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He started the Fort Worth Rowing Club. At 89, he plans to keep sculling the Trinity River

Lee Smith, 89, loads up his boat April 15, 2024, at the Fort Worth Rowing Club. The club has a dock on the Trinity River off Beach Street.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Lee Smith, 89, loads up his boat April 15, 2024, at the Fort Worth Rowing Club. The club has a dock on the Trinity River off Beach Street.

Lee Smith pushed and pulled.

His oars broke through the water as he traversed the Trinity River on a recent gloomy morning.

“I’m a weirdo for small boats and getting out on the water,” Smith said, with a chuckle.

The 89-year-old Arlington resident shares his passion with others as a coach and founding member of the Fort Worth Rowing Club. The nonprofit, which promotes rowing for recreation, fitness and competition, has expanded to about 50 members since its establishment.

In 1989, Smith was one of a dozen people who heard about the start of a rowing club in Fort Worth. By the next year, it came to fruition.

“No one was trying to make any money,” Smith said.

Lee Smith, 89, poses April 15, 2024, at the Fort Worth Rowing Club boathouse. Smith co-founded the Fort Worth Rowing Club in 1990 and is still an active instructor.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Lee Smith, 89, poses April 15, 2024, at the Fort Worth Rowing Club boathouse. Smith co-founded the Fort Worth Rowing Club in 1990 and is still an active instructor.

The members were motivated to start the club because they enjoyed rowing. And half of the oarsmen already had experience doing the activity together in Boy Scouts, he said.

Smith doesn’t know why he loves rowing. He just knows that he likes being outdoors, in the water and appreciates being around others who share his love for the activity.

“It all kind of added together,” Smith said.

Lee Smith, left, and Michael Neveu prepare a boat named Mason to be rolled down to the Trinity River. Smith named the club’s boats after Texas military forts from the 1800s.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Lee Smith, left, and Michael Neveu prepare a boat named Mason to be rolled down to the Trinity River. Smith named the club’s boats after Texas military forts from the 1800s.

Throughout his rowing journey, Smith has learned that he enjoys teaching others, whether that entails training people on how to get around in a row boat or coaching people on how to swim.

“I was really surprised at how much of a reward I got out of teaching rowing,” he said.

The club’s primary rowing location is near the corner of Beach Street and Interstate 30, where members scull the Trinity River east of downtown Fort Worth. The location is just down the road from the entrance of Gateway Park, the city’s largest park.

TCU Rowing shares a boathouse at Marine Creek Lake with the organization and around 30 other oarsmen. The club currently doesn’t have a youth program for members, but the organization hopes to start one soon.

Lee Smith, front, and Michael Neveu carry their boat down to the club’s dock at the Trinity River April 15, 2024.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Lee Smith, front, and Michael Neveu carry their boat down to the club’s dock at the Trinity River April 15, 2024.
Lee Smith, 89, adjusts his rowing shoes before taking off at the Trinity River April 15, 2024.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Lee Smith, 89, adjusts his rowing shoes before taking off at the Trinity River April 15, 2024.

Michael Neveu met Smith when he first joined the club.

“We just hit it off immediately and since then we’ve been really good friends,” Neveu said.

Lee Smith, back, and Michael Neveu begin rowing down the Trinity River April 15, 2024.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Lee Smith, back, and Michael Neveu begin rowing down the Trinity River April 15, 2024.

Neveu paddles out with whomever shows up on any given Tuesday or Thursday morning. He enjoys the club because it’s a physical and social activity.

“It’s just a great group of people,” he said.

Lee Smith, back, and Michael Neveu row down the Trinity River near Beach Street in Fort Worth on April 15, 2024.
Camilo Diaz
/
Fort Worth Report
Lee Smith, back, and Michael Neveu row down the Trinity River near Beach Street in Fort Worth on April 15, 2024.

Keyla Holmes is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at keyla.holmes@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.