, were lifelong friends and regatta helpers with Saunders, said Saunders leaves a legacy in rowing as a former Olympian and a mentor to everyone in the sport.

"It was his kindness, his absolute kindness to everyone that crossed his path," she said.

And while he developed the rules and regulations that guided the Henley and Schoolboy regattas, there was always wiggle room.

"His whole philosophy was you had to have rules, but rules were never to the detriment of a young athlete. If a coach did something outside the rules and the effect was that a kid didn't get a row, well those rules didn't apply because the kid meant more than the rules. He operated that way in everything he did."

One of Erskine's fondest memories - at least one that could be printed in a family newspaper - was Saunders' role at the 1999 world championships in St. Catharines.

Saunders was to be presented with an award from FISA but was reluctant to attend. After the Erskines talked him into coming down to receive the honour, he spent the week helping Erskine, who was in charge of the grandstand.

"That's what Claude was like. There was no job too demeaning or too menial for Claude. He went down and he worked there all day with us just at really Joe jobs because he didn't have a position at the worlds.

"He put the flags up every morning and he washed the tables where people would sit and cleaned up. He was an amazing guy."

Prior to his death, Saunders, who is survived by his children Claude Jr., Lois Royle and Janice McCarthy, was Canada's oldest living Olympian. The lifelong member of the Leander Boat Club stroked Canada's heavyweight eight at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and was spare at the 1948 Olympics.

He was manager of Canada's rowing team at the 1957 British Empire Games and 1960 Olympics, and was Canada's FISU official at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics.

Saunders served as president of the Central Ontario Rowing Association, the Canadian Secondary Schools Rowing Association and the Canadian Amateur Association of Oarsmen, and was the first Canadian to hold a FISA referee's licence.

In an interview with Peter King, Saunders said his proudest moment was the Opening Ceremonies at the 1936 Berlin Games and receiving his FISA licence from Dr. Hans Walter, the founder of FISA officials.