A rose on the dashboard signified an annual tradition in the Hopkins family.
Each October, for as far back as she can remember, Maddie Hopkins loaded into the family minivan with her siblings and embarked on the three-and-a-half-hour drive from Saratoga to Boston for the Head of the Charles Regatta.
Once the family arrived at Soldiers Field Road, Hopkins' father Matt, pulling a boat trailer ahead of the minivan, would lean out his window to speak to a gentleman perched on the corner selling roses. The man would happily deliver Matt's rose to his wife Tamra, driving the minivan with all the kids behind the trailer, where it would sit on the dashboard until the next year when they replaced the rose with another from the same man, in the same city, at the same race.
"I feel like that that picture not only paints a great picture of my dad and what our family was like," said Maddie, "but that's like Head of the Charles, you know, that's what the race is about."
This year, for the second time, the Hopkins family will attend the Head of the Charles unable to replace the rose on the dashboard. In 2021, Matt was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), a rare form of brain cancer known for its fast and aggressive expansion through the brain and spinal cord. He died a year later. To honor his life and career, the nine Hopkins siblings will race in Sunday's Director's Challenge Mixed Eight in memory of their father.
"We have always kind of dreamed about being able to race together. This is the first year that the baby is old enough" said Hopkins, referring to 11-year-old James.
Matt Hopkins found rowing his freshman year at Union College in New York. "[He and a friend] were wandering around the college fair thinking, 'oh, what could be fun?'" Maddie said. "[There] was a rowing club and they were like, 'we'll give it a shot' and they were both hooked immediately."
After falling in love with the sport and rowing at Union, her father spent 20 years coaching, growing the program at Niskayuna High School outside Schenectady, before, more recently, bringing a rowing program to Augustine Classical Academy in Mechanicville, N.Y. Matt passed along his passion for rowing to his nine children, each of whom have found athletic success in and beyond the sport.
Maddie, the oldest at 27, has rowed for over 13 years, competing at the D3 level for Gordon College before becoming head coach of their program. Emma, 26, rowed for Princeton and Rutgers, and for the United States in the U-23 Worlds. Ben, 24, rowed for Cornell before following in his father's footsteps and becoming athletic director and head rowing coach at Augustine Classical. Lucy, 22, followed in Maddie's footsteps, rowing at Gordon, where she "was instrumental in helping me start the team," Maddie said.
Abi, 20, switched to field hockey at Gordon College after rowing competitively for eight years. Lily, 18, like Abi, is playing field hockey for Gordon as well as coxswaining after a decorated high school career. Asher, 16, has rowed for five years, just a few years more than his brother Thomas,13, who has picked up soccer in addition to rowing. The youngest sibling James, 11, is coxswaining this fall.
"Everybody's kind of forged their own path, but there's not a lot of mediocrity in that group," Maddie said, proudly. "Even though it's all kind of different ways that everybody's pushed for those things. Some of the family really struggles with their relationship with rowing because of how close it is to Dad and some people have gravitated towards it more because it makes them feel closer to Dad," she said, reflecting on the ways each sibling experienced their father's battle with GBM.
Growing up on the water, first watching her dad race and then as a rower under his tutelage, Hopkins had the privilege of watching her father impact the lives of many rowers, including her brothers and sisters. "My dad was the most charismatic guy, and we know this because, truly the number of people who are coming into town for Head of the Charles just to watch this boat race as a way to honor my dad is insane," she said. "He was just so excited about bringing out the best in people, that was what he loved doing. He was an educator and a coach, so it kind of made sense that that was what he did, but that was especially true with his kids."
With the encouragement of her dad, Hopkins was able to start the rowing program at Gordon College, where she is now head coach. "[The success of the program] was totally not even a crazy thing in my head, cause Dad was like, oh yeah, there's no team? Just go out and start one and then it'll be awesome and then you can run it and it'll be great."
Matt's enthusiasm for not only rowing but watching his kids take part extended through his diagnosis. Hopkins firmly believes that "he coached as long as he possibly could and probably longer than he should have." During races, Matt would bike alongside the rowers shouting and cheering as they competed. After undergoing surgery to attempt to remove the tumor, it became increasingly difficult to find his balance. Chris Kerber, the head coach at Cornell, found a way to help Matt continue his tradition: "Kerber found an adult tricycle, so any time we went up to Ithaca to watch Ben race, Dad could ride in the back of the tricycle. Kerber would bike him, or the other way around, which was really cool," Hopkins recalls, giving a laugh at the image in her mind.
She said another way her father adapted to show his support for his rowing children was the way he dressed. "[He wore] this hilarious outfit, Maddie said. "He had a Cornell hat on. He had a Gordon vest and a Princeton shirt, and he was taking off t-shirts so he could represent the right teams at the right time."
Partnered with the Glioblastoma Research Organization, Maddie, Emma, Ben, Lucy, Abi, Lily, Asher, Thomas, and James are racing to raise awareness and funding to support the organization's efforts conducting life-saving research. The Hopkins siblings will row in the last of 73 races at 4 p.m. on Sunday. A donation page can be found on their website: https://4702forgbm.com/donate/
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