John Bennett

Although John Bennett first made his mark in athletics in the water – setting a New York State backstroke record while swimming for Lafayette High School at the state championships – it was on the water where his legacy and impact grew deeply.

Born in Buffalo in 1909, Bennett began rowing with the late Jim Hogan.

Although they won the 1949 national title in the pair-oared shell, setting a record that still stands, Bennett’s most successful achievements took place as a coach.

Bennett coached many championship eight-oared crews (eights) at his alma mater Lafayette High School, but it was the club crews where he earned national notoriety.

In that era, club crews were as powerful as those of the big universities, and he assembled the most remarkable coaching record in North America. Bennett’s heavyweight eight-oared crews won the U.S. National championships in 1947, 1949, 1950 and 1951. His “eights” as they are called, also won the Royal Canadian Henley championships in 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1956. He also was the principal coach in 1956 of a four-oared crew with coxswain that defeated many college powers, including Navy, to win a national championship. The four represented the United States in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.

Bennett coached young men just after the Great Depression, and he knew for many of them, rowing offered a ticket to highly acclaimed universities such as Harvard, Brown, MIT, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and Penn. In creating that pathway, he helped them to build careers in medicine, law, the military, journalism, higher education and business.

Today, an annual 1,500-meter race held at West Side Rowing Club on the Black Rock Canal is named in his honor.
Away from the water, Bennett served in the 87th Battalion ski troops in Alaska, rising to the rank of chief warrant officer. He was also a member of the Buffalo Police Department for 33 years, attaining the rank of lieutenant.

John Bennett passed away in 1995 at the age of 85.