Ralph Purchase (¨11 July 1916 – 11 January 2000) was an American competition rower and Olympic champion. He won a gold medal in ''coxed eights'' at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

, as

coxswain The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boat ...

for the American team.Profile: Ralph Purchase
''sports.reference.com'' (Retrieved on 10 December 2008)

References

1916 births 2000 deaths American male rowers Rowers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in rowing Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics American coxswains (rowing) {{US-rowing-Olympic-medalist-stub