Roger Schonewald, '51
"Hard to imagine getting through MIT without crew… I think I took crew for granted when at MIT and didn't fully appreciate it until years later…. A few years later a rowing club was formed here at Lake Carnegie in Princeton. As a result of my MIT crew experience and reunion refresher, I joined and have had a wonderful time ever since. Here I am an old geezer and happily still pulling an oar in an eight."

Herb Voelcker, '51
"There are a few sports that are unusually appealing to MIT-genre engineering and science students, and in which they can compete effectively at the highest national and international levels. Crew is one."

Howard S. Stern, '53
"Although I was in only one winning boat, the over-all traits of teamwork and perseverance were strong ones that I learned while rowing. I had never rowed prior to my freshman year at MIT. I never dreamt that I would actually walk over a mile to a boathouse at 6am on cold Fall and Spring mornings to get blisters on my hands -- but I did and loved it."

Jerome D. Waye, M.D., '54
"Winning and sports were not a part of my life experience before I went to MIT. During freshman orientation week I was encouraged to try out for the crew team, a sport that in 1950, when I entered MIT, was a topic of great pride, since the heavyweight crew had won the Eastern Sprints Championship that year… Coming from the best science school in the world, we competed on par against the best crews in the world... What a wonderful feeling it was to be from the best school, and compete at that level…"

Frank H. Scammell, '55
"Many of MIT's teams present the opportunity to excel individually, even if the team is mediocre. To the best of my recollection, crew is about the only sport at MIT to consistently demonstrate team excellence."

Thomas E. Blood, '58
"For me, MIT was a tough grind, but I made it. Like many others, I was encouraged to try out for crew in my freshman year. It sounded like a promising balance to the rigorous academic challenge. I signed up and learned to row… During my sophomore year I watched the varsity lightweight crew win consistently in the intercollegiate competition against the best universities in North America. They were subsequently invited to the Henley Regatta in England where they were undefeated against the best in the world… the crew had proved that the MIT nerds could also be world champion athletes. The next year the lightweight crew again did well. They were invited back to Henley to defend their title to the Thames Challenge Cup. At the end of the inter-collegiate season Coach Jack Frailey made yet one more change in the team in his never ending search for that combination that could shave a few seconds off the clock. I was shifted into varsity boat. During my three years of rowing I had never been in a boat that won a race - and now I was on my way to England to help defend MIT's name on the Cup. We won every race… While the Institute's academic training formed a solid base for my professional career, crew built the confidence to compete and win…"

Fred Kinch, '60
"We did not have a championship caliber crew by any stretch, yet we did manage to compete aggressively. Crew was one of the most positive experiences of my time at MIT… I learned almost as much through that program as I did in the classroom: discipline, dedication, teamwork, and the value of working toward high goals-- lessons that have had a lasting effect on my life."

Richard J. Millman, '62
"I credit the MIT educational system with my early success as an engineer. I credit the MIT rowing program with building the inner strengths and confidence essential for career success."

Chet Riley, '62
"I came to MIT in 1958 knowing nothing about rowing… the self-discipline of the sport and the opportunity to excel became the basis for my life philosophy. I don't believe I can over-emphasize the value of the rowing experience at MIT and its contribution to my life."

John H. Wasserlein, '63
"When I arrived at MIT I was behind academically, socially and athletically… Rowing was key to my advancement in every area… Once I tried it I became a fanatical enthusiast… In the Compton Cup race we beat Princeton by open water, and beat Harvard by a length and a half! Dartmouth was over three lengths behind … In this race we also, as I understand it, set the MIT record for the 1 3/4-mile course. Mind you, this was a junior varsity boat with the MIT course record! … What does one learn from this? Surely perseverance and teamwork were important, but it is far more important to imagine the confidence gained by somebody with my lack of prior experience and talent, to be able to beat and be competitive with some of the world's finest crews. In my life not everything has gone well, and I have had my share of disasters, but thanks to MIT crew one of the things I have learned is the way to control stress while living through such disasters. Perhaps, the greatest lesson for me is that in spite of the pain and discomfort, when there's 40 more, I've always been able to dig down and find something within myself to continue."

Jack Lynch, '63
"Excellence in calculus may be a necessary condition but it's not a sufficient condition for being a leader in technology… I thank God that I had crew, which gave me a sense of self, a sense of belonging, a sense of my body and a sense of courage."

Chuck Hurd, '65
"Crew was quite important to me at MIT -- even though I wasn't all that good at it, and didn't participate after my freshman year. Crew was special. Nobody else had ever done it before either. We were all starting out from ground zero…"

Brian Schumacher, '66
"There were a few moments at Ithaca that I and others in the boat will never forget. Returning to the boathouse (after winning the race, of course) we hit a patch of glassy water and as one organism propelled that eight with such an exhilaration and synchronized entry and exits that we probably never went faster, before or during a race."

Roger Buxton, '67
"Rowing provided all the attributes that one could wish for: non-violent sportsmanship, camaraderie independent of academic skills or social background and characteristics, teamwork, intense personal challenge, and competition… Everybody should have that opportunity, to be the best, even if you didn't always achieve it: nobody does all the time, but it's the trying that shapes us."

Dan Gruber, '68
"Several hours a day of brute physical exertion and Zen-like repetition were about the only way I could stop thinking about partial differential equations, psi functions and eigenvalues, and the problem of other minds. Crew was a much-needed respite… but the benefits of discipline and self-reflection really do last a lifetime."

Frank M. Guillot, '69
"I got into sports late but that didn't matter in crew. I had my best academic terms during the spring racing season - had to manage my time, stay focused."

Chris Ryan, '69
"Rowing helped me get through, I am sure."

Tim Heatwole, '70
"MIT students are competitive; that's an important part of their personalities, both for them and for the school."

Zane Swanson, '71
"I really cannot tell you all of the things that crew has positively influenced in my life because there are so many and they happen every day."

Vance Smith, '72
"What I learned competing as an oarsman has helped me far more than what I learned at the Sloan School, Goldman Sachs, and the Harvard School of Public Health…"

Wallace "Mike" Scott, '73
"Four years of MIT Crew was the main reason I survived MIT and was the most valuable aspect of my overall education. I still use my analytical skills honed in achieving my Mechanical Engineering degree, but it was the teamwork, leadership, and perseverance skills that have proven most valuable in the 25+ years since leaving MIT."

Andy Elliott, '74
"Crew completely changed my life. Before coming to MIT (at age 16) in 1970, I was a classic nerd and my exercise regime consisted of turning pages in books. I began rowing as a lightweight freshman… Over the next months and years I went from being a blivet to a serious athlete, and have kept up this athleticism for the rest of my life."

Roseanna Means, M.D., '76
"You don't realize while you are at MIT running the stairs of the Green Building or the steps of Harvard stadium or pulling into your gut and pushing thoughts of defeat out of your head in the final ten strokes that it all adds up to something big later on in life: and that is, that you have discovered inside yourself a measure of discipline and self-expectation that you never knew you were capable of experiencing. It puts you into a different class from your peers, and that is glorious."

Tom Crawford, '77
"I was worried about my grades and instead chose intramural sports for my freshman and sophomore years. It was not until I rowed in the intramural class day event the fall of my Junior year did I realize how much fun it was… I went out for the team a week later and made the JV team that year. I was surprised when I found my grades improved once I started working out ~1 1/2 hours per day in crew. The physical exercise and focus on crew helped my mental work on my education! The added time involvement also forced me to improve my own time management, a skill essential for everyone in today's world."

Phil Kesten, '78
"It is not an exaggeration when I say that I still get goose bumps when I recall the sounds and the feeling of being in an eight swinging together… I simply can't imagine my life without rowing… Rowing forced me to confront the kind of limitations my mind could impose on my body, and to learn that I could overcome them. I found that very satisfying, and also appealing on an intellectual level. Even though I had been athletic in high school, rowing challenged me in much more fundamental way, and I was amazed at what I learned about myself. To this day I carry those lessons with me, and rely on them… Above my desk is a picture of Pete Holland and the '75 men's JV heavies after they won at the IRA's. Around my office are framed photos of some of my own crews, Head of the Charles, San Diego Crew Classic, those kinds of pictures…"

Ed Maxwell, '82
"It is a little hard to quantify what crew meant to me at MIT. In many ways, it literally changed my life. In high school, I was not at all athletic. No other sport would have given me the chance to get started from scratch like I did in crew. Everybody at MIT is smart and good at math (my chief claim to fame up until MIT), but not everyone rows. Crew gave me that thing that made me feel exceptional. It has become a lifelong love. I graduated in 1982 and in the spring of 1983 I started coaching. I have been a crew coach at various levels every year since them. I know that at any other school I would never have been able to accomplish what I did at MIT. It was also a source of tremendous pride to know that while the MIT football team had beaten Stony Brook, I had been out there testing myself against Harvard and Princeton."

Steven Eppinger, '83
"The mental and physical health benefits of regular exercise are critical to success at MIT at all levels--undergraduate, graduate, staff, and faculty."

Ahsan and Linda Iqbal, '84
"As a freshman from Pakistan, rowing quickly became my second family and I found the competition, camaraderie and discipline one of the most wonderful things at MIT… Rowing at MIT gave me a metaphor on handling life. How to be focused and give everything I had. About loyalty and friendship… In 1983 we finally swept the Harvard-MIT-Dartmouth race… We were fast and proud of it. We might have been nerds, but damn fast nerds!"

Adam Schwartz, '88
"I still use the mental skill I developed at MIT with the drive and perseverance I developed from crew for my work and my play. Crew taught me how to pursue a goal relentlessly."

Richard M. Franklin, '89
"Well, I could certainly wax poetic on numerous aspects of what crew did for my organization, discipline, confidence, strength, and positive outlook on life… I have not picked up an oar, I am sad to say, since I left Boston to pursue my adult life. Nonetheless, I know that the most valuable lessons I learned at MIT were out on the water, not in any classroom."

Philip J. Brown, '91
"Crew was the balance that kept me level."

Melissa Jenkins, '91
"Rowing is one of the very few sports which individuals can BEGIN at the university level and still be world class … There are no other sports I know of that an athlete can begin in his/her freshman year of college and win a national varsity championship… I have attended several of the Worlds watching former teammates, and recently watched my bow-man compete in the Olympics-- and he didn't start rowing until half way through MIT!"

Godard Abel, '93
"Since graduating from MIT, I have worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company, graduated from Stanford Business School, participated in a successful IPO, and I have now founded my own Silicon Valley company… My rowing experience at MIT gave me the drive and motivation and leadership experience that has provided the basis for a very successful professional career."

Rahul Pathak, '97
"What I learned in the boathouse and on the water is that the limits that we place on ourselves are artificially imposed. With the right teaching, training and teamwork, we blow our limits out of the water. This lesson is one that I use every day-- it helped me graduate from MIT a year early, succeed in my first job and most recently, start my own company."

These comments from alumni are excerpts selected from testimonials collected by Friends of MIT Crew. Tremendous thanks to Jack Frailey '44 for driving this effort!

If you feel inspired to contribute your own thoughts, feel free to email to Jack at jhfrailey@alum.mit.edu.