Stan Pocock Awarded 2012 USRowing Medal of Honor

Stan Pocock. Photo: USRowing

Yesterday, USRowing announced in a press release that Stan Pocock, an innovative boat builder, oarsman and life-long collegiate and international champion coach, has been awarded the 2012 USRowing Medal of Honor.
Given in recognition to a member of the rowing community in the United States who has accomplished extraordinary feats in rowing, it is the highest honor USRowing can bestow. Pocock, 89, will be honored at the Golden Oars Awards Dinner on Wednesday, 14 November, at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.

“It is impossible to think of rowing without considering the contributions that Stan Pocock has made to the sport,” said USRowing Chief Executive Officer Glenn Merry. “From the evolution of equipment to training Olympians to grass root clubs, Stan embodies the essence of rowing. It is with great pleasure that USRowing recognizes his leadership, passion and love for rowing with the Medal of Honor this year.”

“How about that,” said Pocock. “What a way to end up a life. I just can’t believe how good I feel about this. I really appreciate the honor very much and I’m very excited. I think it’s a culmination of my life in rowing,” he said. “I’ve been in it for a lot of years now, starting when I was a little boy. I went all though rowing at the University of Washington and coaching at the University of Washington and coaching the graduate oarsmen that took me to far places with the crews that were developed at the Lake Washington Rowing Club and then to row with Ancient Mariners (masters rowing group) when they formed in the mid-1980s.”

Stan Pocock was born into a rowing family, the son of George Pocock, who founded the Pocock Racing Shells boat building company with his brother, Dick, in Seattle, Washington, in 1913. Pocock’s father introduced him to rowing when he was a teenager and then taught him the art of building boats.

Read the whole press release here.

Harry Parker Awarded 2011 USRowing Medal

Yesterday, USRowing announced that longtime Harvard University and former Olympic coach Harry Parker had been awarded the 2011 USRowing Medal.



Given in recognition to a member of the U.S. rowing community, who has accomplished extraordinary feats in rowing, the Medal is the highest honor USRowing can bestow. Parker, 75, will be honored at the inaugural Golden Oars Awards Dinner on Wednesday, 30 November, at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.



“It is appropriate to recognize the achievements of Coach Harry Parker with the USRowing Medal of Honor at our first-ever Golden Oars Awards event,” said USRowing Chief Executive Officer Glenn Merry. “He is iconic in the sport of rowing and stands amongst the top coaches in the world. The U.S. Team benefited greatly through his coaching at several Olympic Games and many of our finest rowers developed during their time at Harvard. I suspect many rowers and coaches share my admiration for Coach Parker. It is with great enthusiasm that we celebrate his contributions to the sport and his life as an oarsman.”



“I recognize it’s a distinct honor and I appreciate it,” said Parker. “Honors are not my thing; my thing is coaching. That’s what I get a real sense of satisfaction from.”



Now in his 50th season as the Thomas Bolles Head Coach of Men’s Crew at Harvard, Parker is considered one of the most accomplished rowing coaches in the history of the sport. After being promoted from interim head coach to head coach in 1963 following Harvard’s victory over Yale University in the Harvard-Yale Race, Parker’s crews have achieved unprecedented success. His crews’ achievements include 21 undefeated seasons; 27 EARC Sprints titles; 21 junior varsity sprints titles; eight official and eight unofficial national championships, three IRA championships since 2003 and a 42-7 record over Yale in the Harvard-Yale Race.



Under Parker, Harvard crews have competed internationally at the 1968 Olympics and the 1967 World Rowing Championships. He was named the men’s Olympic coach for 1972, where he led the U.S. eight to a silver medal in Munich, Germany. He also served as coach of the first U.S. women’s crew to compete in the World Championships, winning a medal in 1975. Parker later coached the U.S. women’s eight to a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.



Parker attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in English and learned to row. Following college, Parker began sculling competitively, and won the men’s single sculls at the 1959 Pan American Games. That same year, Parker finished second at the Henley Royal Regatta to six-time champion Stuart MacKenzie. In 1960, he represented the United States in the event in the Olympic Games in Rome, where he finished fifth.



Parker was inducted to the National Rowing Foundation’s National Rowing Hall of Fame as a coach in 1974 and as an oarsman in 1977.

2011 FISA World Rowing Championships

HTBS received a press release from the National Rowing Foundation yesterday. It reads,

To all members of the U.S. Rowing Community:

Today is the day that the US National Rowing Team begins racing at the 2011 FISA World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia. Over the next seven days 84 athletes will compete in 26 events for the USA! This year the World Championships is also the first Qualification Regatta for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and our team will be racing to qualify 14 boats for the Olympic Regatta that begins in 334 days, on July 28, 2012.

The US Team is ready to race! If you want a behind the scenes look in Bled during the World Championships, go to our website at www.natrowing.org and follow the links to the National Rowing Foundation Facebook page, Twitter account, and YouTube page. These links will give you a unique perspective of what is happening with our US Team.

Our team needs relies on the support of all of us to keep our US National Rowing Team successful. Please consider making a donation to help the US Team today.

Best Wishes,
The National Rowing Foundation
...in our 45th year of supporting athletes in pursuit of excellence!

National Rowing Foundation
67 Mystic Road
North Stonington, Connecticut 06359
Email: natrowing@comcast.net

2010 USRowing Medal Goes To Frank Cunningham

On 18 November, USRowing announced the names of 2010 Annual Award Winners. I was happy to see that this year's recipient of USRowing's highest honour, the USRowing Medal is Frank Cunningham, legendary coach out in Seattle. Cunningham began to row at Noble and Greenough School in Massachusetts in 1937. During the 1940s he rowed in different crews at Harvard University. He has coached many of the U.S.'s most prominent scullers. Read USRowing's press release here.