Gary Herford

Rowing

Gary started as a very promising swimmer but was drawn to the Mosman Rowing Club quarters at Pearl Bay. He joined the club at the age of 18 and, despite being small for his age, quickly showed his ability on the water. Under Fred Evans' guidance, Gary grew into a strapping young man.

Gary comes from a successful swimming family. His father Sam won many State and Australian titles in the 1930s and coached many Australian Olympians including gold medallists John Devitt and Murray Rose. His mother, formerly Thora Dennis, was once Australian junior swimming champion and an Australian freestyle record holder. His aunt Clare Dennis was world breaststroke champion in 1932 and held the world and Olympic records for 200m breaststroke. His sister Kim was selected to represent Australia at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 1966 Jamaica Commonwealth Games.

Along with fellow eight-oar crew members, Gary was selected as part of the Australian Rowing Team for a New Zealand Tour in 1961. The Mosman crew included P. Hyman, M. Johnman, R. Palmisano, R. Tipping, K. Evans, G. Allen, B. Evans, A. Whybrow and coach E.O. Longley.

In 1964 he represented Australia in rowing at the Tokyo Olympics with coxed four-oar crew members Alf Duval, Mick Allen, John Campbell and Alan Grove.

Gary was also stroke of the NSW King's Cup crew for 3 years and went on to become a successful ski shop proprietor.