Legacy Coaches Corner
Pictured above is Wisconsin's Crew Coach 1907-1910; Rutgers Crew Coach 1934-1936; Syracuse's Crew Coach 1938-1949
Edward Hanlan "Ned" Ten Eyck was the son of the famous sculler and coach, James "Jim" A. Ten Eyck. Ned made a name for himself as an amateur sculler, undefeated from 1895-1901. He also held the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen championship title for single oars for 1898, 1899, and 1901. He gained international fame when he won the Diamond Sculls at the Royal Henley Regatta in 1897, the first American to win the race. His entry was part of the entry by the Wachusett Boat Club (Worcester, MA (his hometown)). That same year he began attending the University of Pennsylvania, but did not row on the crew. He retired from rowing in 1901.
In 1934, he became the first crew coach at Rutgers University and built a program from scratch there. He would bring his freshman crew to Poughkeepsie that year but would not return in subsequent years. Ned left Rutgers in 1936 to serve as assistant to his father and took over as head crew coach at Syracuse University when his father retired in 1937. Ned would only have one victory at Poughkeepsie while coaching for Syracuse, the junior varsity race in 1939.
Sources about Ten Eyck:Wisconsin Where They Row: A History of Varsity Rowing at the University of Wisconsin by Bradley F. TaylorMark of the Oarsmen: A Narrative History of Rowing at Syracuse University by Malcolm R. AlamaEdward Hanlan Ten Eyck entry in Wikipedia
Coach Chuck Logg would replace Ed Ten Eyck in1937 to restore Rutgers Rowing teams to prominence with several Dad Vail Regatta victories. After capturing an impressive 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. We fought our way back to race against the best of the best. 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.
Coach William “Bill” Leavitt attended Harvard where, as coxswain became only the 2nd to be named captain of their varsity crew. The success of the Rutgers Rowing program rested heavily on Rutgers Head Coach Bill Leavitt’s broad shoulders. 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 160 rowers in any given year.
Walter “Buzz” Congram Lightweight and Freshman Heavyweight Coach 1965-1970
Our freshman crew coach was Walter “Buzz” Congram, who rowed for Columbia and was a star football player during their Ivy League Championship season in 1961. He scored on a 10-yard pass reception for a touchdown against non-conference Rutgers. He was a highly charismatic young man and a born leader. He inspired us to reach for the stars, to believe in achieving the impossible. Right after Rutgers, he coached at Yale, but it was at Northeastern University where he led crews to the I.R.A. championships in 1988 and 1991 with three trips to the Henley Regatta. In 2001, he entered the Crew Coach Hall of Fame. As our coach, we would willingly walk on hot coals in bare feet were he to ask for it. He made us believers in ourselves and in each other. I learned in researching this narrative, that Buzz would take rowers individually aside and speak to how great they could become with a little more effort. Buzz often went out of his way to help struggling athletes. Crewmate John Bonanno ’73 had Buzz speak with Abe Fox whose father had passed away in November 1969. Abe thought he could no longer afford Rutgers. Buzz found Abe a student work assistance program so he could remain at school and become our coxswain. Buzz fought for us and we fought for him!
Coach Fred Simonson RC’67
Ted Bonanno Varsity Lightweight Coach at Rutgers University in 1970 and in 1974 directed their lightweight program to its best team performance at the Eastern Sprints in school history. 20-7 3 year record
Ted's unique workouts gave us the belief that we were as fit as any of our competition. I remember the stadium steps followed by an erg test. Carrying each other up the steps was something I had forgotten. Ted also made everyone earn their seat. That caused some disgruntlement by guys who were underperforming. Our team captain during our junior year quit the team because of that. Ted's young age and personality made things interesting for the crew and helped keep us motivated.
The biggest win was beating Penn our senior year. They had interfered with us in the previous year's race but we're not penalized. We refused to give them our shirts. But to their credit, they did give us their shirts after we won. We were 5th in the sprints junior year and 4th senior year.
I remember that Ted was mad at one of the Eastern Sprints finals because we were assigned an outside lane which he thought was subject to a headwind. That was 3 boats even the entire way and we didn’t know we had won until 5 minutes after the finish. Our first big win and Ted allowed beer on the bus ride home.
Coach John Bannon RC’73
Rowing with the wind, Rutgers Varsity Lightweight Crew completed the 2,000-meter course in a quick 6:05.7 minutes, followed by Harvard at 6:12.3 and Columbia at 6:32.3
The boys in our boat were as follows: Jim Fowler in bow; Tony Mattson in the 2 seat; Greg Lewis in 3; Paul Savage 4; Scott Rivkees 5; Mark O’Connor 6; Dan Dalzell 7; stroke Tom Heenen and Joe Camino, Coxswain.
Unlike Ivy League crews, most came to Rutgers as inexperienced “Walk On’s” to the sport of rowing. Rutgers coaches welcome the yearly challenge of molding these raw recruits into hardened, lean mean, unified rowing machines on the Raritan River. Rutgers Crews have become a force to be reckoned with over the years. Ivies take notice!
Steve Wagner
Bartels-Nicholas Head Coach
Coach Wagner is in his 40th year at Rutgers, serving as the Director of Rowing and Head Coach of the Men’s Crew for the past 31 years. Under Steve's direction, the Rutgers Crew has excelled, producing many nationally ranked crews, Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship finalists, and many memorable regular season victories in Rutgers’ traditional “Cup” races. Most recently, Rutgers won the silver medal at the 2005 IRA in Varsity 4, and the 2003 Rutgers Men’s Heavyweight Varsity 8 advanced all the way to the final of the Henley Royal Regatta in England, beating the heavily favored home town crew Leander Boat Club along the way.
Wagner’s coaching philosophy is simple: teach basics, train the athletes with a well planned effective system, create competitive situations where the athletes can learn, and above all else, make sure the program is a great experience and fun to be part of. His success in these areas is why so many Rutgers oarsmen have been successful, and why many have gone on to represent the United States at the World Championships and Olympic Games. In fact, over the past 20 years, the Rutgers program has produced more members of the U. S. Olympic Rowing Team than any other university in the country, including 4 members of the 1992 Olympic team, 6 members of the 1996 Olympic team, and 4 members of the 2000 Olympic team.
Wagner began his coaching career while in graduate school at the Florida Institute of Technology, where he produced three consecutive undefeated Freshmen crews, and won the 1979 Dad Vail Regatta (small college National Championship) in the Freshmen 8 and Freshmen 4 events. His next stop was Columbia University, where his freshmen crews turned the program around, defeating several league opponents for the first time in many years.
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agner returned to Rutgers in the fall of ’83 to take over the women’s crew program. His 1984 Women’s Varsity 8 was the most successful and highest ranked women’s crew Rutgers has ever produced, and their highest finish ever (5th) in the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges. For the next 3 years, Wagner served as the Freshmen Heavyweight Men’s Coach. His 1986 Freshmen Crew finished 4th in the Grand Final of the IRA National Championships, and his 1987 Freshmen Crew finished the regular season undefeated, making the Grand Final of both the EARC Sprints and IRA Regattas. Wagner became Head Coach in the fall of 1987 upon the retirement of Rutgers legendary coach of 27 years Bill Leavitt.
Wagner’s coaching philosophy is simple: teach basics, train the athletes with a well planned effective system, create competitive situations where the athletes can learn, and above all else, make sure the program is a great experience and fun to be part of. His success in these areas is why so many Rutgers oarsmen have been successful, and why many have gone on to represent the United States at the World Championships and Olympic Games. In fact, over the past 20 years, the Rutgers program has produced more members of the U. S. Olympic Rowing Team than any other university in the country, including 4 members of the 1992 Olympic team, 6 members of the 1996 Olympic team, and 4 members of the 2000 Olympic team.
Wagner began his coaching career while in graduate school at the Florida Institute of Technology, where he produced three consecutive undefeated Freshmen crews, and won the 1979 Dad Vail Regatta (small college National Championship) in the Freshmen 8 and Freshmen 4 events. His next stop was Columbia University, where his freshmen crews turned the program around, defeating several league opponents for the first time in many years.
W
agner returned to Rutgers in the fall of ’83 to take over the women’s crew program. His 1984 Women’s Varsity 8 was the most successful and highest ranked women’s crew Rutgers has ever produced, and their highest finish ever (5th) in the Eastern Association of Women’s Rowing Colleges. For the next 3 years, Wagner served as the Freshmen Heavyweight Men’s Coach. His 1986 Freshmen Crew finished 4th in the Grand Final of the IRA National Championships, and his 1987 Freshmen Crew finished the regular season undefeated, making the Grand Final of both the EARC Sprints and IRA Regattas. Wagner became Head Coach in the fall of 1987 upon the retirement of Rutgers legendary coach of 27 years Bill Leavitt.
Wagner was the Director of the Craftsbury Sculling Center in Vermont for 25 years, from 1979 – 2003. He is co-founder and co-Director of the Raritan Valley Rowing Camp at Rutgers University, a summer rowing camp for high school students. Established in 1991, it was the first, and remains the oldest, university affiliated rowing camp in the country. Wagner is also founder and Director of Black Bear Sculling, a program that operates sculling camps and clinics throughout the country.
Wagner was the Director of the Craftsbury Sculling Center in Vermont for 25 years, from 1979 – 2003. He is co-founder and co-Director of the Raritan Valley Rowing Camp at Rutgers University, a summer rowing camp for high school students. Established in 1991, it was the first, and remains the oldest, university affiliated rowing camp in the country. Wagner is also founder and Director of Black Bear Sculling, a program that operates sculling camps and clinics throughout the country.
