RegattaCentral

To anyone who has pulled a rowing shell across Dartmouth's Lake Banook, the name Bud Myra is synonymous with the sport. For some, its the reason they row. Myra died in 1999 at 68 leaving a void in Nova Scotia Rowing that will likely never be filled.

Bud Myra was the kind of figure Hollywood producers fashion movies for--- the tough, old-school coach who, with a quiet sensitivity to his athletes' highs and lows, doles out poignant words that mark turning points in their lives.

"His love for the sport was contagious," say Pat Cody, rower, coach and former National Team member. "When you see someone with that kind of passion for the sport, you can't help but adopt it."

Myra's passion made his presence a constant feature at Dartmouth's Mic Mac and North Star Rowing Clubs for more than four decades. In the late 1950's, Myra won two harbour championships, and in 1969, he won silver with doubles partner Bob Sawler at the first ever Canada Summer Games (before the imposed age limit). Since then, he has been coach, mentor, supporter and friend to countless young rowers, and has been involved with every Summer Games team, usually as boatman.

"Bud could fix anything," says Suzanne Baker, a former Mic Mac rower with several National titles. "If a boat was smashed he could fix it. If your heart was broken he could fix it. If your spirit was broken he could fix it. He always knew exactly what to say."

Over the years, Myra introduced hundreds of Dartmouth children to rowing, perhaps his most tangible contribution. But his gift of offering words of inspiration and simple wisdom may have been his greatest talent.

"He used to say 'You have to keep a fire in your belly.' I will always remember that," says Tony Landry, former Mic Mac rower and coach. "He was a very personal coach. He would figure out what motivated each person individually and use that."

Whether it was procuring the latest coaching tactics, or fund raising for better equipment, Myra helped raise the standard of provincial rowing. Landry says, "The sport wouldn't be alive without him. He generated and preserved the enthusiasm of the sport in the province for years -- an enthusiasm that is now being developed by hard working club coaches and volunteers the province now harbors."

The 47th Annual Nova Scotia Sprints will take place on July 27 and 28, 2019 and is appropriately named The Bud Myra Memorial Regatta in the honour of our rowing legend.

This article was originally published in the Daily News in 1999 and written by Hilary Cole. It has been modified for this regatta package.