Editor:JUNE John Nicholson, 2013 ’68
Sit ready…Ready all… Changes Coming in SU Assistant Coaching Ranks Alumni Eight—Taking It Seriously—Joe Paduda’s Report Big Fun in Store at September Gathering at SU Boathouse New OO Editor Looks for Associates/ Contributors
Technology & Social Media: Josh Stratton ‘01 Contributors: Bill Purdy ‘79, Joe Paduda ‘80, Lynne Della Pelle Pascale ‘81, Tom Darling ‘81, Barry Weiss ‘83, Joe Kieffer ‘88
June 2013 Volume XIV—No. 2
The Orange Oar
S Y R A C U S E
A L U M N I
R O W I N G
A S S O C I A T I O N ,
I N C
SU Men: “The Opportunity to Get Back Up”
Coach Dave Reischman with Varsity Eight during May Practice The Syracuse Men’s Varsity eight did not win a race this spring. Coach Dave Reischman minced no words in his post-season email to SU Crew supporters. “We knew we were young and down on some talent from our previous years but, quite frankly, our results didn't measure up to our expectations at any point.” A year earlier an overachieving SU varsity had fought its way into the IRA Grand Final where it finished fifth overall. But five oarsmen and the cox from that boat had graduated. The 2013 spring season started as has been customary in recent years with scrimmages at Princeton in which Princeton was the winner and Georgetown trailed the Orange. It ended with the V8 behind Penn, Georgetown and George Washington in the third level final at the IRA. In between there were third place finishes behind Navy and Cornell in the Goes (See Men’s
Season—Page 3)
“A Classic Bubble Team” The Orange women’s rowing season ended in the women’s basketball film room at the ‘Melo Center late on the afternoon of May 21. The team had come to watch the NCAA selection show online, having been given a hint that there was a decent chance it would get an at-large bid. It was not to be. In spite of impressing with a close loss to eleventh-ranked Notre Dame in the Big East V8 Championship and being #13 in the CMax power rankings, the SU crew was passed over. Michigan, Clemson, Cornell, Wisconsin, and Brown, all with lower CMax rankings were selected. (See Women’s Season—Page 6) Inside this issue:
Letter from the President Men’s Endowment Update
2 11
Empacher Challenge
13
Backsplash—News of Our Alumni
21
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SARA Executive Board
Letter from the President
Josepk Kieffer – ‘88 President Lynne Della Pelle Pascale – ‘81 First Vice President William Purdy - ‘79 Second Vice-President Paris Daskalakis - ‘98 Treasurer Martha Mogish Rowe – ‘81 Assistant Treasurer Joseph Paduda – ‘80 Secretary
Directors Charles Roberts – ‘61 Paul Dudzick – ‘67 Donald Plath – ‘68 Joseph Peter – ‘69 Kenneth Hutton – ‘69 Paul Dierkes ‘79 Gerald Henwood – ‘80 Arthur Sibley – ‘80 Thomas Darling – ‘81 Robert Donabella – ‘81 Charles Clark ‘83 Sheila Roock – ‘85 Tracy Smith ‘90 Colin Goodale – ‘90 Jason Premo ‘98 Josh Stratton ‘01 Adlai Hurt ‘04 Erica Mahon Page ‘08 Sydney Axson ‘10
Advisory Council Paul Irvine – ‘45 William Hider – ‘62 Edward Kakas – ‘64 James Breuer – ‘72 Bryan Mahon ‘78 Ozzie Street – ‘80 Jerome Jacobi – ‘81 Andrew Hobbs – ‘83 Gordon Hull – ‘83 Rick Holland – ‘83 Barry Weiss – ‘83 Emme Entwistle Aronson – ‘85 Jeff Pesot – ‘90 Donald Smith – ‘90 Kristin Walker Bidwell – ‘90 Christopher Ludden – ‘91 Sylvester Rowe – ‘92 Skye Michiels ‘99 Joseph Bufano – ‘99 Aliza Seeber ‘04
In Memoriam Dr. Bruce Chamberlain ‘43
Fellow SU Crew Supporters: The 2013 Spring racing season is now complete. Syracuse rowing has achieved another top 20 finish by both the men’s and women’s teams. While some of the season’s results may have fallen short of the aspirations of our athletes and the coaches, in speaking for all alumni, we are very proud of every stroke a Syracuse rower takes in competition – win, lose or draw. Occasionally we forget our men and women are up against the nation’s top schools. There are close to 100 women’s rowing programs and 150 men’s rowing programs in the nation. A special thanks and recognition to Dave and Justin and their coaching staffs for keeping our crews competitive, while occasionally lacking the resources that our competition have and coaching in a weather climate that often does not cooperate. Syracuse alumni play a critical part in maintaining and improving our position as one of the nation’s premier rowing universities. Whether we recognized it or not, we directly benefited from alumni involvement when we rowed on Onondaga Lake. Now it’s our turn to step up and get engaged. This support can be in the form of attending a regatta, listening to races on the internet, providing job leads to a current student athlete or simply writing a check. Through additional financial support from our alumni we can match the equipment, scholarships, and coaching positions that are funded by other top tier programs’ alumni. SARA has been working diligently in supporting the team, fundraising and planning events and communication to our over 1,500 person alumni base. Thank you to Josh Stratton ‘01, Paris Daskalakis ‘98, John Nicholson ‘68, and Tracy Smith ‘90 for contributing to this year’s race broadcasting and tweeting. I hope our alumni and parents enjoyed the tent and event passes at the IRA in Sacramento California. This was funded by SARA. Also a special thanks to Tom and Shelia Evancie ‘78 for coordinating the IRA dinner. The SARA Hall of Fame committee (Jason Premo ‘98, Tracy Smith ’90, Bill Sanford ’63 and Tom Darling ‘81) also deserves our gratitude for the tireless work they have done in creating the Syracuse Rowing Hall of Fame. SARA has also been busy planning the alumni / class day regatta scheduled for Saturday, September 21. This promises to be an awesome event, held at the boathouse, with an alumni 500 meter racing under the lights, various class reunions, hall of fame inductions, and 1874 Stewards plaque unveiling. Syracuse is playing Tulane in football that day. Mark your calendars (and start to work out on the erg). More information and logistics will be distributed in July. Work continues on preserving the legacy of Syracuse rowing through the tireless efforts of John Nicholson ’68, whom we congratulate on being selected as an SU Letterwinner of Distinction, and Joe Paduda’80 who are crafting the next volume of the Mark of the Oarsmen. Finally, stay tuned for some social media and technology enhancements led by Josh Stratton’01. All of these activities are supported by your annual dues. Thank you in advance for your membership dues and your support of SARA. We would also like to thank everyone for their continued financial support of Syracuse rowing. Your support is solidifying the future of Syracuse rowing and providing the team with the best equipment and resources to go fast. This winter, the women’s program successfully raised close to $100k for new shells, fueled by a key leadership gift. The women’s V8, JV8 and V4 will be rowing in new shells this spring! The SARA men’s crew endowment currently stands at over $170,000. SARA will continue to be your source of information, events and team support. If you would like to get more involved in SARA, please contact Joe Kieffer ’88 at jkieffer@email.com or 267-228-1341. Thank you again for supporting Syracuse Rowing. Go ‘cuse. Pull Hard and Go Fast Joe Kieffer ‘88 SARA President
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Men’s Season—from Page One Trophy race, Boston University and Columbia in the Conlan Cup and even an eyelash difference loss to Dartmouth on Onondaga Lake for the Packard Cup. In that one, of course, SU lost a first-boater to illness on race morning. At the Eastern Sprints, the Orange V8 did what it had to, finishing fifth in the Petite Final to qualify for the IRA but then slipped back in spite of its best efforts in Sacramento. “We had a good but not great race in the heats and things seemed to start sliding from there as we became more and more angry and frustrated with each race,” Reischman wrote. “We were certainly putting in the effort down the course but we weren't getting a lot of speed in return. We have done some good racing in recent years at the IRA so this one hurt.” Is it a blip or a trend? “I can look around the league and see several programs that have been in the 3rd level finals at the IRA over the past three years (Northeastern, Wisconsin, Stanford, BU, and Navy) who rebounded and were back in the mix this year,” Reischman said. “That is the challenge that is currently in front of us.”
Looking ahead The Orange had just five seniors on the squad this season but four, Kyle Rogers, Mason Leasure, Tyler Toporowski and Nick Pickard were in the first boat. Brendan Murphy was in the 2V. Rogers, who stroked the V8, took his junior year off and will return for another year. Juniors Mac Zink and Jake Martens return from the first boat, which they were in as sophomores. Reischman has a raft of freshmen coming aboard (see box) in what will the second year of freshman eligibility for varsity competition. While some colleges kept freshman eights this season, SU did not put one into competition, mixing frosh into various boats. Freshman Andrew DePaulis spent the season as the first boat cox. The coach will also be adding two new assistants as Shawn Bagnall and Brad Hemmerly are moving on. “Both Shawn and Brad are really capable coaches and more than ready to be running their own programs somewhere and both of them are looking for that type of opportunity,” Reischman told The Orange Oar. “They have put a lot of valuable time in to our program over the last 2-3 years.” Whoever the new coaches are, they and the head coach will face one of the bigger challenges in Reischman’s decade plus at Syracuse. “Back in 1989 I attended a coaching seminar conducted by long time U.S. National Team Coach Kris Korzeniowski and he drove home a point that I have lived by ever since: if your crew does not perform up to expectations the coach must accept responsibility and must examine every aspect of their program and decide where to make changes,” Reischman wrote in that email. “My coaching staff and I do this every year regardless of where we finish but this year it will take on some extra scrutiny. “Everyone in our program was disappointed with how the year finished up and that is OK. We have had some good success over the past 4 or 5 years but life always has a way of bringing you back down to earth from time to time. It also gives you the opportunity to get back up.”
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Class of 2017, Men’s Team Recruited Athletes Avery, Jackson Eisenberg, James Hockenberry, Joshua King, Joseph Kollman, Molly Marks, Jeremy McKenney, Kyle Reichard, Andrew Rowbotham, Daniel Verni, Paul Voss, Peter Weitekamp, Madison Will, Alexander
6'2", 180 6'3", 195 6'3", 190 Cox Cox 6'5", 185 6'5", 185 6'2", 175 6'3", 195 6'5", 185 6'2", 200 6'2", 195 6'6", 205
St. Ignatius, San Francisco (CA) Boston College High School (MA) North Hills High School (PA) Holy Spirit High School (NJ) Verona Area High School (WI) The Gunnery (CT) Redmond High School (WA) St. Ignatius, Cleveland (OH) Shorecrest High School (WA) Iona College Preparatory (NY) St. Ignatius, Chicago (IL) TC Williams High School (VA) Loyola-Blakefield High School (MD)
SARA SENIOR AWARDS
SARA members came out to the boathouse the Saturday before the IRA for an informal ceremony awarding SARA plaques and mugs to the seniors on the men’s squad. Here SARA First Vice-president Lynne Della Pelle Pascale and Senior Captain Mason Leasure do the “grip and grin” for Orange Oar photographer Ken Hutton ‘69. Others on hand included Jason Premo, Josh Stratton, Joe Peter, Sheila Roock, Colin Goodale, John Nicholson, and Paul Dudzick.
Coach Dave Reischman took the opportunity to hand out traditional Syracuse racing shirts to the seniors, Leasure, Brendan Murphy, Tyler Toporowski and Nick Pickard although he joked that Kyle Rogers wouldn’t get one because he is sticking around for a redshirt year. Rogers and Jake Martens have been named captains for the men’s team for the next year.
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From the Beach—Joe Paduda’s IRA Report Lake Natoma is great for spectators, and not too bad for the crews either. While it can get really, really hot (upper nineties) in the late afternoon, it tends to be pretty cool early on, the course is mostly fair (except when there’s a stiff quartering headwind) and there’s little chance races will be delayed due to weather. This year the racing started on Friday, with Saturday for semis and finals on Sunday. Conditions were decent but pretty variable Friday, as a cross headwind rose and fell throughout the day, leading the officials to juggle lanes as they tried to ensure the top seeds rowed in the best lanes. We had four crews racing; varsity and JV eights and open and varsity four. No frosh eight for the Orange this year; the change to allow freshmen to row in the upper crews resulted in a field of only twelve frosh eights as many teams opted to mix the frosh in with upperclassmen. (see Coach Reischman’s report for details on the crews) Sheila Evancie organized a great dinner Friday night, attended by Coach Reischman and about 18 other alums and spouses. Mac MacVittie impressed all with his wine knowledge, Ed Johanson and Tom Evancie were there along with most of the alumni eight and a couple spouses brave and patient enough to endure an evening of rowing talk. Long-suffering indeed… The Syracuse contingent enjoyed watching the races from a large tent (thank you SARA!) situated about 200 meters from the finish line, in easy viewing distance of the Jumbotron. Food and drink were provided by the parents (another big thank you), and lots of alums from “out West” came to cheer on their beloved Orange. Ed Johanson, Tom Evancie, Walter “Mac” MacVittie, Tom Denver, Vic Ciullo, Ashton Richards, Aidan Barrett, Peter Kruse all joined in. Several alums joined Ed Johanson on his boat in Sacramento Saturday night followed by an early dinner in town, we old guys needing our beauty sleep before Sunday morning’s Alumni Eight race (see report elsewhere in this OO). Sunday’s conditions were decent, with all racing concluded before the temps really soared late in the afternoon. Washington was dominant on the water. It is clear they are building a dynasty up in Seattle; I can’t recall a race where the Huskies finished lower than first (there may have been one or two all weekend…). Deep does not begin to describe UW; they have had international medalists rowing in their varsity four (!) and were the class of the field in most events. Their top crew rowed a 5:39.7 to win the Varsity Challenge Cup – in pretty flat conditions; their frosh eight won by open water in a time of 5:52.8 (!!). For Syracuse, the results were not what we’ve become accustomed to. That said, we are fortunate to have a terrific coach, the team is very young, the men are dedicated and working extremely hard, and they represent Syracuse rowing and the University well. I’m consistently impressed with the quality of the men wearing orange and proud to be associated with them. See you next year in New Jersey!
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Women’s Season—from Page One “We were a classic ‘bubble team’,” Coach Justin Moore said in an email to SU rowing supporters. “While it can be argued that we should have been invited, there are equally effective arguments that say the pollers have made the correct choice.”
Tough Competition and Tough Travel The team had gone through arguably the toughest competition in years during the season, Moore’s third as SU coach. It started with a close loss to Clemson in South Carolina at the end of Spring Camp, continued with a near sweep of Boston University on the Charles and then another near sweep of Penn and Northeastern on the Schuylkill. The V8, 2V8 and V4 all won in Boston and Philadelphia. The Orange squad rowed at home next, but could not catch Radcliffe whose crews swept all five races. But Moore’s crews did beat Dartmouth in the three-boat races, something the Syracuse women hadn’t done in years. Looking for some tough competition on the West Coast, Moore took his athlete to the Oregon State Classic on Dexter Lake a week later. Competition is what the Orange found. They took a series of beatings from Stanford, Washington State, Oregon State and San Diego with the 2V8’s third place finish in the afternoon session being the best by a Syracuse crew. Moore put a good deal of the blame on himself. “…we experienced a perfect confluence of poor coaching decisions, injury and illness,” he said in the email. “Travel - This is 100 percent the coach’s responsibility. We did a poor job of it. While we managed to travel within budget, we created a scenario that did not allow our athletes to compete to the best of their ability. While I would love to blame the sequester, which impacted our travel, I am ultimately responsible for getting the team to the West Coast well rested and ready to go. This did not happen. “Illness and Injury – Call it bad luck or a standard occurrence that should be expected through the course of the season, our health was at its worst in Oregon. We left some women in Syracuse with injuries because we did not want to risk having to scratch a crew for the second race if the injuries flared. We also had ‘Mr. Vomit’ visit us the night before we raced.“
Battle for the Big East “The women…soldiered on” the coach wrote. But the poor finishes seemed to leave them with only one shot at making the NCAAs for the first time since 2005 – win the Big East Championship. To do that, they’d have to beat eleventh-ranked Notre Dame, which had owned the Big East for nearly the past decade. They broke the eight into fours and seat-raced. “Through the final week of classes and through exams, the women seat-raced essentially every other day,” Moore says. “No one came to the coaching staff and told us they were tired. No one felt sorry for himself or herself. The women just went after it. And the coaches started to see fast times on the buoy line for the first time in the spring.”
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On May 19 the V8 lined up against the Fighting Irish on Mercer Lake having finished second in the morning time trial. The unranked Orange and Notre Dame fought stroke for stroke, leaving #19 Louisville behind. The SU eight got within about half a length, maybe closer observers said, but couldn’t quite get to the front. Heartbreak.
“The day after the race, just after we had unloaded the trailer, washed all the boats and closed up the boathouse for the year, I received a call from a ‘source’ on one of the NCAA polling committees,” Moore says. “This source told me that because of our finish at Big East, we had moved ourselves into the discussion for one of the final at-large spots.” And so there they were in the film room at the ‘Melo Center. And there they had their hearts broken again.
Looking ahead Alicea Kochis, who took the season off on maternity leave is back as assistant coach. But Andrea Buch (right with Justin Stangel) is moving on, taking a position in marketing with Pocock Racing Shells in Seattle. Moore says there are some impressive candidates for the vacancy and one of them, no doubt is former SU men’s oarsman Justin Stangel who filled in for Kochis this spring. The squad has graduated senior leaders including the Canadian Olympic silver medalist Natalie Mastracci, grad student Carmen Failla and coxswain Kristina Herb, all first-boaters plus Emily Moomey, Macy Miller and Meryl Engler from the 2V8. Mastracci was named first team all-region by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association and Failla was second team. Juniors Maggie McCrudden from the first boat and Rebecca Soja, Ashley Marsh and Miranda Williams from the 2V presumably will return. Moore has two years of his own recruits on board now, many of them first and second-boaters, and he says the incoming freshman class he’ll announce shortly “may be the best class in the history of the team. Of course,” he adds, “the definition of potential is ‘hasn't done anything yet.’” The Orange women move to the Atlantic Coast Conference next year where they’ll go up against top schools such as Virginia and Clemson. They won’t get away from the Fighting Irish either. Notre Dame is also joining the ACC and Louisville is to follow soon. 2013-2014 should be very interesting for the Orange women.
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SCENES FROM THE SEASON
Orange Encampment on the shore of Lake Mercer during Big East championships
Coach Alicea Kochis’ son Marty bangs the gong for the Orange with 500 meters to go
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Top—Orange Women Varsity Eight with silver medals
Middle— Seniors and Coaches At Senior Awards Cermony Bottom—Coach Kochis approves as Coach Buch tries on her SU blazer—a parting gift. Added Note - Five members of the team were named Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) National Scholar Athletes - Rose Aschebrock, Meryl Engler, Caroline Habjan, Rebecca Soja and Miranda Williams.
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2013 SARA Men’s Rowing Endowment Campaign Update We have just finished the 2013 spring racing season! For the 111th time, the men and women in orange and blue proudly represented us at IRAs. The SARA Endowment is closing out its annual 2,000 hour fundraising campaign. With over 1,500 hours down the Class of ’95 – ’99 has a deck over the Class of ’65 – ’69 in number of contributions, while the Class ’80 – ’84 has a healthy lead over the rest of the pack fueled by a few key leadership gifts. Overall, we have received 61 individual contributions and over $21,000 during this campaign to date. We have some ambitious goals for this year campaign of $75,000 raised with 200 participants from 45 class years. There are just a few weeks left to start our sprint and make your donation for this year’s campaign. Pick up an oar (actually a pen) and help your classmates – write a check or donate on line now!! Racing shirts will be awarded to those class groups’ contributors1 in two categories - those having the greatest number of participants and those generating the most money. Any single donation of a $1,000 or more receives a racing shirt or if you increase your prior years donation by $75. Any donation of $5,000 or more receives an SU oar or mounted SU blade. Any one contributing for five or more consecutive years to the Endowment will be inducted into the Onondaga Lake Society. Details and benefits of the Onondaga Lake Society will be communicated later. Currently we have over $170,000 in the SARA Men’s Crew Endowment. As the endowment grows and generates income it will help fund a range of initiatives including a third coaching position, equipment, and away regatta expenses (e.g. Henley or San Diego Crew Classic). Our goal for the SARA Men’s Rowing Endowment is to raise $1M by 2015. This is a great opportunity to give back to the program that provided some of your best life experiences. If there are specific questions about the endowment or corporate donor matching, please contact Charlie Clark ’83 (charliec@emoneyadvisor.com / +1 484 535 1741) or Joe Kieffer ‘88 (jkieffer@email.com / +1 267 228 1341) Keep SU fast on the water by giving to the SARA Men’s Rowing Endowment. Checks can be made payable to: Central New York Community Foundation Memo line: SARA Endowment
And mail to: Central NY Community Foundation 431 East Fayette Street, Suite 100 Syracuse, New York 13202
Or donate by credit card or bank transferat: www.cnycf.org/sara
1-
To receive a racing shirt an individual needs to contribute $50 or more.
All donations to the SARA Endowment are tax deductible
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BIG DOINGS AT SEPTEMBER SARA GATHERING An invitation from Event Chairman Barry Weiss ‘83 to YOU An Evening at Ten Eyck will be held on Saturday, September 21, 2013. This is your chance to race under the lights, just take a leisurely row with teammates and/or reconnect with people you have not seen in some time. (Please see Save the Date on next page) Complete details on racing will be distributed after July 4th, but here are some info to get started with: A block of hotel rooms has been reserved at a discounted rate at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (the round hotel by Interstate 81). Please reserve by calling 888-227-6963 (code: SUR) or by visiting their website. The cost for this event if you race, take ten strokes and get out of a boat or JUST stand on the shore is $50.00 per person. Activities will commence around 4 p.m. and conclude after dark. There will be a cocktail reception with hors d'oeuvres and a dinner.
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SARA P.O. Box 7202 Syracuse, NY 13261 syracusealumnirowing.blogspot.com
Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association June, 2013 Dear SU Rowing Alumni/ae: Just a friendly reminder that if you haven’t already sent in your 2013 dues, then now is your opportunity to help SARA help support Syracuse Rowing! In the past year, SARA has enacted new initiatives while maintaining its tradition of service for alumni, rowers, and friends of SU rowing. SARA has:
Continued production of Mark of the Oarsman II, picking up SU rowing history starting in the 1960’s. Inducted new members into the Syracuse Rowing Hall of Fame. Sponsored an alumni gathering at the Kris Sanford Reunion weekend. Provided race broadcasts for hundreds of listeners around the country. Organized a second successful year of the endowment campaign for the men’s team. Assisted with race hospitality for alums, rowers and their families. Opened a Boathouse Sports account so alums can purchase SU rowing gear. Communicated with alums around the world through blogging, Twitter, and Facebook as well as the newsletter, the “Orange Oar.”
Help SARA continue to keep the Syracuse Rowing family moving forward in 2013: please take the time today to renew or establish your SARA membership. If you’ve already responded, or are a Lifetime member, then thank you very much. Yours in rowing, The Board of Directors of SARA ——————————————————————————————————————————————————— Name _____________________________________________________ Class year/ Last crew year--____________ Address_________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Telephone _______________________________H) __________________________________________________(cell) Email _______________________________________________I’d like to volunteer; please contact me_____________ Membership Dues 2013: Lifetime Annual Friend of SARA Recent Grad 2008-2012 2013 Grad
$500 _____ $50 ______ $50 ______ $25 ______ free______
Please send payments to: Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association P.O. Box 7202 Syracuse, NY 13261 Payments also online at syracusealumnirowing.blogspot.com
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ALUMNI EIGHT SECOND TO CORNELL IN IRA MASTERS RACE—OR WAS IT? Taking it seriously—Joe Paduda’s first-person account
In his comments about the Men’s Masters Eight race, announcer Fred Schoch opined that the Syracuse crew took the race “just a little too seriously.” Guilty as charged. As a relative newcomer to the crew (this being my third year occupying the bow seat) it is abundantly clear that we are out there to win. Yes it’s fun, and yes there’s nothing like the power and speed of a strong, very experienced crew rowing very well, and yes, seeing old teammates and renewing friendships is wonderful indeed, but it is about winning. At least for me, there’s the same pre-race nerves, the same fear that you won’t be up to the task, that the pain of the third five hundred will overcome the will to win. Despite the decades since the last “real” race as an Orangeman, when you put the racing shirt on its all there. There’s an expectation of excellence, of supreme effort that doesn’t change.
Your crew in the event was Joe Peter in the cox’n’s seat, Bob Price at stroke (fully recovered from back surgery, thank goodness), Bill Purdy in seven, Coach Drew Harrison at six, Tom Darling (current CRASH -B world champion with a 6:11) in five, Bill Bater at four, Steve Rogers back in three, the venerable iron man Ted Kakas in two, and your author in bow.
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Conditions were almost perfect, with a slight headwind and flat water on the buoyed course. Temperatures were in the sixties, and we old guys were thankful indeed that we did not have to face the high nineties forecast for the afternoon’s races. There were three crews in the event this year, Cornell the oldest at an average age of 69, Cal at 62, and us, the youngsters at 59. The way the handicap works is the oldest crew leaves first, second oldest second, and youngest (hah!) last. The gap is about 3 seconds per year, and the distance is a full 2000 meters, not the typical Masters’ 1k. The starter began the countdown, and Cornell was off. After what seemed like eons, Cal exploded off the line, then it was our turn to take to the course. After the short, hard, high strokes, the boat accelerated as Price drove the rating up to a 42. Twenty strokes in, Joey called the settle, and the crew lengthened into race pace at a 34. We knew we had a lot to make up, but the power was on as we pushed thru the first 500. Joey called a ten as we crossed into the second 500 to move into Cal, and we took several seats on the Golden Bears. At 700 meters I could feel them just off our portside, and a few strokes later we were wood-on-wood. Joey called a big ten to pass just before the thousand, the crew responded, and we pushed thru Cal right at the races halfway point. Cal tried to respond, and held almost even for another ten strokes or so. They couldn’t maintain the effort and we rowed thru them and into the third 500. I couldn’t feel or hear Cornell yet, and Joey hadn’t let us know where they were, so we knew the Big Red still had a big gap. The rating stayed at race pace, the puddles were big, we were maintaining spacing, and the boat was moving well. At 750 to go, Cornell was still way out. Joey called a ten for the legs to eat into their lead. Just before the last 500, the gap was four lengths; as we crossed the buoy line into the last 500, Joey called up the rating. Behind Price and Purdy we drove it up to 35, all too aware that time was running out. I could feel Cornell and hear their cox, but they still weren’t in peripheral vision distance. The buoy colors changed, signifying the last 250, the rating came up again, the legs drove just a bit faster, and we kept moving. We could hear Cornell’s cox exhorting his crew and feel our boat surging as Joey called the last 25 strokes. By then I was counting strokes by fives, desperate for the finish line and an end to the pain, but hoping we had enough race course left to catch Cornell. The horn sounded and eight seconds later we crossed the line, followed by Cal some distance back. The crew was spent, totally exhausted from the effort to catch Cornell, and equally disappointed that the effort had not been enough. After several minutes, we paddled to the beach, got our silver medals, and racked the shell (thanks Coach Reischman for bringing the boat out for us old guys). We congratulated Cornell and Cal, and headed for the tent. At the risk of appearing melodramatic, the guys were not happy. We knew we’d rowed a good race, and to lose by two lengths when we’d lost the year before by a mere 1.4 seconds to the same Cornell crew was both surprising and disappointing. As of this writing, the official result has Syracuse second, just under eight seconds behind Cornell. I say “official” because Cornell started 42 seconds before SU; the handicap was actually 30 seconds and it appears the starter erred, waiting far too long before calling our start. We made up about 34 seconds on the Big Red, yet were two lengths behind at the finish. Our hope is the Race Committee rectifies the situation; check the blog for updates. Meanwhile, we’ve started training for next year’s event, determined to return the trophy back where it belongs. Seriously.
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BACKSPLASH—NEWS OF OUR ALUMNI Charlie Mills ’60 - “Had a little ticker trouble on Easter Sunday. Ended up with a stent and am doing great. You'd never know I had an issue and am doing cardio rehab 3x week. It's all about being at the right place at the right time. Son Greg, who works for Boston Scientific in Syracuse, contacted his counterpart here in NOVA and made sure I had the best care as they work with Cardio Docs daily. “Came up for a long weekend with Greg and family. Went to granddaughter Aubrey's Syracuse Children's Chorus performance at Hendricks Chapel. Boy, did that take me back. I sang in Chapel Choir there for 4 years. Greg is a member of Onondaga CC and we played golf Fri., Sat and Sun. First time I had been out this year and only 3 weeks after my ordeal. Felt great but pooped. Love the OO and follow it and the crews religiously. Go 'Cuse!! Gary Gardner '62 – reports he and teammates are “helping organize a multi-year [1959 -1964] MegaReunion. piggybacking off the class of 1963's 50th to catch up... break bread and bend elbow... with others that bent fir Orange Oars back-in-the-day. There have been a few email flurries dating back to February... and I'd guess we'd have at least an eight and a four at the party. “Getting news of the date on the calendar early may help attendance and perhaps surface one or more lost souls who have been successful in keeping their email addresses private. Here is a short list of challenges: Roger Kline; Jerry VandeWater; Linn Hyde; Dick Turner; Bill Hider; Dave Greg; Bob Jeschke; Lou Burmeister; Dave Price; and, Bruce Buckley. Frank Benson ’63 – chimes in on Gary’s note. “Please add Bill Tracz ’63 to the list of missing.”
John Nicholson ‘68 - has been selected as an SU LetterWinner of Distinction and will be among those honored at the awards dinner at The Turning Stone Resort on November first. Ken Hutton ’69 (Left) - “Look forward to seeing as many SU alums as possible for the 23rd annual Diamond States Masters Regatta over July 27th & 28th at St. Andrews, DE on Noxontown Pond. For most of those 2+ decades, I have served as chief dockmaster and dispatcher.”
George Chapman - ’73 - just became a grandfather. “Needless to say, very surreal,” George reports. “Daughter Stephanie and husband Troy had baby girl: Quinn Chapman Moore. Has genes for rowing, swimming and lacrosse. Looking forward to the day I can say to the kid, “It’s OK. Just don’t tell your mother!”
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BACKSPLASH—NEWS OF OUR ALUMNI Joe Paduda ‘80 Spent a great winter/spring in Cazenovia NY; got to spend time with coach Dave, enjoy the cold and snow, and watched a lot of SU lacrosse. Our son Cal made the team as walk-on face off specialist. An exciting season as they made it to the national championship game in Philadelphia. See you at the boathouse in September! Tom Darling ’81 – has been named director of USRowing’s Para-Rowing program. Tom is a three-time Olympics oarsman and is looking forward to taking his team to the Paralympics in 2016 in Rio. More courtesy of row2k.com here: http://www.row2k.com/news/5-23-2013/USRowing-Hires-Tom-Darling-as-Director-ofPara-Rowing/80733/
Bill Purdy, Bill Bater, Ed Johanson, Tom Darling and Joe Paduda in a photo op aboard Johanson’s boat during the IRA in Sacramento.
Joe Kieffer ’88, in his spare time from SARA President, is Vice President of Capgemini BPO. His son Harrison completed his freshman year at Mercyhurst University capping off a successful rowing season with a silver medal at the Dad Vail regatta. His youngest daughter, Gwynedd, graduated from Mount St. Joseph’s Academy and capped off her season with a Stotesbury Regatta gold medal. Gwynedd will be attending and rowing for Brown University in the Fall. Joe hopes to see all of his 1988 classmates at the September 21 event in Syracuse. Friends and teammates of Rick Horn ‘90 - got together and made a major contribution to the SU Men’s crew endowment. Rick died at the age of 40 in 2008. He had fought off cancer four times including during his senior year at SU before finally succumbing to complications from a heart attack. He continues to be a guiding spirit behind the men from his era, one of the most successful in SU Crew history. His teammates include Jeff Pesot, Don Smith, Scott Baltazer, Dirk Stribrny and Pat Young among others. When a memorial gathering was held for Rick in Syracuse, his parents gave out his treasured neckties to the men in attendance at dinner. (Editor’s note—I still wear mine.) Rick’s name has been put on an shell. Members of this year’s team posed for a photo with it (next page). It’s not hard to find inspiration when you know Rick’s story.
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BACKSPLASH—NEWS OF OUR ALUMNI
Remembering Rick Horn— a gift from friends and teammates to help the current crews.
Helen Lippits-Tanger ’01 – reports two new babies in the SU Rowing family. She gave birth to a daughter Maud Lippits March 15th 2013. Froukje Wegman ’01 (right in the picture) gave birth to her son, Jip Hofmijster, 02-02-2013. Jip has a big sister, Fleur. Helen lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Froukje lives in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
James Olson ’12 – “I just graduated from Cornell this year with my master’s degree in structural engineering. I will be moving to the city to work for a company called ARUP. In Memoriam Donald Follmer Everett, '48 - passed away on 4-2-12 at age 86. His family sent a note to SARA with a contribution and a comment: "Great life and fun rowing!"
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Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association, Inc. Syracuse University P.O. Box 7202 Syracuse, NY 13261 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE ORANGE To send a message to the email lists contact the coaches: Men: Dave Reischman - dreischm@syr.edu Women: Justin Moore: jmoore06@syr.edu Orange Oar Editor: John Nicholson: jsnich@gmail.com AND We have a new database! Please keep us updated with your latest contact information or any corrections. Email Lynne Pascale at lynnepascale@hotmail.com or Charlie Clark at charliec@moneyadvisor.com.