Putting 150 years of anything into a few words is nearly impossible; context will have to do. Such was the mood (ranging from the nostalgic to the euphoric), the setting (Brower Commons, the cavernous Brutalist dining hall on the RU main campus in New Brunswick) and the roster of 13 speakers who all, in various modes, attempted to quantify, describe or somehow capture the meaning and legacy of 150 years of rowing “on the banks of the old Raritan” for the 500 or so alumni and friends gathered to celebrate the milestone.

Celebrating the entity “Rutgers Crew” in its current incarnation is a complex, poignant affair; the Men’s Program was reduced to “Club” status by the University following the 2006-2007 season, which resulted in a number of changes in the men’s heavyweight program, as well as the withering and eventual disappearance of the once-proud RU Lightweight Men’s rowing team (disclosure: I was a member of that team from ‘89-’92). While men’s rowing was the first sport organized at Rutgers in 1864, as of today, the RU Women are the only fully university-recognized rowing team at Rutgers University.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” goes the old saying, and in many ways, the alumni and the rowing community have drawn tighter around Rutgers; certainly the support and love shown for the team has not diminished. On that count, neither has the pride of the alumni for the program.

“As a student at Rutgers on the team I learned many life lessons about overcoming challenges, working together towards a common goal, and striving for something you believe in,” said ‘91 RU grad and three-time Olympian Jeff Klepacki. ”Our effort as alumni is to make sure others can share in that same experience for years to come.”

Will Porter ‘89, current women’s head coach at Yale and one of the main organizers of the event, got the evening of reminiscences at the State University of New Jersey off to the only proper possible start, starting the evening speeches by noting that Governor Chris Christie had planned on coming to the event, “but he got stuck in traffic.”

In Christie’s stead, NJ Lieutenant Gov. Kim Guadano (“I’m New Jersey’s first Lieutenant Governor…that makes me New Jersey’s BEST Lieutenant Governor!”) got the biggest applause of the evening when the self-described “crew mom of three” pledged to work at the State level to restoring Rutgers Crew to full Varsity status; one hopes for the best, but it’s worth noting too that 2014 is an election year.

The evenings other speakers came from across the ranks of the RU Crew alumni, and perhaps a valid measure of Rutgers Crew’s impact across the 15 decades of rowing in New Brunswick can be made simply by looking at the accomplishments of those who made their way to the podium to speak.

Jen Dore-Terhaar (‘93), two-time Olympian and wife of current US Women’s National Team coach Tom Terhaar (himself RU ‘92), spoke briefly, heartfelt and simple, about her experiences at Rutgers. Rob Friedrich, RU ‘97, current head coach of rowing at the US Naval Academy, spoke about the impact Tom Terhaar had on him as his freshman coach, and how his time at Rutgers had led him to want to become a rowing coach. Friedrich recalled that, at one time in the early 90s, Terhaar, Will Porter ‘89 (now at Yale) and Andy Teitelbaum ‘87 (head coach of the 2013 NCAA Champs at Ohio State) were all on the coaching staff at Rutgers together…talk about a loaded staff, whew.

Amidst a thick crowd of past RU Olympians, ‘52 Gold Medallist Chuck Logg and ‘76,’80 and ‘84 Olympian Fred Borchelt traced their Olympic paths back to New Brunswick. Ned Del Guercio, two-time World Champion coxswain and current Freshman Lightweight coach at Yale, drew loud applause for his recollections of the 2003 season, during which the Rutgers Varsity Eight made the Grand Final at the EARC Sprints for the first time since the 1981 season, and went on to make the Ladies Challenge Plate Final at Henley.

Late in the speakers lineup, current Harvard heavy men’s coach Charley Butt (a member of that 1981 RU silver medal Eastern Sprints crew) visibly tossed his notes for a prepared speech overboard on the way to the podium and went off the cuff; Butt riffed on the fact that when Rutgers Crew was founded in 1864, Abraham Lincoln was in the White House, and drew an arc from the current undergraduates to those rowing in Abe’s time.

Over the course of the evening, more than one speaker warmed the room with a few applause-generating memories of beating Princeton; some things matter more than others at these sorts of events, that’s for sure! Like much else in New Jersey, it’s really all about the neighborhood; Princeton lies a mere 18 miles down Route 27 (the old Lincoln Highway, appropriately enough) from Rutgers and New Brunswick, and the founding of RU Crew was precipitated by an 1864 match with Princeton.

Finally, more than a few people remarked on the sheer quantity of rowing coaches that Rutgers seems to have generated over the past decades; it’s an extraordinary legacy, and perhaps the truest lessons that came out of the experience of rowing at Rutgers are still being distilled by those men and women working as coaches in the sport. Many folks in the room paid tribute to their coaches at Rutgers, and men’s head coach Steve Wagner, now in his 31st year with the program, was honored with a plaque during the evening; Wagner is variously acknowledged as the sage, the bard, or the court jester of Rutgers Crew, but however you know him, his deep entwinement with Rutgers Crew is beyond question.

So how do you square 150 years of rowing with your own four (or, in some cases five, or six) years of experience on a university rowing team? In looking around the room, talking with friends and past teammates, and listening to the memories of some of the most accomplished men and women in the sport in the last half-century, the lessons seemed to boil down to (as they most often do) the great basics in shared sport; hard work, pushing yourself and your teammates, and above all, the great passion for putting bend on the oar, be it on the Raritan or elsewhere.

Or, to answer the question “how can rowing endure at Rutgers (or anywhere) for 150 years?,” you could say that the answer is contained in the question; the lessons of teamwork, perseverance and honest effort that are learned, and taught, in rowing are independent of time, place and geography; any place where those values can endure ought to be cherished, and in its time, celebrated.