Wayne Pretty was a student at the University of British Columbia when he won the 1956 Canadian coxed eights title, alongside David Helliwell, Philip Kueber, Richard McClure, Douglas McDonald, Bill McKerlich, Carlton Ogawa, Lawrence West, and Robert Wilson. This accomplishment allowed the crew to represent their nation at that year’s Summer Olympics, where they captured silver. Pretty’s next stop was the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, where he won a gold medal in the eights with a crew coxed by Sohen Biln. He later qualified for the 1964 Summer Olympics in the coxless pairs with Roger Jackson, but was moved to the eights after George Hungerford came down with mononucleosis and was unable to compete. Although the eights crew finished ninth at the Games, Hungerford replaced Pretty in the pairs and, despite Hungerford’s illness and inexperience in the event, he and Jackson defeated favorites Steven Blaisse and Ernst Veenemans of the Netherlands to win Canada’s only gold medal of the tournament. Pretty took up coaching after his retirement from active competition, most notably at the 1967 Pan American Games, where he guided Canada’s rowers to four silver medals. He has been inducted into the Canadian Olympic (1958), British Columbia Sports (1976), and University of British Columbia Sports (2010) Halls of Fame as a member of his silver medal-winning crew.
Canada