Board To Establish Fund in Challinor’s Memory

Yes. Dave Challinor really was as cool as he looks in this picture. And then some. We miss him.

Potomac Boat Club’s Board of Governors voted at its meeting last month to use a gift from the estate of David Challinor to help PBC scullers compete at the Head of the Charles Regatta.

Two PBC members will be nominated annually from those with an accepted entry to race in a single sculling event at the Head of the Charles.  Once approved by the Board, each could receive up to $1000 from the Challinor fund as reimbursement for expenses related to racing at the regatta.

David Challinor was one of PBC’s most admired, respected, and consistently competitive members.  He started rowing at age 14, and became a member of undefeated 1940-42 Harvard University crews.  He graduated from Harvard a year early in order to serve in World War II.  After returning to the racecourse in his late 40s, he competed successfully in sweep and sculling events for the next 30 plus years, winning the single sculling event in his age division at the Head of the Charles Regatta 13 times.

Off the water, Dave was not only a loving husband, father, and grandfather, he became the most successful assistant secretary in the Smithsonian Institution’s history.  He is credited with establishing many of the programs that today continue to foster the work of our nation’s top conservationists and naturalists.  It was this interest in nurturing others in their own pursuits of excellence that was cited by many PBC members as a reason to use Dave’s generous gift to the Club in a similar way.  The new fund will accomplish this, while at the same time, honor his incredible Head of the Charles racing legacy.

When Dave passed away early last year, we were deeply saddened as a club.  In his memory, we hung the single he had named Joan, after his beloved wife, in the ballroom.  Still, many of us have yet to fully recover from the fact that the man himself is no longer here.  The Board plans to finalize the details of the Challinor memorial fund before the start of the fall racing season, so that we will be able to initiate this formal tribute to Dave with this year’s Head of the Charles.

The Potomac Star will publish details as they become available.