Fame Calls For Song Of The Paddle Author Bill Mason

It took five years, but last fall the International Whitewater Hall of Fame made good on its claims of being truly international by inducting six influential whitewater paddlers and advocates from around the globe. Among them was Canada’s first inductee, Song of the Paddle author Bill Mason.

Bill Mason was a humble paddler

Mason is most easily imagined clad in his trademark plaid shirt and denim cut-offs, crouching beside a campfire above a rapid—the kind of rapid canoeists who came before Mason would be fearful of, and the same kind that canoeists began to search out for fun shortly after Mason produced his two classic books and many films.

But was this just an accident of timing? Is the man really Hall of Fame material?