O’Brien awarded OAM for service to rowing

A lifetime of coaching rowing has led Kevin O’Brien to a King’s Birthday Honour.

O’Brien has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the sport.

He coached St Patrick’s College rowers between 1950 and 1960, and 1966 and 2010. Alongside training school teams, he worked with clubs from Melbourne to Horsham.

“I joined the Ballarat City Rowing Club in 1950. I was 19. And about six weeks later, the shed was burnt down,” the 95-year-old said.

“And St Patrick’s College invited us to use their boat shed on the condition that we coached some of their boys.

“And so I was really coaching before I knew what I was talking about.”

However, with mentors himself, and with knowledge, common sense and patience, O’Brien became a coach that taught Olympians like Paul Reedy and Anthony Edwards, which made him feel proud.

“I did a lot of school coaching,” he said.

“Those boys then continued on and those that were encouraged because of them being good boys were looked after down in Melbourne at Melbourne Uni and Mercantile and so forth, and then they were up for selection for state crews and interstate, or nationals and so forth.

“We’ve had about 10 or 15 boys and some girls going through to Olympics.”

He loved training because he would be “imparting knowledge to the kids and whoever was hanging around to hear anything”.

“I’m fortunate in one respect that they took notice of me for some reason,” he said.

O’Brien said he loved rowing because “it kept you honest”.

“I suppose you never learn how to row at all,” he said. “There’s always something you should polish up on.”

O’Brien has four sons and a daughter.

He wanted to thank his late wife June, who knew whether he had had a good day’s training by how hard he closed the door.