All Crew Reunion celebrates legacy of crew program at St. Andrew's
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
On Saturday, April 22, St. Andrew's hosted its first All Crew Reunion. Bringing together over 200 alumni, parents past and present, and all friends of rowing, the Reunion raised over $320,000 for the Crew Endowment, exceeding its goal and ensuring the future of the crew program.
Braving the all-too-typical spring rowing weather, fans gathered on Alumni Point Saturday afternoon to cheer the boats on Noxontown Pond. All the boats competed tremendously against rivals Kent School, St. Joe's Prep, Holy Spirit, Thomas Jefferson and T.C. Williams. For more details, read about the boys' and girls' races, and go to www.row2k.com for complete results for all the races.
Following the races, guests gathered in the O'Brien Arts Center for a showing of "A Tradition of Excellence: A Retrospective of 75 Years of Rowing at St. Andrew's School," a multimedia presentation of memorable photographs and film from crew's history at the School. A silent auction of unique crew memorabilia, a reception in O'Brien and dinner in the dining hall completed the evening.
Current members of the boys' and girls' varsity crews joined former rowers, coxswains and other supporters of crew at the dinner. Boys' head coach Lindsay Brown spoke to rowers young and old alike about the legacy of crew and the connections it forms between people, regardless of their age or generation.
"A young man or woman who rows at St. Andrew's is also part of an important history that connects them to you and to all those who have rowed before them or stood on Alumni Point and cheered for them," Lindsay said. "That connection to history is a great source of strength and inspiration, and it also carries a certain responsibility. Not just a responsibility to try to go fast or to win races, but also to behave with dignity and sportsmanship."
Following up on Lindsay's remarks, head girls' coach Cal Hurtt '90 praised the students involved in the crew program. "Every day the crews go out and work so hard for everything they get on Saturday. I suspect that the tenacity within our program -- top to bottom -- is what allows us to have the success we see year in and year out," said Cal.
Gardner A. Cadwalader '66, a distinguished athlete who rowed in the 1967 Pan-American Games and the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, also addressed the audience. Reminiscing about the old green boathouse -- "really no more than a shed...it was like going into the upcountry hardware store" -- and the equipment of his rowing years, Gardner also celebrated the tremendous technology today's rowers enjoy.
"Rowing is advancing in all the technological areas," he said. "But what will our recent rowers say 40 years from now at an event like this one about their good old days? It is truly exciting to imagine the advances that will be added to the sport over the next four decades!"
Finally, Natalie Reese '97 and Morgan Foster '97, members of the girls' Varsity 8 who won the Henley Regatta in 1997, spoke about how the experience of winning at Henley shaped them as individuals and teammates. Natalie described the win at Henley as the moment when they finally achieved total unity: "We were no longer nine individuals, but cohesive, unbreakable parts of a greater whole."
Morgan concluded the evening by talking about crew's relationship to the mission and character of the School, to St. Andrew's of the past, present and future:
While we are often remembered by others as "the boat that won Henley," the way we remember our own experience is by the small, daily challenges, victories and defeats that define the experiences of every rower and coxswain throughout the rich 75 year history of St. Andrew's crew. As we all know, rowing is unique among sports as St. Andrew's is unique among schools. Rowers do not dream of playing at Yankee stadium or landing a $50 million NFL contract. There are no superstars in crew. Crew is a sport defined by a constant rhythm, silent strength, steadfast discipline and delicate harmony. As rowers we learn to move as one fluid entity, to function not as none separate individuals, but as a unified miracle of physics. We learn to surrender our own talents or pains and to assume both the strengths and shortcomings of our boat.
Similarly, in addition to celebrating her students' individual strengths, St. Andrew's teaches faith, grace, humility and a commitment to community that make our students and our experience unique among our peer institutions. It is this humble strength and powerful unity that make the sport of crew and the school of St. Andrew's such a perfect pair.
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