Chuck Law woke up early with his father the morning of Sept. 27, 2008, for the Head of the Ohio regatta, a race that Stuart Law entered every year for 22 years.
There was no way of knowing he would never cross the finish line.
Chuck Law helped his dad carry his one-man boat to the Allegheny River on the North Shore, watched him get in and snapped a few photos. Then Stuart Law, 79, rowed upstream toward Washington's Landing to take his place at the start.
Not long after, a Coast Guard boat gunned its motor and raced up river. Law knew something wasn't right, and a wave of dread rippled to his core. But even when the other boaters in his father's event came in, and the next boaters after that, with his dad not among them, he still held out hope.
But the funny story that explained why his dad wasn't at the finish line never came. Stuart Law had a sudden and massive heart attack in his boat and tipped over just before his race began. Rescue workers responded quickly, but could not save him.
Saturday, his memory will be honored at the 23rd Head of the Ohio with the inaugural Stuart Law Cup, a trophy that will go to the winner of the men's masters singles race in which the lifelong rower competed every year.
"He was not going to quit, and he wasn't going to go out just for a casual row. That was never an option," said Chuck Law, 50, of Murrysville. "He was always training, trying to do better. It was very shocking he died when he did, and I wasn't prepared for it. But as a physician, I see so many people finish their lives in ways that they never wanted to, and certainly not doing things they loved doing. So in that sense it was extraordinarily fitting."
Stuart Law grew up in Michigan and attended college at Yale University, where he was on the varsity rowing team. He later coached the rowing team at Howard University, and was the subject of a 1964 Sports Illustrated article entitled "The Race Problem at Howard is How to Win," on the first all-black crew team to compete in college rowing.
At the time of his death, Stuart Law was still a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C., and had just obtained his pilot's license seven years earlier.
Chuck Law said that his dad traveled constantly to compete in regattas all over the country and sometimes the world, but the Head of the Ohio was always a big one.
"Every year, it was not to be missed," Law said.
His father wasn't doing it just for the exercise, either. Stuart Law was a competitor, and his son feared the day when his father might suffer a decline in health and be unable to row at the level to which he was accustomed.
"I always knew there was not going to be a way to get him to stop," Law said. "I had visions of him much older, having a stroke and insisting on going out rowing. I couldn't imagine that he was ever going to stop doing it. It wasn't going to happen."
Three Rivers Rowing Association director Rick Brown said that the trophy is a way to bring something positive to the situation.
"Of course we didn't want the race to be remembered for that, but we want to remember the best about the person," Brown said. "I think he'd be pleased with how we're moving forward with the race."
Looking back one year ago, Chuck Law is glad he can at least say he was there on his father's last day, for his last race.
To name the event he loved in honor of him, Chuck Law said, is a fitting tribute.
"I think it is a very good way of showing that as you get older you don't have to resort to playing shuffleboard, you can continue to do sports like this," said Law, who is rowing in the men's masters singles race at 10 a.m. Saturday. "Hopefully it's a bit of an inspiration to people."
Additional Information:Head of the Ohio
What : The 23rd Head of the Ohio regatta will feature more than 2,000 rowers in roughly 600 boats, from single-person to eight-person shells, racing on a 2.8-mile course. Rowers are coming from 11 different states, 41 cities and Canada, with about 75 clubs represented. This will be the largest Head of the Ohio event since 2004. Divisions include open, masters, youth, college, high school, corporate.
When : Saturday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Where : North Shore Riverfront Park
Races of interest : Stuart Law Cup, given to the winner of the men's masters single event, 10 a.m. Lottie McAlice race, a 700-meter sprint for girls ages 14-18, 1 p.m. Row, Row, Row for Coats to benefit WTAE's Project Bundle Up, in which participants race against a friend, foe or the clock on a rowing machine set up on the pier, $5, noon- 4 p.m.
