Sport

NOT many competitors are still active and successful in their sport 49 years after they began . . . but a Helensburgh sailing enthusiast proved in May 2009 that age is no bar to title glory.

Donald McLaren and his crew won the overall Sigma 33 United Kingdom class championship at the Brewin Dolphin Scottish Series on Loch Fyne — his first major title since 1972.The road to the Tarbert triumph, with three 1sts, one 2nd and three 4ths, began when he started sailing in 1960.

HELENSBURGH Sailing Club was founded in 1951 by a number of local enthusiasts with the aim of encouraging small boat sailing in the waters off Helensburgh.

As a burgee they chose a white pennant with the flywheel of the pioneer paddle steamer Comet represented on it in black. The Comet sometimes sailed from Helensburgh pier where the club was initially based and the flywheel is still displayed at the East Bay.

ONE of Helensburgh’s best known residents, the late Walter Smith, OBE, who died on October 26 2021 aged 73, was twice the manager of Glasgow Rangers Football Club and had a short spell as Scotland manager. 

A quiet man who never sought the limelight, Walter was a popular choice to present the annual Helensburgh and Lomond Community Spirit Awards, a joint venture between Helensburgh Garelochside Rotary Club and the Helensburgh Advertiser which was also the much revered honorary president of Ardencaple Boys Club.

A PSYCHOLOGY student from Rhu failed in her bid for the sole Laser Radial place in the British sailing team for the 2012 London Olympics — her second Olympic disappointment.

Charlotte Dobson enjoyed an impressive week in the first major London 2012 dress rehearsal at the Weymouth and Portsmouth National Sailing Academy — the Olympic venue — in June 2011, gaining seven top-five finishes but having to settle for fourth overall.

A DISTINGUISHED sportswoman who died in Helensburgh in 1966 at the age of 96 was not only arguably the first female Olympic gold medallist of the modern era — she was also the founder of an incredible sporting dynasty.

Charlotte Cooper won five Wimbledon singles tennis titles, her daughter played tennis for Britain, one grandson played rugby for Scotland and another chaired the Royal and Ancient Golf Club’s championship committee, and a great grandson holds a school javelin record and played rugby league for Scotland.

A COUPLE who were key figures in Helensburgh Lawn Tennis Club for several decades taught hundreds of local youngsters to play tennis and played the game themselves into their eighties.

William Steuart-Corry, known to all as Will, and his wife Margaret, of 9 Kennedy Drive, were honoured by both the Lawn Tennis Association and the Scottish Sports Council (now sportscotland) for their service to the sport.

THE outstanding success of Helensburgh man Steven Park as manager of the Team Great Britain sailing team at the 2008 Beijing Games in China kept up a 100 year-old burgh connection with that sport in the Olympics.

As London prepares to be the host city in 2012, it is worth remembering that when the capital hosted the 1908 Games one of the sailing events was held on the Clyde . . . and in the winning 12 metre crew were a Helensburgh man and another from Rhu.

HELENSBURGH was the birthplace of a cricketer who played eleven tests for England and 306 matches in a first class career which lasted 19 years . . . and went on to become a top coach.

Right arm offspin bowler Peter Such took over 1,000 wickets, had a best performance in test matches of six wickets for 67 runs against Australia, and took five wickets in an innings on 49 occasions.

THE Helensburgh district’s most famous home-grown footballer of the modern era is Rangers and Scotland striker Derek Parlane.

The Rhu youngster made his Rangers debut in the cauldron atmosphere of a European Cup-Winners Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich at Ibrox — and scored.

A CARDROSS footballer of yesteryear could lay claim to being a champion of the world.

Born in the village on October 2 1865, Robert 'Bob' Robinson Kelso began his football career with Renton as a defender, and with them he won the Scottish Cup in 1885 and 1888 and played in the unsuccessful 1886 final.

A RHU man, Matthew Dickie, was a Rangers and Scotland international goalkeeper in the early days of the game.

Born in the village on August 19 1873, he opened and ran for many years a successful tobacconist shop, with a much-used billiards saloon upstairs, in Sinclair Street, Helensburgh. He died on December 30 1959 at the age of 86.

A RHU man was one of the founders of a Scottish sporting institution, Glasgow Rangers Football Club.

Moses McNeil (seated, right), who formed the first Rangers team in the west of Glasgow in 1872 with his brother Peter and two friends, was the son of John and Jean McNeil.