University of British Columbia Athletics

Al Morrow began his illustrious coaching career while at UBC as a student in Physical Education. During the early 1970s Morrow rowed for UBC, representing Canada in the eights at the 1976 Olympics then was again selected to Canada’s team for the 1980 Games. Still a student, he was appointed in the fall of 1976 to coach the UBC/VRC Thunderbird men’s rowing crews which he coached through graduation in 1979.

Embarking upon a coaching career at UBC, a program initially “on the precipice of cancellation”, Morrow guided his Varsity crew to victory at the 1976 Western U.S. intercollegiate championship. He then took his 1978 UBC eights to victory at the Canadian championships and with it the prestigious Ned Hanlan trophy. This was followed by the FISA open championship where UBC’s eights won both the 500-meter and 2000-meter races against U.S. and Cuban competition. As Canadian champions the UBC/VRC crews were selected to represent Canada at the ’78 Pan Am Games – the last time a “club” team would be chosen to represent Canada – this selection borne of the success that Morrow had demonstrated. At these Games the eights won silver then in 1979 Morrow again took the UBC/VRC eights to gold at the Canadian championships.

Morrow later in 1979 was still a volunteer coach (as several were at that time) and despite efforts and support to retain him at UBC as a paid coach UBC was not able to make that commitment. Morrow moved to the University of Victoria where he became a centerpiece of its new core athletic programs strategy. In just a few years however it was felt by those close to rowing that Morrow “had brought UBC rowing back to its former glory.”

While at UVic Morrow introduced the annual UBC/UVic Brown’s Cup Challenge and Gorge Regatta which in the words of David Dunnison, “thereby providing marquee events that helped anchor ongoing support for both UVic and UBC programs and BC rowing itself.”

Morrow’s further legacy included coaching techniques and revolutionary rowing training he had developed while at UBC transforming Canada’s approach to training – his innovations adopted by the national teams four years after he introduced them at UBC. Again in 1992 his UBC-developed strategies on training pairs, despite opposition, was used to facilitate gold medal victories for the Canadian pair of Marnie McBean and Kathleen Heddle. In addition, Dunnison feels the recent UBC boathouse funding campaign benefitted from the fact it was Morrow’s athletes “who demonstrated some of the highest alumni funding participation rates in UBC’s history.”

Morrow’s first year as men’s rowing coach at UBC – 1976 – proved to be significant in that it was at this time the UBC women’s rowing program was introduced. The idea of a women’s team was actually spearheaded by two student athletes who sold the concept to UBC Athletics. It was Morrow who suggested fellow coach Glen Battersby step up and take the reins of this new women’s team and overcoming obstacle it was launched in November 1976, a program which has since endowed UBC with an extraordinary portion of its Olympic medals.

Morrow’s UBC and BC rowing experience would be an early chapter in what would evolve to become one of Canada’s most impressive coaching resumes. For five decades Morrow either rowed for or coached Canada’s national team to eighteen medals at World Championships in addition to four gold, one silver and eight bronze in Olympic competition. Within his accomplished body of work, he is best known as head coach of Canada’s women’s rowing teams for the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympic Games and assistant coach of the Olympic silver medal-winning women’s eights in 2012.

As the coaching guru at the national level Morrow has also served as the director of Canada’s National Rowing Centre and as of 2012 was the Performance Director for Canada’s lightweight men’s program.

Morrow has been well recognized for his longevity and expertise. He has several times been awarded the Wittnauer/Longines Coaching Excellence Award, a Federal Government meritorious service medal, the Geoff Gowan Coaching Award and was named the 1999 World Rowing Federation Coach of the Year. He is an inductee in the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, Rowing Canada’s Hall of Fame and in 2006 was inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame.

UBC alumni fondly remember Morrow; “Al taught hundreds of rowers skills that we have all been able to apply to our lives beyond the sport...” says Warren Beach. John Gjervan feels that “The hard lessons I learned under Al Morrow have served me well thereafter... Most importantly, he cared.”

Written by Fred Hume