Bill Ross was in his mid-1920s before he took up rowing with the Toronto Argonauts but, from 1926 through 1932, he was a staple of the club’s senior team. After experimenting with the coxed fours for two years, he began competing in the coxed eights and was a member of the crew that defeated the Winnipeg Rowing Club to earn the right to represent Canada at the 1928 Summer Olympics. There he won a bronze medal, alongside John Donnelly, Frank Fiddes, Jack Hand, Frederick Hedges, Athol Meech, Jack Murdoch, Edgar Norris, and Herbert Richardson, after defeating Poland in the quarterfinals and losing to the United States in the semifinals. He also competed at the 1930 British Empire Games, but did not win a medal. He retired from active competition in 1932 and spent a decade coaching the Argonauts before moving into sports administration and serving as President of the Canadian Association of Amateur Oarsmen in 1944 and 1945. He later headed the Argonauts’ rowing (1951-1953) and Canadian football (1953-1960) squads and was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame in 1982.
Canada