George BURROWS

George Burrows’ father Fred served for many years with the Vancouver Park Board and eventually rose to become one of the city’s first supervisors of beaches and pools. Thus it was not surprising that George took up swimming at an early age and, by the time he entered the University of British Columbia in the late 1920s, he was already one of the province’s most prominent competitive swimmers. By the end of his tenure at the school he was the British Columbia provincial 200 yard freestyle champion and was selected to help represent Canada at the 1932 Summer Olympics. His best finish came as a member of the Canadian 4 x 200m freestyle relay team, which finished fourth in a field of seven squads. He also competed in the 400m and 1500m freestyle events, but was eliminated in the first round of both. He returned to Vancouver to continue a job that he had begun a year earlier, following in his father’s footsteps as Supervisor of Beaches and Pools for the city. He served in that capacity for forty years, until 1971, and a monument in Vancouver, donated by the lifeguards that he worked with, was dedicated in his honor.