Wallace Ross (20 February 1857 – 26 November 1895) was a professional rower who was considered to be the greatest sculler to come out of Saint John, Canada.
[citation needed] On July 10, 1873, Ross took on his first rowing contest, worth $50, racing against John Harding.
It took place at the Saint John Harbour, from the Long wharf to and around the Beacon Light and back again, and Ross emerged victorious.
Ross won well and on the strength of this challenged Ned Hanlan who was the champion of Canada and the United States.
Ross sculled the course in a time ninety seconds under the previous record which convinced his backers that they had a very fast man; possibly the fastest in North America.
He again challenged Hanlan and after some protracted negotiations the match for the Championship of Canada, at $1000 a side, was finally set down for October 1877 and the location was Toronto Bay.
At the start Hanlan went ahead and stayed in front to the turn and then increased his lead all the way to the line to finish very comfortably.
During 1879 Ross went to England, the centre of professional sculling, to get some training where his strength and style were greatly admired.
The race was run in that city in September 1879 and a number of Ross's backers were confident of recouping some of their past losses and placed large bets on their man.
In the 1881 season, during September, the city of Toronto hosted a large international regatta which attracted most of the top scullers of the day, not only from Canada but also the States and England.
Hanlan as official Champion was unhappy with this state of affairs and promptly challenged Ross to a race for the title.
Ross was most upset especially as Hanlan immediately offered to row any man over two miles for between one and two thousand dollars a side.
Hanlan won in the record time of 27m.57.5s and he crossed the line a full minute ahead of Ross who did not row poorly but was simply beaten on the day.
However, in February 1888 he won the English Sculling Championship but later he slipped out of the top tier of rowers and retired not long after.