USRowing takes great pride in the tradition of recognizing excellence in our sport though our annual awards. The association is pleased to announce the 2014 annual award winners who will be recognized this fall at either the Golden Oars Awards Dinner in New York City on November 20, or at the USRowing Annual Convention in Jacksonville, Fla. on December 5.
USRowing honors the following individuals for their outstanding service to the sport of rowing in 2014:
Golden Oars Awards Dinner
• USRowing Medal - Tony Johnson
• Male Athlete of the Year - Grant James
• Female Athlete of the Year - Megan Kalmoe
• Jack Franklin Service Award - Bob Appleyard
• Jack Kelly Award - Todd Jesdale
• Anita De Frantz Award - Oakland Strokes
• Isabel Bohn Award - Judy Morrison
USRowing Annual Convention
• John J. Carlin Service Award - Ted Kakas
• Clayton Chapman Award - Bob Whitford
• Man of the Year - H. F. "Gerry" Lenfest
• Ernestine Bayer Award (formerly the Woman of the Year) - Joan (Lind) Van Blom
• Joan Zandbergen "Mama Z" Award - John McKenna
• Julian Wolf Award - Jean Reilly
In addition, the 2014 Fan’s Choice Awards and USRowing Club of the Year will be announced in the coming weeks. Nominations are still being accepted for both. Visit USRowing.org for more information.
Given in recognition to a member of the rowing community in the United States who has rendered conspicuous service to, or accomplished extraordinary feats in rowing, the USRowing Medal is the highest honor USRowing can bestow. This year’s USRowing Medal recipient is Tony Johnson.
A two-time Olympian, Philip Anthony "Tony" Johnson, was born in Washington, D.C., and began his rowing career under the legendary Charlie Butt at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Va. He rowed at Syracuse University and the Potomac Boat Club. In the 1964 Olympic Games, he finished 10th in the pair. He also earned gold medals at the 1967 and 1969 European championships. In 1968, he won silver in the pair at the Olympic Games in Mexico City.
Johnson served as an assistant U.S. Olympic rowing coach in 1972 and has coached and directed the rowing program at Georgetown University since 1989. He first coached Georgetown crew from 1967 to 1969 before coaching at Yale University for 20 years.
The athletes and coaches of the 2014 World Rowing Championships squad selected this year's USRowing Male and Female Athletes of the Year. Grant James and Megan Kalmoe will be honored in New York City for their achievements.
James is a six-time national team athlete and has been on the senior national team since 2011. A London Olympian in the eight, James won a bronze medal in the four at the 2013 World Rowing Championships and a silver medal in the event at the 2014 World Championships.
The DeKalb, Ill., native began rowing at the University of Wisconsin in 2005, where he won in the varsity eight at the 2008 Eastern Sprints and IRA Championships. He graduated from Wisconsin with a degree in mechanical engineering and hopes to compete in the 2016 Olympics.
Megan Kalmoe is a two-time Olympian and has been on the senior national team since 2008. She finished fifth in the women’s double sculls at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, won silver in the quadruple sculls at the 2011 World Rowing Championships and bronze in the quad at the 2012 Olympics.
This summer, the St. Croix Falls, Wis., native won a silver medal in the pair at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Kalmoe rowed at the University of Washington, where she graduated with degrees in Latin and English. Kalmoe hopes to compete at the 2016 Olympics.
Selected by USRowing’s referee committee, the Jack Franklin Award recognizes a member of the referee community for his or her lifetime of contributions to the sport. This year’s recipient is Bob Appleyard.
Appleyard began his officiating career in 1980 as a member of the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen. During his 33-year career, he has officiated numerous scholastic, junior, club, masters, elite, intercollegiate, national and international championships.
In 1993, Appleyard was awarded the Julian Wolf Award as the official who stood apart from the rest in his/her contributions to rowing. He has been the USRowing Referee Committee Regional Representative for the Northwest and Northeast regions, an at-large representative and a member of the USRowing Referee Committee. From 2002 through 2006, Appleyard was the chair of the USRowing Referee Committee. He was the 2013 recipient of the George L. Shiebler award, which is presented annually to an ECAC official.
The 2014 Jack Kelly Award winner is Todd Jesdale. The criteria of "superior achievements in rowing, service to amateur athletics, and success in their chosen profession, thereby serving as an inspiration to American rowers," describes Jesdale’s commitment to the sport of rowing.
In 1964, while a young Cornell rowing coach, Jesdale incorporated his own version of interval training techniques and saw immediate impact. That year, Jesdale’s Cornell lightweight varsity eight won the Eastern Sprints by the largest margin ever before seen in a varsity event – a record that still holds.
During his career, Jesdale has coached at the collegiate and junior levels where his crews won numerous titles at the Eastern Sprints, IRA Championships, Henley Royal Regatta, New England Championships and the world junior championships.
Introduced in 2011, the Anita DeFrantz Award for Advancing Diversity in Rowing is given annually to honor leaders in diversity and inclusion and is named in honor of Anita DeFrantz, a 1976 Olympic bronze medalist and a leader and advocate for women’s inclusion in sport. Oakland Strokes is this year’s recipient of the Anita DeFrantz Award.
Established in 1974, the Oakland Strokes rowing club began an outreach program that services middle school and high school students. To date, 400 students have gone through program and 25 of the athletes have moved from the outreach program into the novice program.
Recently, Oakland Strokes added a middle school erg program where they take trailers loaded with up to 20 ergs to the middle schools in the Oakland school district. Oakland Strokes also recently partnered with Mills College to teach water safety.
Also introduced in 2011, the Isabel Bohn Award for Achievement in Adaptive Rowing is given to a member of the rowing community in the United States who has demonstrated achievement in adaptive rowing. Judy Morrison is this year’s recipient.
Morrison is the FISA Chief International Classifier for adaptive athletes and oversees all of the International and National Medical and Technical Classifiers worldwide. Judy is a physical therapist and lives in Philadelphia. She started as a volunteer at Philadelphia Adaptive Sports, where she assisted athletes with rowing and skiing in the wintertime.
She became involved with the Bayada Regatta and then was nominated to the volunteer position she now serves with FISA. She was a major contributor in the development and writing of the existing FISA classification system for adaptive rowing.
The John J. Carlin Service Award, awarded this year to Ted Kakas, honors an individual who has made significant and outstanding commitments in support of rowing.
Kakas has been actively involved in rowing since attending prep school at Tabor Academy in the late 1950s. He rowed for the U.S. National Team and Syracuse University. He has been a member of the USRowing Masters Committee and served as the committee chairman for several years. He was instrumental in effecting a number of changes, which have become standard for rowers all over the country.
Among his numerous achievements, Kakas helped organize and launch National Learn to Row Day, helped institute the AA masters category – bringing 21 to 26 year olds into masters competition, lobbied to have the Head of the Charles Regatta expand the masters categories to the 50 plus average boat and 60 plus average boats, and lobbied for static refereeing at masters nationals.
The Clayton W. Chapman Award is presented annually to an individual who best emulates Chapman’s 30-year stewardship of the Eastern Sprints and IRA Championship Regattas. The awardee is an individual who has consistently served in behind-the-scene administrative roles that have previously gone unrecognized. The recipient may be an athlete, coach, referee, administrator, volunteer, regatta organizer, sponsor, vendor or any other individual involved in the staging of a regatta. Bob Whitford is this year’s Clayton Chapman award winner.
Now the park manager for Nathan Benderson Park and World Class Rowing in Sarasota, Fla., Whitford, served as the Director of Rowing and Facilities Manager at the SAC Aquatic Center for the Associated Students of California State University, Sacramento for 23 years. He is a native of Newport Beach, Calif., attended Orange Coast College, University of California at Berkeley and graduated from the University of California at Irvine. He began rowing as a coxswain in the fifth grade and in high school he founded Newport School Boys Rowing.
He has coached at the collegiate level and was a U.S. National Team sculling coach in 1986 and 1987. He served two terms on the USRowing Board of Directors and is currently a chief referee and coaching education clinician.
The 2014 Man of the Year Award recognizes outstanding contributions to men’s rowing and/or to an outstanding man in rowing. This year’s recipient is H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest.
Lenfest, owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, is the Temple University Trustee who donated $3 million dollars towards the renovation of the East Park Canoe House, effectively saving Temple University Crew, which had been cut from the University’s budget. The City of Philadelphia also committed $2.5 million to the project.
Lenfest currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the digital media corporation, TelVue Corporation.
The Ernestine Bayer Award, formerly Woman of the Year, recognizes outstanding contributions to women’s rowing and/or to an outstanding woman in rowing. Olympian Joan (Lind) Van Blom is this year’s recipient of the award.
Van Blom was the first woman to win an Olympic medal for the United States in rowing, taking silver in the single sculls at the 1976 Olympic Games and in the quadruple sculls at the 1984 Olympics. She has not only medaled as a rower, but also medaled internationally as a coach in the Pan American Games, and currently holds 11 world records on the ergometer.
She has been an ambassador for the sport, raising over a million dollars in grants to bring rowing to high school students and teachers. She currently teaches rowing classes on the ergometer to non-rowers at the Long Beach Boathouse and inspirationally continues to train and compete.
The 2014 recipient of the Joan Zanderbergen “Mama Z” Award is John McKenna. Selected by USRowing’s referee committee, the award recognizes one USRowing official who, over a period of three to 10 years, has stood apart from the rest of his or her peers.
McKenna is an active USRowing referee and officiates at all levels. He has been a referee at USRowing’s national championships, including youth and club nationals, USRowing under 23 and senior world championships trials, and speed orders. On the collegiate level, McKenna has officiated at several major events, including Eastern Sprints, and the Big East, Patriot League and Ivy League championships. And at the junior level, McKenna has refereed at many high school championships including the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, Scholastic Nationals and the Philadelphia City Championships, among others.
In addition to his duties as a referee, McKenna coaches the Kearny High School, N.J., boy’s team. "John is a great choice for this award,” said John Wik, USRowing Director of Referee Programs. “His focus is always on the competitors and their safety. He fully understands the Rules of Rowing and interprets and applies them fairly. He represents the qualities we look for in a referee.”
USRowing is pleased to recognize Jean Reilly as this year’s recipient of the Julian Wolf Award. Chosen by the five past Julian Wolf winners, the award honors one rowing official in the United States that stood apart in making contributions to the sport in the past year. Selection is based upon outstanding performance, dedication, heroic acts and/or outstanding contributions to officiating.
Reilly has made significant contributions to the USRowing referee corps. She is a clinician and was an instructor at two of the three referee colleges held in 2014. She is recognized as a constant resource for her fellow referees, as well as an active recruiter. Reilly has led the implementation of a referee exchange program, which brings FISA official to U.S. regattas, as well as provides opportunities for officials to work in other countries.
Besides working as a referee at several regattas, she was Chief Referee at the 2014 NCAA Championships and was selected by FISA to work on the jury of the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Click here to view a list of past award winners.
Comments | Log in to comment |
There are no Comments yet
|