Jacob Gaudaur
| Jacob Gaudaur, Sr. | |
|---|---|
Gaudaur in 1898
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| Born | 3 April 1858 Orillia, Canada |
| Died | 11 October 1937 |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Other names | Jake Gaudaur |
| Title | World champion sculler |
| Term | 1896–1901 |
| Predecessor | Jim Stanbury |
| Successor | George Towns |
For the Canadian Footballer and Commissioner, see Jake Gaudaur.
Jacob Gill “Jake” Gaudaur, Sr. (3 April 1858 – 11 October 1937) was one of two native Canadians to win the Professional World Sculling Championship. Gaudaur was born in Orillia, Ontario. His first race was when he was aged 17 years and over his career he raced more than two hundred times. His professional career started in 1880.
Gaudaur first came to notice when he beat Edward Trickett, the former World Champion, in England in 1881. He was trained by another former World Champion Ned Hanlan and on May 30, 1887 managed to beat him in a race at New York. In 1891 Jake came second in the Hop Bitters Race. In 1892 he teamed with George H. Hosmer to win the World Double Sculls Championship. The year of 1893 saw him win the three miles race for the American Single Sculls Championship in a record time of 19m.06s. After this he offered to row any person in the world for the American Championship or for any race between a quarter and three miles for a stake of between $1000 and $2500. The following year he reduced the record time to 19m.01.5s in the same event. When he won the Championship for a third rime he was given permanent possession of the prize, the Richard K Fox Trophy. The convention of the times was that consecutive three time winners in most sports kept the prize as their own property. After this Gaudaur was sometimes referred to in the press as "American" rather than "Canadian." The year 1885 was a most successful year for Gaudaur—of fifteen races he competed in he was only beaten in three.
In 1886 he challenged Bill Beach for the World Title. The match was run on 18 September 1886 on the Championship Course in England. This was one of the more interesting races for the Championship. The whole of the course was fringed with excited spectators several rows deep. The contestants went away fast and this exhausted Beach who stopped rowing and it seemed he was beaten. Gaudaur went ahead but Beach being cheered on by his supporters made another effort but did not catch his opposition. His coach then gave a strong encouragement to go on as he thought Gaudaur was just about "rowed out," which proved true. Gaudaur also stopped rowing and slumped in his boat for a short time before continuing. Despite another stop from exhaustion Beach then managed to row on reasonably strongly to cross the line ahead of the challenger.
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