An Olympics to Remember

The Chinese put on a spectacular, $40 billion show, and NBC and its various holdings made sure that we saw it all. Those of you who watched had an unusual vantage thanks to camera towers and cable cams. There were eleven Husky rowers in the mix, some victorious, some snake-bit by luck, so let's start at the top.

All hail the gold medal winning women's eight, coxed by Mary Whipple and powered in the middle by Anna Mickelson Cummins. There is little left to say about these two brilliant champions who have been international rowing stars since they graduated from the University. There was something very fitting in the fact that they won gold in a UW shell named The Hunter donated by long-time Husky supporters Dottie Simpson and her family.

Anna, who recently married elite level oarsman Bob Cummins, claims that her international competitive rowing will probably end with this gold medal performance. She and husband Bob, a chiropractor, are opening a chiropractic office in Bellevue. That's Doctor Cummins for those of you in need.

Anna had these words for her Husky fans: "I can hardly believe what great blessings have been bestowed upon me from rowing. Starting and finishing my career with Mary Whipple, and racing in The Hunter is a beautiful story. Our Olympic final was perfect ... one of those races that just feels great, where the last 500 meters were fun instead of a fight for my life. I am thrilled with the gold in the eight and to have represented the US in the pair."

Mary Whipple told us: "I can't say that I'm done racing ... but grad school (Sports Administration at the University of Washington) may be in the future. She added: "Anna and I started our career together in The Hunter and we ended it racing together in The Hunter and that is special to us. As for the race, it was truly a Gold medal performance. We nailed it." Indeed they did.

Huge congratulations, also, to Brian Volpenhein who won bronze in the U.S. men's eight as a follow-up to the gold he won four years ago in Athens, and to Dave Calder who won silver in the Canadian men's pairs.

Coming off a World Cup gold, the Scott Gault stroked men's quad was a favorite to medal. But three of the four athletes caught a Beijing bug and two rowed the finals with temperatures over 100 degrees. It is a testament to their grit that they finished fifth. Scott is back in Piedmont hard at work in the insurance industry. He said: "It was an incredible experience in Beijing. Although it turned out not to be our week, we were all proud and thrilled to be there." Look for Scotty in future international sculling competition.

Placing fifth in the women's finals and rowing wonderfully well was Megan Kalmoe in the double sculls. Portia McGee paired with Anna Cummins and they looked strong finishing first in the Final B, and Brett Newlin and Giuseppe Lanzone raced together in the men's fours, placing third in the Final B.

Our favorite UW Computer Engineering grad, Brett Newlin, wrote to say: "All decisions (on career and rowing) will start solidifying around November," but look for another four year cycle from him. "I feel like I'm just hitting my stride and I don't want to go out on a 9^th place, even though it's the proudest 9^th place I've ever achieved. Experiencing the excitement and energy of the Olympics from an athlete's standpoint was simply incredible, and I was proud to share it with a large contingent of Huskies. Go Dawgs!"

Our favorite South African, Rika Geyser, placed first in the single sculls Final C.

On a sad note, a van carrying former Husky captain Ante Kusurin and his Croatian teammates to the rowing course was hit by a bus. Three Chinese athletes were critically injured and a Croatian coach was treated at the hospital. The press reported that Ante and his double sculls teammate had no injuries but we know that Ante suffered a severe blow to the head in the accident and one of his teammates was banged up. Doctors kept the boat off the water for the finals. Ante reports that he will return to Oxford to continue his studies, will train and row with the Oxford team once again, and he added: "It is such a privilege and pleasure to be a member of the Husky family. If not for the UW, I would not be where I am today."

Things have a habit of coming full circle. While at Washington, Ante was a Carl and Louise Lovsted Endowed Scholarship recipient and he remains a good friend of our well-known and well-loved 1952 Olympian and his family.

Huskies at Beijing Olympics


Anna Cummins


Dave Calder

 

Husky Scholars

Winning races consistently will always be the hallmark of our program, but the coaching staff knows they have other responsibilities of equal weight. First among them is academics and we are delighted to announce that your Husky men's crew won the academic gold medal this spring.

On July 7, the Athletic Department announced that the men's rowing team had the highest grade point average among all UW men's teams for spring quarter 2008. It's a heck of an achievement but doubly impressive when two factors are considered. First, the men accomplished it during the spring racing season and, second, our team has a greater number of athletes than most other sports making it a more difficult goal to achieve.

Congratulations to our student-athletes and to their coaches for keeping their focus on the things that count. Keep it up!

The Annual Appeal

When you opened this newsletter, you knew you would be asked for a donation. Well it's that season again and we have no apologies to make. The program needs your support. Now more than ever.

The good news is that financial uncertainty no longer dogs our Huskies. Thanks to your generosity and your passion, the Huskies are at the top of their game. Because of you, we can now examine the future with confidence. Because of you, your Washington Rowing Stewards board can report that our effort to put the program on a solid financial foundation is working.

Four years ago we looked at our prime competitors and discovered that each was blessed with huge endowments, programs underwritten by alumni, or both. We were in a losing race unless we could win your trust and support. So we made an emotional, fact-based appeal for contributions and you came through like the national champions you helped finance.

Your annual gifts shot up to $86,000, then to $161,000 and last spring to $172,000. Virtually all of that money has gone into scholarship endowments or current scholarship costs. But we are a long way from where we need to be to ensure that Husky Crew remains the strong, financially healthy program you want and expect.

Consistency was our objective and it remains so. The program wants to be in a position to win it all every year – year in and year out – and your financial support has been a central to Bob and Michael getting us there. In the last two years at the IRA, their teams have won the James Ten Eyck trophy twice by winning six national championship races, two seconds and one third. And in a single year, Bob returned the women's program to the elite level.

Four years ago we promised you a return on your investment and our athletes and their great coaching staff delivered. First, they recruited great athletes from the Pacific Northwest. Walk-ons are the foundation of Husky Crew and they race in every racing boat. But now the coaches are able to recruit against the wealthy schools for those few franchise players we need every year to win consistently. And they are winning both on the water and in the classroom.

But we are not out of the financial woods just yet. We are still $4 million short of our goals. The difference between now and four years ago is that we know you are interested, that you are passionate about a successful program, and that you will help to see it through.

Read on to learn about the program's sources and uses of funds.

IRA V8 2008

 

Pulling Your Weight

Financing a winning rowing program isn't rocket science, friends, it's a matter of breaking down the requirements into basic components and identifying funding sources for those in need.

Scholarships are one component and we've said enough about that in the preceding article.

Salaries, benefits and operating expenses are a second component. These costs are born by the Athletic Department in a manner that makes the program competitive with most of the programs around the country. Our coaches win with a smaller staff and budget than those at other elite schools, but they win.

Travel is a third component. The Athletic Department presently funds travel for the Pac-10 schedule, the Pac-10 Championships, and, when the teams qualify, for the National Championship Regattas. Other travel is a challenge. For example, as an elite level program, annual trips to the Head of the Charles are a "must" as are periodic trips to Henley. We will have more to say on this in future issues.

Equipment is a fourth component. The Athletic Department pays for all of the equipment used by the program except for racing shells. Most of them are donated by friends of the program. Think of the Chuck Holtz, winner of 18 straight races which surely must be a UW record. It was donated by Jon Runstad. Think of The Hunter, certainly one of the best and most under-reported stories from the Beijing Olympics. The Hunter was donated by Dottie Simpson and her family, and it carried Anna Cummins and Mary Whipple and seven other Americans to an Olympic Gold medal. And think of the eights donated by the McCurdy family, the LaFramboise Foundation, Martin Nelson and the Fisher family. Or think of the fours donated by Ed McRory, the Robbins family, and the group of '92 grads, Trevor Vernon, Matt Minas, Bruce Patterson, Ray Kimbrough, Paul Yount, Dylan Jackson, Andrew Stevens, and Colin Sykes. Without them all, there would be no racing.

If those four components are our financial corner posts, it is clear that two are strong and two must be strengthened in order to carry the full load for the next 100 years. The Stewards' over-arching mission is to build a financial house that keeps the Huskies on top, one that invites pride and participation from all of you, and one that will extend the tradition through the next 100 years. To that end, we will continue expanding our fan base aggressively through the Class Stewards program. We will look for better ways to communicate with you. We will look for improved ways for us all to get together. And we will continue to seek your contributions and advice. Together, we will make permanent our claim to be the best college rowing program in the world. Join us today with a gift for the program.

Yes, we ask a lot of you. But we think you care. And we think you like what has happened because of your involvement. That's why we say, without apology, we want you to be more than a donor; we want you to put the Husky rowing program at the top of your charitable contributions.

You can go to https://secure.gifts.washington.edu/uw_foundation/gift.asp?source_typ=5&source=CREW and make your donation online or you may send in the short form in this newsletter with a check or credit card payment instructions. However you choose to donate, please do it now. Remember, every donation - from five dollars to five hundred thousand dollars - counts, and all donations earn Tyee Points.

For the first time, too, all donations will be acknowledged in the newsletter next spring. Please note the levels of giving and stretch as much as you can to reach a level higher than you might have otherwise. If you want to make your donation anonymously, just check the box on the form.

If you have thoughts or suggestions, please contact us through our website at mail@huskycrew.org. Or you can simply pick up the telephone and call John Wilcox on 206 443-3344.

UW Great Wall


Click here to download a donation form!
 

Husky Stadium

Stay with us here, friends, this is important.

Our stepped up Annual Appeal makes it easy to overlook how much financial support our Athletic Department pours into the rowing program each year. But that would be a mistake. Washington is one of only 17 NCAA schools that have self-sustaining athletic departments which means that our seven figure budget is underwritten by football and basketball revenue, by donations from Tyee Club members, and by fans who buy tickets and make gifts to the department. None of our funds come from student fees, none from the State legislature, and none from taxes or other state appropriations.

A safe, attractive Husky Stadium, obviously, is fundamental to our own success but the nearly 90 year-old icon is crumbling and renovations are needed for spectator safety, ADA compliance, seismic integrity, and to meet current codes. Even with continuing maintenance, deteriorating conditions will lead to declining revenues, and declining revenues will put the burden of the rowing budget directly on our back.

In the months to come, chatter, noise and news reports about the stadium renovation needs will increase. We aren't asking you to jump on the bandwagon but we are asking you to know the facts thoroughly in order to make an informed decision on your own position. We encourage you to visit www.tellthehusky.com for information and unbiased answers. And once you know the truth about the renovation needs, let your state representative and senator know where you stand. If the new website doesn't deliver the answers you need, contact us at mail@huskycrew.org with your questions. We will get back to you quickly.

Russian Redux

The Huskies traveled to Russia again last month. On September 6, a mixed crew of Huskies and recent alumni defended last year's victory and honored the 50^th anniversary of the 1958 Husky victory in Moscow over that year's Grand Challenge Cup victor, Leningrad Trud Club.

Rowing the outside lane on a curved river course, the Huskies rowed a long race and placed third behind the winner, Pavia University (Italy), and Moscow State University (Russia). Great Britian (Cambridge University) and France completed the field.

The 1958 stroke, John Sayre, and the 1958 Captain, Chuck Alm, traveled with the squad and were reunited with Yaroslav Chiorstvy, the Trud five man they raced at Henley and Moscow fifty years ago. The Russians hosted a great ceremony after the race with commemorative medals to mark the 50^th anniversary.

Moscow 2008 Team


Moscow 2008 Alm at Stroke

 

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