Rutgers University Athletics

    
 
            
Our History: Rowing was a Rutgers tradition since 1864, becoming the first organized sport on campus. Six-mile races were held on the Raritan River among six-oared boats. No seats on tracks, rather the rowers would grease the back of their pants and slide back and forth with their feet tied down.                                                                                 

RUTGERS COLLEGE FIRST CREW: Herman C. Berg, John N. Carpender, J. Blanchard Edgar, Florian W. Gordon, and James Neilson, Class of 1866, Samuel W. Bergen and Tunis G. Bergen, class of 1867, and Alexander J. Swift, class of 1868. Racing  and beating Yale in the “Henry Rutgers” Gig.
 
 
 
 
 
   
  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
At Rutgers, we have a natural preoccupation with our place in college football history when Rutgers played Princeton in The first intercollegiate football game in 1869. It was still a big deal 100 years later when I attended its centennial equivalent. Yet, little appreciated is the fact that Rutgers Crew, known then as the Rutgers Boating Association, was established five years prior as the first campus sport in 1864.

More significantly, many of the players on that historic Rutgers Football Team also rowed for Rutgers in the spring of 1870 against Harvard. Most notable was football Captain William J. Leggett RC 1872 who valiantly replaced their best rower Claudius Rockefeller at the last moment. Rockefeller was down with a fever. Leggett “in spite of tender hands, rowed well to the last.” Leggett became the Rutgers Crew stroke in 1871 and captain in 1872. William J. Leggett is in the Rutgers Athletic Hall of Fame for football. He excelled in two sports while at Rutgers, football and crew. Playing in multiple sports was common for a small college, before athleticism became specialized in our modern era. Leggett stood out in both.

He went on to become the Reverend Dr. Leggett, studying ministry at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary after attaining his undergraduate degree at Rutgers College. He served as a minister, and as the Vice President of the Reformed Church in the US for many years." The best student among them was probably the team captain, William James Leggett, Class of 1872. Before graduating, he won prizes in Latin as well as mathematics and declamation. Amazingly, he was also Targum editor, director of the baseball team, and captain and stroke of the RU crew.
 
   
 Pictured to the left is a COLORIZED PHOTO OF 1898 RUTGERS CREW ON THE RARITAN RIVER: We all know this bend in the river. We’ve been there, ready for the coxswain to give the word, “Let’s practice our race start: Ready, Ready All, Row!” Despite an active rowing presence on the Raritan in the latter 19^th century, Rutgers Crew, because of high expenses, took a hiatus from 1902 to 1933.  In the 19^th Century, Crew shells and equipment were expensive. An earlier boathouse was lost to flooding. And the Raritan River linked to the Erie Canal waterway grid made New Brunswick an industrial hub. Barges and steamboats competed for water access. Factories lined up along the river, dumping their chemicals and other pollutants into the river. Even with the resumption of crew under Ned Ten Eyck, rowers reported having their t-shirts dyed from the water emptied from raising their shells overhead.
 



In 1932, Rutgers hired George E. Little to be the Athletic Director. His last post was at the University of Wisconsin with a rich history in crew. He was determined to restore rowing, making use of the Raritan River once again. He hired a resourceful Coach Ed Ten Eyck who borrowed a boat to restore rowing at Rutgers. And Princeton and Syracuse donated antiquated shells in expectation of promoting local competition to crush. Like in the movie, “Boys in The Boat,” our boys raise money to buy a shell to race at the IRA’s in Poughkeepsie in 1938. We were back in business but first needed to successfully compete on a lower level to merit rowing with the Ivy’s.                                        
 
Coach Chuck Logg would replace Ed Ten Eyck in 1938 to restore Rutgers Rowing teams to prominence with several Dad Vail Regatta victories.  With 3 Dad Vail Championships in a row, Rutgers was invited to compete with the Ivy League crews, Wisconsin and the University of Washington at the IRA’s and the Eastern Sprints. He later coached his own son, Chuck Logg Jr. and fellow crewmate Tom Price to win the Gold Medal in the pairs at Helsinki, Finland in the 1952 Olympics.  We fought our way back to race against the best of the best. Head coaches Bill Leavitt and in turn, Steve Wagner would inherit Logg’s legacy. 
 
 
  
             
               

Because of the success of Coach Logg, new coach Bill Leavitt inherited an Ivy League schedule, the best of the best in college rowing. Bill came to Rutgers in 1962 having coxed at Harvard, becoming their 2^nd only coxswain to become varsity crew captain. His crews won the 1948 and 1949 Eastern Sprints, and won the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in England. He also coached the Harvard Freshman to championship seasons.                                                                                                     

The success of the Rutgers Rowing program rested heavily Bill Leavitt’s broad shoulders. We rowed the boats, but he bore the outcome. You saw it in his eyes, disappointed at times, relieved and almost elated at others, but never relaxed. The challenges of competing against the Ivy League level college crew teams with mostly inexperienced Rutgers rowers at the outset were daunting. At that time, he oversaw men’s lightweight and heavyweight crews on the freshman and varsity levels from 1958-1987 and starting in 1973, women’s crews. He managed 4 coaches and over 130 rowers in any given year. 

University funding of Rutgers Crew was never enough to sustain a competitive rowing program. He formed relationships with then University President Mason Gross, a major contributor of personal donations, in developing a lightweight rowing program in 1964. He worked with Herb Brown RC ’38 in the formation of Friends of Rutgers Rowing, which raised funds for the purchase of several rowing shells and equipment.

In 1970, he turned around an 0-8 season with his IRA Championship in the 4 with coxswain. It was back-to-back championships, as he had accomplished this in 1969 with 3 of the same rowers in the same event. If seeing wasn’t believing, we heard over the PA sound system in Onondaga Lake Park, our song, “On The Banks Of The Old Raritan.” But winning this event, particularly with this Rutgers Crew in a back-to-back performance is one of the greatest athletic achievements on the college level. 
 
 
Rutgers Varsity Crew finished 2^nd in the 1971 Eastern Sprints Championship and 4^th at the IRA in 1973. These were tall feats for what was essentially a blue collar-like, walk on bunch of guys, most of whom never rowed before coming to Rutgers. More importantly, Rutgers crews completed a sweep of our biggest rival Princeton in April of 1973. Bill Leavitt’s crews were making waves among the well-heeled, high achieving Ivy League rowing teams of his era. 
 
                                      
Under Bill Leavitt’s tutelage, he saw many rowers go on to become prominent coaches for high school and university rowing programs. Likewise, he had several rowers become national and Olympic champions like Fred Borchelt RC’76. I do know that Bill did not carry the stress of management well. He retired early. But I would like him and his family to know that my life and the lives of so many would be profoundly different without his influence. He was a gentle man who ran a successful rowing program. 

Intercollegiate Rowing Association second and third place finishes in 1962, 1963, 1965, 1967 and 1974. In 1971 and 1981, his team placed second at the Eastern Sprints. As program director, Bill introduced women's rowing at Rutgers and grew a program that produced four Olympians and numerous U.S. National team members for men and women. Bill retired from Rutgers University in 1987. A true influence in the sport of rowing, Bill played various roles with the U.S. men's national rowing team, highlighted by his term as manager of the 1983 team that won two Bronze medals at the World Rowing Championships. A proponent of the sport's growth, he was also the regatta director of the inaugural Women's Eastern Sprints in 1974. Bill was recognized for his career achievements, being inducted into the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1978 and was awarded US Rowing's Clayton W. Chapman Award in 2001.” Rutgers Crew Facebook
 
 
     
   
 
                         
 
 
 
We practiced on the Raritan River in rain, snow, hot weather; whatever nature would throw at us. Nothing stopped practice. Nothing! Our hands were blistered and bloodied by the oak oar handles. At one point, I got double pneumonia.  You became numb to the pain, to the misery, to the exhaustion. You learned to work with teammates in your boat, developing a special camaraderie solving problems of balance, speed and collective technique. When the river froze, we practiced indoors in the old Camp Kilmer WWII army barracks where we had water filled rowing tanks fixed with oars and sliding tracks attempting to recreate rowing on the river. We lifted weights, went on five-mile runs, did 12 station circuit training (On one station, we did step ups holding paint cans filled with cement) and ran Stadium Stairs (crewmate Eric Nielsen’s favorite) at the Rutgers Football Stadium.  Returning to the river in late winter was for some a relief.   
   
 
 

Our Wooden World: In The Golden Age of Rowing 1864-1973, all competitive boats were made of the finest, lightest materials available. This meant in the 20^th century, they were made of hard oak frame with an eighth inch skin coat of cedar, the thickness of an Andes mint, lining the wooden hull structure. Anyone new to the sport would be sternly cautioned before getting into the boat: step on the oak centerboard and not the paper-thin cedar hull. Stories of people putting a foot through the hull and sinking the boat were a matter of legend. The boat or shells (a derivitive of “egg shells”) often seemed too elegantly crafted to row, but too streamlined not to. It’s like new white sneakers. You hesitate to get them dirty. These crew shells were beautiful, but they were designed to get wet and dirty in competition.       
 
 
 
The Rutgers Class of 1914 Boathouse built in 1950 with donations from the Class of 1914 held wood boats a.k.a. shells of every size and age suspended on wooden racks throughout. Upon entering, you were immediately immersed in the smell of cedar, of Old English lemon oil designed to preserve the shells’ wood exteriors and of Crisco shortening used to lubricate the oars and oarlocks. The array of shells on display at the boathouse made clear the sport was all about speed on the water. Boats, once deemed high tech, were replaced by improved designs. Wood was the way to go at this time. Some experiments with plastic materials were in use, but they were heavier than their wooden counterparts. Most rowing shells at this time were made by George Pocock Racing Shells.
                   
The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown writes about George Pocock.  “George did not just build racing shells. He sculpted them.  A large part of Pocock’s genius as a boatbuilder was that he managed to excel both as a maker of machines and as an artist.” 
 
You would also witness the progression of rowing history. Typically, a college or club would purchase a new, state-of-the-art racing shell. After several racing seasons, this boat would be passed down to junior teams in the boathouse. Some much older boats were framed with what seemed to be heavier wood and canvas-like decking. These boats were state - of - the - art for their time, but now rendered to display or rare use by novice crews. You felt deeply connected to the rowers who once crewed these older craft.  
                   
Visually, there were few differences between Rutgers rowers and their boats on the Raritan River in 1973 and those rowers on the Schuylkill River illustrated in Thomas Eakin’s 19^th century paintings. It was as if time stopped altogether.                               



Biglin Brothers Turning The Stake,1873, Painting By Thomas Eakins 
 
Rowing shells were delicate wooden structures designed to endure a wide range of stresses on the water, but they required constant maintenance.  Consequently, every boat house had a highly skilled mechanic/boatman whose job was to maintain these wooden water wonders. 
The boats had wooden seats on sliding tracks. The rower with back to the bow, would fit feet in shoes attached to a foot stretcher. This was an oak mount which was adjustable by pegs on either side of the oak gunnel to the rower’s body size.
 
                                                                                                                               
The stroke consisted of the rower contracting body and legs on the slide toward the stern of the boat also known as the ketch, with oar in hand, and placing the oar in the water. The oar had to be “feathered” rotating the curved blade of the oar from flat to perpendicular to the water. The placement of the oar blade into the water was critical. At the ketch, you would roll your hands and arms in an upward slant. It had to coincide with the application of power of one’s legs against the foot stretcher along with the other rowers in the boat. Rolling the hands down resulted in digging the blade too deeply into the water at the other end, slowing the boat. Timing and synchronization were everything. Port and starboard rowing techniques were mirror opposites of each other, often resulting in specialization of port and starboard rowers. Muscle memory was critical in a race. There was so much to do in fractions of seconds, that adding the subtle technical differences of port vs. starboard into the fray was often avoided.                                       

The rower’s body needed to be centralized within the boat given the need to avoid an imbalance to either side. We would practice balancing drills in our narrow 18-inch-wide shells all the time. Following a stroke, we would extend our oars above the water and coast, freezing the moment in time until we were instructed to drop our oars. Not easy for first-time crews.
The single large oar known as a sweep was made primarily of hard oak laminates. It was placed in a swivel oar lock on a metal rigger which was attached to the upper gunnel of the boat. The oar blade was curved to better envelope the water upon entry. The oar handle was made of wood which meant that as the oar handle was rotated in the hands and a grip taken, the rower’s hands would blister. It would take a couple of weeks for these blisters to harden into calluses. Overcoming pain at every level was part of the sport in the Golden Age of Rowing!
This Golden Age of Rowing ended in the mid 1970’s as the rowing world reacted to the victorious Gold Medal Olympic crews which raced with the new non-wood, carbon fiber materials for oars and for shells. These shells were lighter, more durable, and easier to maintain. Colleges and rowing clubs canceled reorders for wooden boats and replaced them with orders for the carbon resin technologies to advance their competitiveness on the water. It became an arms race in the world of rowing to be the first to get one. Suddenly, these aesthetically pleasing oak and cedar shells were rendered obsolete. 
 
 The wooden rowing shells are no longer kept on display in boat houses. I have often thought they belong in a museum for their sheer beauty, elegance and craftmanship.  Instead, they now adorn the ceilings of restaurants like Friday’s and Applebee’s, relics of rowing history. I have often looked at these suspended racing craft wondering if I had ever raced in it or against it during my rowing years. Imagine the stories these boats could tell along with the blood, sweat and tears that stain their interiors. Given the presence of such bodily fluids, was it such a good idea to suspend these shells upside down above dining patrons? Just kidding, I think. Looking up at a boat’s superstructure, I certainly have bored many a tablemate with the technical aspects of rowing in these boats. My college rowing memories have now become restaurant décor.
         
The Golden age of Rowing came to a dramatic end. The Montreal 1976 Olympic Games are notable as the first time Olympic gold went to an East German crew in a boat not made of wood.  It was a “wow” moment for the sport. It wasn’t long before wooden racing shells were replaced by boats made with carbon-fiber reinforced plastic in a honeycomb structure. World Rowing formerly known as FISA became the regulating body for the standardization of manufacturing. A modern 8 oared shell by regulation weighs 98 kilograms or 210 pounds. In theory, they could weigh even less, such is the level of technology and craftsmanship in today’s rowing world. A comparable wooden shell would have weighed 300 lbs. You worry less about damage to the boat, and where to put your feet upon entry. 
 
 
 
On a trip to Everett, Washington, I had an opportunity to tour the Pocock Racing Shells Company. It was illuminating! We think of shell construction as involving hard materials like wood and plastic. In fact, the shells are fabricated from rolls of carbon fiber material, almost slippery to the touch and soft. In many ways it’s like dress making, you roll out the material along a long, long table and follow a pattern 
 
 
to make cuts in the fabric. Then the elongated cut material is brought over to the cavernous air hanger like structure where the material is draped over a cut out mold of the shell. Once on, the material is coated with a resin, then a foam core is added, followed by another layer of carbon fiber. You are immediately overwhelmed by the fumes emanating from the epoxy resin. Workers coating the material wear a hazmat white suit from foot to head and wear protective goggles with a respirator mask.  The resin coated carbon fiber layers harden.  The end product is the real magic. You end up with a remarkably lightweight hardened product which can be shaped to match any form and color. The bow and stern are compartmentalized with airtight cells for safety protocols and flotation. The shells are double hulled, with air in between to aid in flotation.  The real cost to construction is not materials, but labor to hand manufacture the shells, surprisingly more time than for boats made of wood.                                  
 
 
 
On Pocock Shells, the coxswain is no longer seated in the stern. A space is made to accommodate the coxswain’s body in the bow section. This aids in weight distribution and navigation. With the cox box, the coxswain can evaluate the rower’s performance while looking ahead with an unobstructed view of the course.                                                                                                                         
 
In addition to rowing shells, this carbon fiber material is applied to riggers and oars. I had the feeling that I was in a Hollywood prop department, except the stuff that is created here is light, almost indestructible, and strong. They outlast, outperform their wooden counterparts.
 
Rowing shells are initially sold to elite rowing programs, colleges, clubs. An 8-oared shell sells for $60,000. Pocock has a buyback program in which original purchasers trade in old for new shells. The “preowned” shells are then refurbished by Pocock and resold to clubs and recreational rowing programs. The shells last forever! This explains the visible proliferation of rowing programs throughout the country. Yes, the shells are initially expensive, but they last longer, without much maintenance. My guide mentioned that Pocock has issued instructions on proper disposal of shells, given their toxic epoxy resin components, a downside to those shells made of wood. The upside, not many shells have been thrown out. 
 
Pocock Racing Shells defines its market as primarily Westcoast with lesser influence across America and Canada. Rowing shells are too long for shipping containers. Some shell manufacturers choose a design to separate the shell into 2 parts for international shipping as 60’ long shells are longer than ship containers.  Pocock chooses not to go this route. Pocock wants to be a reliable regional supplier.
 
Crewmate and coach of Rutgers lightweight team John Bannon RC’73 advised that manufacturers like Germany’s Empacher with their pale yellow and black trim shells, Canada’s Kaschper Racing Shells, and American based Vespoli revolutionized the construction of carbon fiber shells. Once dominant George Pocock and Sons, known for their cedar and oak rowing shells was slow in adopting non wood materials in construction of their boats and lost majority market share. He also notes, “the rowers got bigger. Olympic oarsmen are 6’8” tall now increasing leverage on each stroke.”
 
Fred Borchelt RC’76, said, “Bill (Coach Bill Levitt of Rutgers Heavyweight Crew) made the switch to the first affordable fiberglass shells in the mid 70’s just as everyone else did. I think it was partly for speed (lighter and stiffer) but also for durability. FISA did control equipment to some degree in terms of weight and surface coatings and sliding riggers. That did not filter down to the college level while I was there. “
 
Bill Wilber RC’73 crewmate and coach for many years said, “In the end, I still believe that it’s the horses in the race that are the most important determining factor on outcomes, not the carriage. The men and women are bigger and taller. “
 
But you can’t argue with the stopwatch. Course race times in the Olympics for an 8 oared shell with the newer carbon-based materials have dropped from 6 minutes to 5 minutes 20 seconds on flat water conditions. Crews are faster, and I suppose that’s the goal. The shells are lighter, no more grunting as you take a wooden shell off the rack. We live in the new age of carbon fiber. The now nostalgic artistry of fabricating shells out of wood has been replaced with modern materials that are lighter, stronger, more durable and in the long run, more economical. They last longer. 
 
Chuck Crawford RC’73, teammate and coach adds, “The moving from wooden shells and oars happened relatively quickly, as all programs saw faster shells requiring less maintenance. Additionally, the carbon fiber shells were more durable and easier to repair when damaged. The transformation from wooden shells and oars to carbon fiber was pretty much fait complis by the mid 1980's.”

Oars are no longer made of hard, heavy oak but lightweight carbon fiber. A modern large sweep oar is so light, you can easily hold it with one hand. I felt as if I was holding a toy paddle. “This can’t hold up to the forces applied on the water?” I mused. The oars are lighter, stronger and shorter allowing higher stroke rates. The body of the race can be rowed at 38 strokes per minute as opposed to 34. Race times plummeted. These modern oars almost seem alien to me. And those warrior- axe rowing blades seem more suited for ancient hand -to -hand battle rather than propelling a shell downstream. Blades do break but, I’m told, are easily replaced. Remarkable!!!

Chuck Crawford RC ’73 points out, “Another significant technological improvement happened in the early 1990's with the oar blade and shaft changes. The shape of the blade from the "tulip" design to the "big blades" made teams faster by close to two lengths over 2K.” Concept oar manufacturer often gets orders immediately after a crew team not using their oars loses to a lesser opponent. It does not take long before word of mouth to get out to all teams.  Chuck concludes, “The changes are now seen as standard equipment and the older equipment of wooden shells, oars and megaphones can be considered pieces of art.”
 
 
 
 

Rowing clubs have sprouted up all over the place, in greater numbers than in my past. Perhaps the more durable modern shells make rowing more affordable and therefore more accessible to more people. I see rowing shells on outside racks around boat houses unprotected from the elements. You couldn’t do that with a wooden rowing shell and expect it to hold up.

The clap boards and coxswain megaphone have been replaced with the electronic Nielsen-Kellerman's Cox Box and speed equipment which combines a digital stroke rate monitor, stopwatch, and voice amplifier sound system. A coxswain can monitor stroke rate, speed of shell, and manage the performance of the crew. “The advertisement adds, “This allows the coxswain to be heard,” as if that was a problem before. According to John Bannon RC’73, the role of the coxswain in many ways has been elevated to the status of an on the water coach. I can’t imagine being motivated by a microphone to pull a hard 10, but then again, it was a different era, a different time.                                                                         
                                
 
In 2006, Rutgers made the impactful decision to demote Men’s rowing and several other sports from university status to club status. This would at that time offset cost overruns in so-called revenue-generating basketball and football programs. Men’s rowing would no longer receive financial support and it would no longer compete against traditional Ivy League rivals with university status. Title IX had a great impact on this decision. In balancing men’s and women’s athletics, the bigger men’s sports were not willing to part with their scholarships. So, they successfully argued for a work around, namely, the elimination of men’s rowing and the expansion of women’s rowing with added scholarships and budget. This balancing approach has been copied throughout major universities causing the expansion of women’s soccer and rowing at the expense of their male counterpart teams.
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Rutgers Men’s Rowing scrambled to organize a massive fund- raising campaign. They managed to build a $4 million endowment, the dividends from which now pay for coaches and expenses. Despite these efforts, Rutgers Men’s Rowing continues as a club sport, competing in the Dad Vail Regatta and other club/college rowing events. Coach Steve Wagner RC’76 (above) has become an indispensable one-man band in managing all aspects of our men’s rowing program: coaching early AM practices; scheduling races; purchasing equipment; supervising all on water and off water training. David Specca RC ’12 helps Steve as an assistant coach.      
  Congrats to the 2023 and 2024 Rutgers V8 ---> Back-to-Back Finalists @ the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) Championships! Finished 5th in 2024 and 6th in 2023. Looking forward to 2025. Upstream Red Team!
     
A story about the significance of Rutgers and George Washington University being at the 2022 National Championship as ACRA enters a new era after the Covid-19 pandemic. This is a three-part essay on how we have arrived at this point, and where it might be going.

PART 1: RUTGERS ROLE IN ACRA's FORMATION
Last May, on the bike path along the course in Oak Ridge, TN, I noticed a scene I hadn't observed in 15 years: Steve "Pops" Wagner, the longtime coach of Rutgers, riding his bike, as he followed his crew racing in the national championship regatta. There he was, wearing his familiar bucket hat and red polo, with a smile on his face, enjoying conversation and happy to be there. This time the national championship was the ACRA National Championship instead of the IRA (Intercollegiate Rowing Association) where I had last seen him riding his bike while watching his crews race at the national championship. It was his team's first appearance - and the last major collegiate club program to commit to competing at ACRA - since club teams were excluded from IRA competition and we formed our own association in 2007.
 
From 1996 through 2008 I took my team to the IRA. Until the end of 2008 it was a common occurrence to ride with Pops along the banks of the Cooper River in Camden. We have continued to correspond as he attempts to acclimate to club sport status and the stark differences between how collegiate club sport and varsity teams are administered and supported. I had been trying to get him to bring the Scarlet Knights to ACRA since its formation, but it wasn't until 2022 that he brought them. The rationale for deciding to wait that long was complicated.
In discussions with other coaches at this year's ACRA very few were aware of Rutgers' role in ACRA's formation, and the significance of them being there for the first time. Few current ACRA coaches were coaching at the time of the ACRA-IRA 2008 split. Many weren't even athletes at the time. In fact, only a handful of current IRA coaches were coaching then, so many coaches do not realize the importance of Rutgers being at the 2022 ACRA.
This has compelled me to provide a portion of that history; ACRA's relationship to the IRA; and how Rutgers ties into ACRA's formation, which is now the largest U.S. collegiate regatta in terms of entries and competitors. With Rutgers' inaugural appearance, coupled with George Washington's inaugural appearance at ACRA after being dropped as a varsity sport the previous year, on our 15th anniversary we added two noteworthy varsity-turned-club programs - each having taken different paths to get there.