James Patrick McEwan (September 24, 1952 – June 14, 2014) was an American slalom canoeist who competed in the 1970s and then again in the 1980s and early 1990s. He teamed up with his son Devin to compete in the 2000s. Competing in two

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, he won a bronze medal in the C1 event at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

. McEwan was born in

Olney, Maryland Olney is a U.S. census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located in the north central part of the county, north of Washington, D.C. Olney was largely agricultural until the 1960s, when growth of ...

and began kayaking at his family's Valley Mill Camp. He earned a degree in literature from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1975. He was married to children's author and illustrator

Sandra Boynton Sandra Keith Boynton (born April 3, 1953) is an American humorist, songwriter, director, music producer, children's author, and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated over seventy-five books for children and seven general audience book ...

, a fellow

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

graduate (class of 1974). With his partner,

Lecky Haller Jacob Alexander "Lecky" Haller (born 2 August 1957 in Glencoe, Maryland) is an American slalom canoeist who competed from the early 1980s to the early 2000s. He won four medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with a gold (C2: 1983), ...

, McEwan won a silver medal in the C2 slalom at the

1987 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships The 1987 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Bourg St.-Maurice, France under the auspices of International Canoe Federation The International Canoe Federation (ICF) is the umbrella organization of all national canoe organizations ...

in Bourg St.-Maurice. He and Haller placed fourth in the 1992 Summer Olympics. They have also won the overall

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

title in the C2 category in the inaugural season of this competition in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. In 1998 McEwan and his brother Tom were members of an expedition to run the

Tsangpo Gorge The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, also known as the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, the Tsangpo Canyon, the Brahmaputra Canyon or the Tsangpo Gorge ('), is a canyon along the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the deepes ...

, considered the "

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

" of rivers. The expedition encountered unanticipated high water and ended in tragedy when teammate

Doug Gordon Douglas Cameron Gordon, commonly known as Doug Gordon, (1956 – October 16, 1998) was an American whitewater kayaker, who was a member of the U.S. Slalom Team from 1981 to 1987, and a chemist. Gordon died in Eastern Tibet when he and three other ...

failed to boof a waterfall, missed his

roll Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

, and died. McEwan wrote many children's books. In 2009 he was diagnosed with

Multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, an ...

after suffering back problems and died on June 14, 2014.

World Cup individual podiums

Bibliography

* Jamie McEwan and Sandra Boynton (1988). ''Story of Grump and Pout''. Knopf Books for Young Readers. . * Jamie McEwan and Victor Kennedy (2004). ''Willy the Scrub''. Darby Creek Publishing. . * Jamie McEwan and John Margeson (2005). ''Whitewater Scrubs''. Darby Creek Publishing. . * Jamie McEwan and Victor Kennedy (2007). ''Rufus the Scrub Does Not Wear a Tutu''. Darby Creek Publishing. . * Jamie McEwan and Sandra Boynton (2002). ''The Heart Of Cool''. Simon Spotlight. . * Jamie McEwan and Victor Kennedy (2004). ''Willy the Scrub''. Darby Creek Publishing. . * Jamie McEwan and John Margeson (2008). ''Scrubs Forever!''. Darby Creek Publishing. ASIN B001TL2O5S. * Jamie McEwan and John Margeson (2007). ''Rufus the Scrub Does Not Wear a Tutu''. Darby Creek Publishing. .

Books about James McEwan

* Wickliffe Walker (2000). ''Courting the Diamond Sow : A Whitewater Expedition on Tibet's Forbidden River''. National Geographic Society. ASIN B001TL2O5S. * Todd Balf (2001). ''The Last River: The Tragic Race for Shangri-la ''. Three Rivers Press. .

References

* *

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McEwan, James 1952 births 2014 deaths American male canoeists Canoeists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in canoeing Yale University alumni People from Olney, Maryland International whitewater paddlers Deaths from multiple myeloma Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships