A Weekend to Celebrate the History of Rowing

February 15, 2012

When the late W. Hart Perry drove the effort to establish a rowing history exhibit in the Rowing Hall of Fame Room in the Mystic Seaport Museum, he hoped it would become a place where people who love the sport would gather to honor their traditions and accomplishments.

It has been that and more, and this coming March 9-10, the Rowing Hall of Fame at the Mystic Seaport Museum, in Mystic, Conn., will be the site of the Sixth Rowing History Forum.

“Our goal was to have the whole place physically set up to host the forum at the museum in 2008, which we did,” said Bill Miller, one of the original museum curators who worked with Perry and Thomas Weil to form the Friends of Rowing History. “We had it all finally in place the week before the event and Hart was there to see that. This is a continuation of what he started and he would be delighted.”

The bi-annual event is organized and sponsored by the Friends of Rowing History, the National Rowing Foundation (NRF) and the Mystic Seaport Museum. It will feature three events beginning with a cocktail reception and silent auction held in Perry’s memory. The proceeds will be used for Rowing History and the National Rowing Hall of Fame and exhibits.

Perry, the former executive director of the National Rowing Foundation, died last year. He was 78 and considered a pioneer in the sport of rowing and according to Miller, while he won’t be present, he participated in the planning of the event right up until his death.

Miller said that the Friends of Rowing History began as an informal group of Miller, Perry, Weil and “five or six other people who had a common interest in rowing history. We started in 1992 and we would meet on a regular basis,” he said.

“Out of those meetings, Hart, myself, and Tom Weil basically discussed having a larger forum because we wanted to know how many other people would be interested. So we advertised that we were going to have this forum and we had 50 or 60 people respond the first year and that has grown now to 80 or 90.

“To our delight, we found out that there were quite a few people interested in rowing history and it’s been a fun event.”

Miller said the event was at first an annual meeting, but then became a bi-annual celebration tied into the Hall of Fame Induction dinner and ceremony.

The Friday evening cocktail reception will be followed on Saturday by the daylong forum on the history of rowing that will feature presentations from several distinguished rowers and historians including Peter Raymond, Weil, Jim Dietz, Peter Mallory and Christopher Dodd.

The forum will run from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Then on Saturday evening, the NRF will host its annual National Hall of Fame Induction Banquet.

Registration is open and anyone interested in attending of the three events can register on the forum website at http://www.rowinghistory.net/forum.htm or by contacting Mara Ford (203) 525-6566 or Gillian Perry (860) 535- 0634, at the National Rowing Foundation; email natrowing@comcast.net.

About USRowing
USRowing is a nonprofit organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing’s official suppliers include Boathouse Sports, Vespoli, WinTech, Filippi, Croker Oars, Rudy Project, Concept2, Nielsen Kellerman, PowerHTV and Ludus Tours. USRowing also receives generous support from the National Rowing Foundation and its corporate sponsors and partners  ANXeBusiness Corp ,Voxer, EZ Dock, EMCVenues and The Perfect SNAQUE. For more information, visit www.usrowing.org. USRowing has created compelling programs to engage sponsors leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games, with proceeds going to help ensure the U.S. team’s success. Opportunities also exist to partner with America Rows – supporting diversity initiatives and adaptive programs. For more information, please contact Beth Kohl at beth@usrowing.org.

Ed Moran

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