History Archives | RowSource

Nancy Blakemore and Aldina Nash Hampe reunited after 50 years to row at USRowing Masters Nationals.

Aldina Nash Hampe: Pioneer of Women’s Rowing Reunites with 1960s 2x Partner

If you were at the 2017 USRowing Masters Nationals in Oak Ridge, TN and stuck around until 4:36pm on Sunday, you would have witnessed history in the making. Whe... Read More...

The first winner in his wherry (from the original picture in Watermen's Hall)

Race for Doggett’s Coat & Badge: A Thames Institution Since 1715

On a stormy summer night in 1715, Irish comedian and stage manager Thomas Doggett needed a lift home from the Swann Tavern in London. He regularly used water ta... Read More...

8-Time Olympian: Canadian Cox Lesley Thompson-Willie

When Canadian coxswain Lesley Thompson-Willie won a silver medal at the 2012 summer Olympic games in London at age 53, she became a five-time Olympic medalist a... Read More...

A Look Back at Early Olympic Rowing

The summer Olympics just kicked off in Rio, where concerns over the quality and safety of the water at the rowing venue has dominated the news. Racing began in ... Read More...

Head Coach Isake Smith (center) of Harlem River Community Rowing, with four of her masters rowers.

Diversity in Rowing: Pressing into the Wind

To understand the current state of diversity in rowing – or lack thereof – we have to look back at the origins of the modern sport of rowing.* For centuries,... Read More...

Men of Kent: Their Record Season

The Men of Kent: Ten boys, a fast boat, and a coach who made them champions, by Rick Rinehart, depicts the history of Kent School from it’s founding in 1906 thr... Read More...

Penn AC and Vesper are neighbors on Boathouse Row in Philadelphia

Boathouse Row: A Foot in the Door

In the summer of 2001, I found myself sharing a group house in Washington, DC with a handful of scraggly young professionals. We were all New England transplant... Read More...

Red Rose Crew: An Early Title IX Success Story

The Red Rose Crew: A True Story of Women, Winning, and the Water, by author Daniel J. Boyne, is the story of how women rowers fought for their right to race at ... Read More...

“Boys in the Boat” Depicts Early 20th Century Life

Thanks to the Ulbrickson Family Collection, we can see the University of Washington Crew in action back in March 1936.The line-up was nearly set when the boys w... Read More...

Syncopated Rowing for More Speed?

In 1929, London Rowing Club participated in a "revolutionary experiment" called syncopated rowing, designed to minimize the negative effect check can have on th... Read More...

How Lake Union Became a Rowing Hub on the West Coast

Frank Cunningham, a rower and coach from the 1940s until his death at age 91 in 2013, hosts this history of the Pocock Brothers and rowing on Lake Union in Seat... Read More...