If Dave Figgins had fulfilled his dream of becoming a professional singer, Pittsburgh’s rowing scene, along with its beautiful skyline, might look dramatically different. Blessed with a mellifluous tenor voice, Figgins moved from his home in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Toronto in 1954 in search of opportunity, hoping work in the engineering field would allow him to continue with voice lessons. It was this career decision that eventually brought him to Pittsburgh for a job as a trainee estimator with the Mellon Stuart Co., then a small construction firm.

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Thirty-one years later, Figgins retired as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mellon Stuart, which had grown into one of the nation’s Top 10 construction firms. In Pittsburgh, Mellon Stuart built such landmarks as PPG Plaza and Fifth Avenue Place.

TRRA’s origins began one Saturday morning in early 1984 when Dave found himself driving along the bank of the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh’s North Shore and came upon a group of men with muddy feet and sweaty clothes shouldering a rowing shell up from the water. He asked what they were doing. “Rowing,” they responded.

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Figgins was well aware of that and told them so in his typical straightforward style. He was a rower himself, a first-boater at Queen's College in Belfast who had taken up an oar to gain strength and endurance for his favorite sport—rugby. In 1951, Figgins and his mates rowed at the prestigious Head of the River regatta in London, where they placed 13th out of more than 200 crews.

Figgins knew rowing when he saw it. He also knew how to get things done.

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At the time of that serendipitous meeting on the banks of the Allegheny, rowing in Pittsburgh was just starting to make a comeback. Each one of the men standing there had a vision for the future. As they walked and drove along the rivers, they kept thinking that a city with this much water had to have rowing. Back in the 19th century, Pittsburgh had been a hotbed for the sport, but years of industrial pollution and hazardous barge traffic had made it too dangerous.

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The men in the boat, including Mike Lambert and Chris Ryan, wanted to do more than store their shells in truck trailers or smelly warehouses. They and a few others wanted a rowing program, with a real boathouse, school crews, regattas with buoys and finish lines, and maybe even permanent docks and dressing rooms. Other cities had them; why not Pittsburgh?

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They weren’t quite sure how it would happen, since all those plans would cost a lot of money, but they had a gut feeling that Dave Figgins could help them one way or another. During a meeting not long afterward, Figgins offered to lead the fundraising efforts and connected the Three Rivers Rowing group with Pittsburgh’s philanthropic community. He laid down one condition—that Lambert, Ryan, and the others do the lion’s share of the legwork to bring the plans together.

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In 1987, they incorporated as the non-profit Three Rivers Rowing Association, and Figgins became the first chairman of TRRA’s Board of Governors, the oversight board separate from the organization’s Board of Directors. He continued to lead fundraising efforts as TRRA expanded its boat storage facilities and then built a new $2 million boathouse across the back channel in the Millvale Industrial Park in 2002.

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David F. Figgins passed away in April of 2021, not before leaving a long legacy of achievements and philanthropic impact in our region. In addition to his critical role in the creation of the Three Rivers Rowing Association, he was a founding board member of the River City Brass Band, a former board member of Liberty Mutual, Carlow University, Salvation Army National Board, PICT, PSPE, Pittsburgh Harlequins Rugby, PTEI, and the Irish Center. He was a member of Oakmont Country Club, past district governor of the Pittsburgh Rotary Club, and past president of the Gaelic Arts Society.

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His grandson David Figgins currently serves as a committee member on the Three Rivers Rowing Association’s Board and continues to support the organization.

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TRRA will forever be thankful for his vision and leadership

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