Celebrating the 2024 Western Mustangs Sports Hall of Fame team inductees
Women's 1980 heavy eight rowing
The Western women’s crew of 1980 won the Canadian Championship Open Women’s Eight, walking away from their junior and senior crew rivals. Two weeks later they repeated the performance at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in St. Catherines, Ontario in both the Junior Eight and the Senior Eight. The crew then won a silver medal at Mexico’s Quetzalcōātl Regatta, capping off an incredible season.
The 1980 crew was the culmination of growth, work and spirit. Pam Middleton and Yvette Coatsworth, BA’79, BEd’81 got the ball rolling in the summer of 1977 when the women’s summer program consisted of one four-person team. By 1979 Nola Hammond, BA’79, BEd’80, Wendy Robertson, BA’80, Marlene Alt, BA’80, and Karen Power, BEd’83 had joined to make a competitive eight. Competition to join the crews heated up and in 1980 Angela Schneider, BA’78, MA’85, PhD’93, Julia Scott HBA’80, and Nicola Nixon, BA’81 made the team. High school student Mary Flinn, who would later go on to compete in rowing and track & field for Western, stepped in as the team’s coxswain. In 1980 Marlene Alt and Kim Woods competed as a pair, with both stepping in to help the women’s heavy eight win silver in Mexico.
On the organizational side, program building was a boot strap process. Money for shells, equipment and travelling was raised through pub nights and various club wide efforts, and the lightweight boats were shared between women’s and men’s programs. All coaches were volunteers, typically peers stepping in for a season or two to help with winter training and on the water. In 1979, Jerry Patchell, BA’80, MA’84 was recruited as head coach a position he held until 1982.
All early local and regional regattas were won handily, but mid-July was the toughest training period, and the team lost at the Ontario championships. The crew kept the faith and peaked mentally and physically in time for their championship wins, pushing themselves as a uniting force. They remain the only crew to win both junior and senior titles in the same year.
Prior to the 1980 championship winning women’s heavy eight crew, the Western women’s program was focused on the fall and spring seasons. The 1980 team proved the value of the summer months in honing technique without inclement weather.
In the years that followed, future teams at Western became a magnet for Canada’s international juniors, establishing Western as one of Canada’s most successful rowing centres.
Mustangs football
The 1976 and 1977 Western Mustangs proved to be two of the top teams in Western history, with both earning a trip to the Canadian College Bowl, now known as the Vanier Cup, and both facing off against the Acadia University Axemen.
1976 team
The 1976 team defeated the University of Windsor Lancers 20-13 in the Ontario-Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference (OQIFC – later Ontario Universities Athletic Association) during the Western Semi Finals, and Wilfred Laurier University Golden Hawks 28-14 in the Yates Cup during the OQIFC Western Division Final. The team were inaugural Forest City Bowl Champions, defeating the University of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds 30-8.
In the Vanier Cup showdown with the Acadia University Axemen the Mustangs came out victorious, winning 29-13, with Bill Rozalowsky named Most Valuable Player and Darwin Semotiuk named Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union Coach of the Year.
1977 team
In 1977, Western proved to be the dominant team of the decade with its second consecutive and fourth overall Vanier Cup win. It was the first time in Vanier Cup history with back-to-back matchups resulting in the same winner.
Leading up to the Vanier Cup, the Mustangs beat the University of Windsor Lancers 14-13 in the OUAA semifinals, Wilfred Laurier University Golden Hawks 22-17 in the OUAA Yates Cup final and Calgary 24-22 in the Forest City Bowl national semifinals. Their 33-point margin of victory in the 1977 Vanier Cup still ranks second in game history, trailing only McGill University’s 47-11 win over UBC in 1987.
Coached by Semotiuk the team won 48-15 over the Acadia University Axemen at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. Quarterback Jamie Bone, BA'78, DipEd'79 who was also behind centre in 1976, was near perfect as he completed 80 per cent of his passes (16 of 20), with no interceptions and four touchdowns - a Vanier Cup record he holds to this day.
Running back Bill Rozalowsky added 177 yards on the ground and earned his second consecutive Ted Morris Memorial Trophy Award.
Western set three Vanier Cup rushing records in 1977 including most yards by a single player (Rozalowsky), as well as most yards (301) and most runs (55) by a team.
