Ramsay Honored With an ‘Octo’

The “Octo” awards, given each year at World Rowing’s masters regatta, celebrate rowers who have reached age 80, honoring their lifelong commitment and proving that age is truly only a number.

“I got an award for being old! It’s like being at your own funeral; you hear people you don’t know say good things about you,” exclaimed Jim Ramsay on his Facebook page after he was recognized at this year’s event in late September in Tshwane, South Africa.

Ramsay, 80, discovered the sport at Dartmouth College in 1961 when his 6-foot-6 frame caught the eye of the school’s rowing coach. As a child, he had battled osteomyelitis, an infectious bone disease that made his right leg shorter than his left by an inch. But that anatomical difference was no match for his positive attitude and tenacious spirit, which informed his approach to coaching: “Say two good things and then one bad thing.” It was an effective method for nurturing growth and optimism.

Ramsay began coaching in 1966 at Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H. Two years later, he was guiding high-school rowers in Oak Ridge and Clinton, Tenn., including Eric Barkley, who won a junior national championship.

In the 1970s, Ramsay was a founding member of the Oak Ridge Rowing Association and helped turn Oak Ridge into a premier rowing venue and the nearby Clinch River into a world-class racing site. Today, he coaches and rows for recreation on the river, which is in his backyard.

When he received World Rowing’s Octogenarian Award, Ramsey quipped that “it represents health and a lifetime of early-morning sunrises and a sound relationship with the morning quiet and its critters—beavers, herons, fish.”

It was the crowning moment for a man whose career has been less about achieving personal glory than enriching his community by fostering the growth of rowing. Owing to his efforts, Oak Ridge has developed into a hub that draws crews from all over the nation, ensuring the sport’s future while bringing joy to rowers in the present.