Lou Scholes

As a schoolboy, Lou Scholes set several records in track and field athletics but, at the age of eighteen, he decided that rowing was his true passion. Throughout the late 1890s and early 1900s he began branching out his talents by winning competitions at the local, then national, and finally international level. His father and brother, both named John F., had made their names in Canada as boxers, and Lou tried his hand in this sport as well. He earned the title of Canadian heavyweight champion in 1902, but gave it up due to fears that he would damage his rowing abilities. By 1903 he was North American champion in the senior singles and doubles categories, the later alongside Frank Smith. His efforts culminated in his victory at the Diamond Challenge Sculls in England in July 1904, one of the oldest and most prestigious rowing events in the world, where he set a then-course record of 8 minutes, 23 seconds. He planned on defending his title in 1905, but was struck with typhoid fever and could not attend. He competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in the single sculls event for Canada, but was eliminated in the second round. He retired from rowing in 1909 after winning that year’s Pacific Coast Championship in British Columbia.

Outside of active competition Scholes was a member of the Queen’s Own Rifles Bugle Band and served with the 48th Highlanders and the 180th Sportsmen’s Battalion, although he did not travel overseas with them during World War I due to a broken leg. After his recovery he was appointed Director of Sports for Military Division #2 with the rank of captain, eventually serving in Siberia for six months as brigade transport officer with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. He later became the supervisor of the track and field selection for the Ontario Amateur Athletic Union, a judge with the Ontario Boxing Commission, and an executive with the Sportsmen’s Patriotic Association.