Cecil McVilly

Cecil Leventhorpe McVilly MC, (3 August 1889 – 4 November 1964) was an Australian representative rower and WWI military officer. He was a three-time Australian champion sculler and the first sculler to represent Australia at an Olympic games, rowing at the 1912 Summer Olympics; in 1913, he won the Diamond Challenge Sculls at the Henley Royal Regatta. As an AIF Lieutenant in the Tasmanian raised 40th Battalion, he saw action on the Western Front and later in Mesopotamia and the Defence of Baku. He was awarded the Military Cross for his leadership at the 2nd Battle of Messines.

Early life and rowing career McVilly was born in Hobart, Tasmania, the son of Joseph Henry McVilly, a newspaper editor, and his wife Marion Jane Thompson, née Smith. He was educated at the Hutchins School and Queen's College, Hobart, where he took up rowing. He was a sculler, and from 1908 to 1910, he raced as a Derwent Rowing Club competitor at Hobart Club regattas and Tasmanian state regattas. He won the Maiden Sculls and the Ellis Dean Cup at the Norfolk regatta in 1908, placed second to Fred Coverdale in the Tasmanian Championships in 1909, and placed third at the Hobart regatta in 1910.

Racing as the Tasmanian state entrant, he thrice won the Australian sculling championship at the Interstate Regattas in 1910, In 1911, in planning to defend his Australian title, he trained in Sydney under the former world professional champion George Towns.

Following the Olympics McVilly stayed in London, rowing from the London Rowing Club with his sights set on Henley 1913. Following his return to Australia, he was again the national sculling champion for a third time in 1914. That year he also coached the Tasmanian eight to their first victory in the men's eight at the Interstate Regatta. He then coached the Tasmanian King's Cup eights of 1925 (second place) and 1926 (victors).

He was the Honorary Auditor of the Derwent Rowing Club and the Tasmanian Rowing Association secretary. He was Australia's sole selector for the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, picking Bobby Pearce who won gold in the single sculls.