Ned Hanlan - Later Life

Later Life

He married on 19 December 1877 Margaret Gordon Sutherland of Pictou, Nova Scotia; they had three sons (one of whom died in childbirth) and six daughters. Following his career as an athlete, Hanlan became a hotelier like his father, and eventually became involved in municipal politics as an alderman of Toronto. He was the first head coach of the University of Toronto Rowing Club in 1897. In 1900, he decided to leave and coach the crew of Columbia University, New York for some years. Ned died of pneumonia at age 52. Ten thousand Torontonians thronged to pay their final respects at the church where his body lay in state. Hanlan was laid to rest at Toronto Necropolis.

In the autumn of 1926, a 9-foot (2.7 m) bronze statue sculpted by Emanuel Hahn of a moustachioed, muscular, shirtless Hanlan, shown clad only in shorts, was unveiled on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition. As the statue wasn't created until some 16 years after Hanlan's death, the artist used a living stand-in; the great Argonaut Rowing Club sculler and Olympian, Joseph Wright, Jr. The choice of stand-in model was somewhat peculiar, given that Wright stood 6'4", and was a much more physically imposing figure than Hanlan, who stood 5' 8.75". The monument was relocated twice, once to the main entrance of the Marine Museum on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition grounds then later to a site near the ferry dock at Hanlan's Point in 2004. In 1980, a postage stamp was issued in his honour commemorating the centenary of his first world championship. In addition, the Ned Hanlan Steamboat is named after him.

A road in Vaughan, Ontario, Hanlan Road, is named after him. Gaudaur Road, named after a fellow World Champion, runs off Hanlan Road. There is also a Hanlan Street in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. It is near several other streets named after rowers. Ned Hanlan was inducted into the Canada Sports Hall of Fame.