The first time Justin Jones saw rowing, he had no idea what he was looking at.
The Bellmawr, N.J., native was taking a summer course at Bishop Eustace Preparatory School where he planned to go to high school. He said he had just finished middle school and was just trying to "get a leg up" on the schoolwork for the coming year. His plan was to attend the private Pennsauken, N.J., school that is nestled on a campus across from the Cooper River and join the track team.
But as he and his mother were driving home from the school one late spring afternoon, they noticed the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championships taking place on the Cooper and saw all these "big, athletic rowers walking around." Jones said he and his mother stopped and watched some of the racing and Jones said he thought it was "the coolest thing I had ever seen. My finding rowing was a complete coincidence."
Jones immediately signed up for a learn to row program Bishop Eustace was holding and then signed up to row for the school's crew team. That was nearly eight years ago. Today, Jones is a standout senior rower at Northeastern University and was voted the 2013 Fan's Choice Collegiate Athlete of the year.
Jones' accomplishments in rowing include competing on five state championship high school crews in New Jersey, a spot on the junior national team in 2010, where he won a gold medal at the junior world championship, and a place in the four on the 2012 U.S. under 23 team. This June, he helped lead Northeastern University to a fourth-place IRA finish and then competed in the final of the Ladies' Challenge Plate at the 2013 Henley Royal Regatta, the first Henley final in 40 years for a Northeastern crew.
He will be honored next week at the third annual Golden Oars Awards Dinner on Wednesday, November 20, at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.
"Winning the Fan's Choice Collegiate Athlete of the Year Award is extremely exciting and humbling to me," said Jones. "I feel honored to have been nominated in the company of such great athletes and was thrilled by the huge amount of support I was fortunate enough to receive.
"I am so thankful to all of the great people in my life who enable me to train, work and study at a high level, including my wonderful parents, the excellent Northeastern coaching staff and athletic department and my supportive teammates. The sport of rowing has given me so much, and I am extremely grateful to have won this award."
During his senior year in high school, Jones was recruited by Northeastern to row and immediately started to help the program grow. "Coming from junior rowing in general, it was a big step," Jones said. He said his first year in the program was the start of a rebuilding effort for the Huskies.
"We had a great group of guys my freshman year and we ended up getting a bronze medal at the Eastern Sprints in the eight. But we were not able to race at IRAs that year because our varsity had not qualified, so that was a bittersweet sprints for us."
The second year, the crew took another step and qualified for the IRAs, but finished 13th.
"Then our junior year was a big step in the right direction," said Jones. "We had finally moved two solid freshman classes through and we were able to build a better culture and a stronger boat, man to man, down the line."
They won a bronze medal at Eastern Sprints, finished fourth at IRA and then raced at Henley.
"We had a pretty incredible race there against (Great Britain's second eight). That race was probably one of the most special races in my rowing career."
And now Jones, and Northeastern, is looking forward to improving on that in the 2014 spring season in Jones' s final collegiate year.
"It's been a privilege to coach Justin and we have been very fortunate to have him with us for the past three and a half years," said Northeastern head coach John Pojednic. "Justin is the type of young man who takes complete responsibility for himself and the environment he is in.
"His actions suggest that he believes being successful is an identity rather than an ambition you apply to select activities. He also demonstrates an unusually keen awareness for the connection between what we do on the water and what we hope our oarsmen will do in their day-to-day lives. Beyond that, he's one of the nicest guys I've ever coached and I'm really looking forward to working with him during his senior year," he said.
"As for the award, it's no surprise to me that Justin is a fan favorite. In so many ways, he's just the type of athlete that people love to root for."