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Location | #11 Boathouse Row, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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Home water | Schuylkill River |
Established | 1872 |
Navy admission | 1875 |
Former names | College Barge Club |
Key people |
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Nickname | Quakers, Men of Penn |
University | University of Pennsylvania |
Conference | Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges Ivy League |
Association | NCAA Division I (Women only) |
Colors | Red and Blue |
Website | pennathletics.com |
College Boat Club | |
Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Coordinates | 39°58′10″N75°11′09″W / 39.96948°N 75.18590°W |
Part of | Boathouse Row (ID87000821 [2] ) |
Added to NRHP | February 27, 1987 |
The College Boat Club of the University of Pennsylvania is the rowing program for University of Pennsylvania Rowing, which is located in the Burk-Bergman Boathouse at #11 Boathouse Row on the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its membership consists entirely of past and present rowers of the University of Pennsylvania. [3]
It hosts both heavyweight and lightweight varsity men's teams and an openweight varsity women's team. The Wharton Crew Team, however, rows out of Fairmount Rowing Association (FRA). College Boat Club was founded in 1872 by the school's students, shortly after the school's campus was relocated from Center City to West Philadelphia. [4] College Boat Club was admitted to the Schuylkill Navy in 1875. [5]
The history of rowing at the University of Pennsylvania began in 1854 with the foundation of the University Barge Club.
In 1872, University of Pennsylvania ("Penn") students founded the College Barge Club to provide an alternative to the school's first boat club, the University Barge Club, and to focus on preparing students for intercollegiate competitions. [6] [7] The Club later changed its name from College Barge Club to College Boat Club. [7]
In the club's first year, it had only 20 members, mostly sophomores from the university's graduating Class of 1875. [7] At first, the Club rowed out of the Quaker City Barge Club. [7] However, College Boat Club grew quickly and was able to build its own boathouse in 1874. [7]
In 1877, sophomores from College Boat Club were victorious against seniors rowing out of University Barge Club. [7] By 1879, the club was the base for most Penn crews, and members were rowing in intercollegiate competitions. [7] In 1893, College Boat Club opened membership to alumni as well as enrolled students. [7] In 1904, the Club admitted alumni crews as far back as 1899. [7] Currently, membership for alumni is limited to former varsity rowers. [7]
The crews of College Boat Club compete in several regattas throughout the rowing season. The three most competitive regattas are the Eastern Association of Rowing College (EARC) Championship, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championship, and the Henley Royal Regatta. As of 1997, the women's crews compete in the NCAA Division I Rowing Championship instead of the IRAs. [8]
The Penn heavyweight men's eight has won the Eastern Sprints six times: 1955, 1962 (tied with Yale), 1986, 1991, 1996, and 1998. [9]
The lightweight men's eight has won 5 times: 1951, 1952, 1955, 1976, and 2019. [10]
Penn, along with Columbia and Cornell, founded the Intercollegiate Rowing Association and competes annually in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship, which is the most competitive race in American collegiate rowing. [11] In 2004, Penn finished fourth in the grand final for the Men's Freshman Four w/Cox [12] and fifth in the Men's Open Four w/Cox grand final. [13]
In 2005, Penn finished third in the Men's Varsity Lightweight Eight [14] and fourth in the Men's Freshman Eight. [15] In 2006, the Men's Freshman Eight finished third. [16] In 2017 and 2019, the Men’s Varsity Lightweight 8 finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
In 2008, the Men's Open Four qualified for the grand final, but finished sixth. [17] The last time that the Penn won the Ivy League Championship at IRAs was 1992, when Penn tied Dartmouth. [9] Penn has won the Ivy League Championship eight additional times in 1898, 1899, 1900, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, and 1989. [9] [18]
Penn Crew has competed at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta. In 1994, College Boat Club won the Ladies' Challenge Plate. [19] [20] In 1991, Penn won the Thames Challenge Cup. [19] In 1955, Penn won the most prestigious of all prizes at Henley, the Grand Challenge Cup. [20] Penn also won the Thames Challenge Cup in 1951 and 1952. [20]
The men's team won the National Collegiate Rowing Championship in 1991.
The 1955 Men's Heavyweight 8, coached by Joe Burk, won at the Henley Regatta, and the crew's speed drew attention and acclaim internationally. One source highlights the accolades as follows: [21]
Everywhere they competed, particularly in Germany, they were referred to as the world's fastest crew, and hence became models for local oarsmen.
To European observers, Penn seemed to defy the laws of physics that applied to all other crews. In their Henley semifinal, they had beaten Britain's best, Thames Rowing Club by a half-length of open water at a rating The Times termed "a majestic thirty."
The strength and speed of the Penn pullthrough, the endless run on the impossibly long recovery, seemed as unattainable in its own way as Joe Burk's sculling technique had seemed to them seventeen years earlier.
At their regatta in Hamburg, when Penn made its first impression on the German rowing community, one of the most interested spectators was Dr. Karl Adam of Ratzeburger Ruderklub. He was already working out a new international technique, initially under the influence of Steve Fairbairn.
Eight years later, Adam confessed to Joe Burk that he had returned home from Hamburg very depressed and wondering whether they could ever beat the invincible Americans.
— Peter Mallory, Evolution of the Rowing Stroke
Penn has enjoyed the tutelage of many of the best rowing coaches of all time including Rusty Callow, Joe Burk, Ted Nash, Stan Bergman, Brendan Cunningham, and Hudson Peters.
In 2004, former Penn coach Ted Nash became the first person to participate in 10 Olympic games as either an athlete or coach when he was appointed as a coach on the 2004 team in Athens. This is a record for any member of any US Olympic team, regardless of event or sport. During his first games at the 1960 Rome Olympics, Nash raced in the gold medal-winning coxless four boat. In 2008 he showed no signs of slowing down as he returned again to the Olympic stage in Beijing as coach of the heavyweight men's coxless pair.
Stan Bergman coached the Men's Heavyweight Rowing Program to numerous championships at all levels. He is held in extraordinary regard in the rowing community, and beyond, for his success with his crews on and off the water.
1928 US Olympic Team: Charles J. McIlvaine '57 [36] 1936 US Olympic Team:
1940 US Olympic Team: Joseph Burk '34 (no games - WWII) 1952 US Olympic Team:
1956 US Olympic Team: 1960 US Olympic Team: Lyman S. Perry '68 [41] 1968 Canadian Olympic Team: W. Richard Crooker '72 [42] 1968 US Olympic Team: 1972 US Olympic Team:
| 1976 Canadian Olympic Team: George H. Tintor '79 [49] 1976 US Olympic Team:
1980 US Olympic Team:
1984 US Olympic Team:
1988 US Olympic Team:
1992 US Olympic Team: Bruce Konopka '78 1996 Australian Olympic Team: Janusz Hooker '93 (bronze medal) [54] 1996 US Olympic Team: 2000 US Olympic Team: Garrett Miller '99 [57] 2008 US Olympic Team: Tom Paradiso '02 [58] |
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Rowing is the oldest intercollegiate sport in the United States. The first intercollegiate race was a contest between Yale and Harvard in 1852. In the 2018–19 school year, there were 2,340 male and 7,294 female collegiate rowers in Divisions I, II and III, according to the NCAA. The sport has grown since the first NCAA statistics were compiled for the 1981–82 school year, which reflected 2,053 male and 1,187 female collegiate rowers in the three divisions. Some concern has been raised that some recent female numbers are inflated by non-competing novices.
The Harvard–Yale Regatta or Yale-Harvard Boat Race is an annual rowing race between the men's heavyweight rowing crews of Harvard University and Yale University. First contested in 1852, it has been held annually since 1859 with exceptions during major wars fought by the United States and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, pre-dating The Game by 23 years. It is sometimes referred to as the "Yale-Harvard" regatta, though most official regatta programs brand it "Harvard-Yale".
Imperial College Boat Club is the rowing club for Imperial College and has its boat house on the River Thames on the Putney embankment, London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1919. The alumni also run a boat club which is known as the Queen's Tower Boat Club and both crews occasionally row together as a composite in competition.
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The Schuylkill Navy is an association of amateur rowing clubs of Philadelphia. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest amateur athletic governing body in the United States. The member clubs are all on the Schuylkill River where it flows through Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, mostly on the historic Boathouse Row.
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