Don Rowlands won nine national titles and was the Empire Games single sculls champion in 1954 after being a member of the silver medallist eight at the games in Auckland four years before. His time as a rowing selector included the golden years of the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games and he then turned his attention to securing for New Zealand the world championships in 1978. The event at Karapiro was regarded as outstanding and Rowlands was deservedly praised as the man most responsible. He was patron when the championships were held there again in 2010, by which time rowing was enjoying another golden era, taking advantage of foundations laid by Don Rowlands. He was knighted in 2015. Return to the Inductee list