Welcome to NavyLights!

Eight hearts must beat as one in an eight oared shell or you don’t have a crew!
— George Yeoman Pocock

Originally established for alumni in the Classes of 1974 – 1978 who rowed in Navy lightweight crews coached by LT Jon Eric VanAmringe, USN (Yale 1970); since its inception, interest has grown to all Friends of Navy Lightweight Crew!

About browsing this site….

  • NavyLights Links is a page with links to sites about Navy lightweight rowing, rowing in general, and information about the Naval Academy.
  • History & Archives is a page with links to Navy lightweight rowing histories by year from 1919 – present as well as links to Navy lightweight historical information such as lists of all past and present Navy lightweight crew head coaches, captains, Spirits of the Lightweights, and other items of interest.
  • News/Event/Currents links directly to the latest Navy Crew Newsletter.
  • Alumni is a page with all items rowing.
  • Join / Members Roster. “Join” is a page for alumni and friends of Navy rowing to register; “Members Roster” is the tab that shows for those already registered and shows all NavyLights.org members.

Be One With The Boat!

NavyLights History & Archives

In the spring of 1954, LT Buck Herzog ’46, (USN) who was an assistant to Navy Heavyweight Head Coach, Rusty Callow, got an okay from Rusty to enter a lightweight boat in the EARC. The boat didn’t have long to practice. There were no 2V or Plebe crews. The 1V rowed one race. There was no Captain, but Jack McNish was the most experienced and the leader of the crew.
— Jack McNish ’55 and J. Darrow Kirkpatrick ’57

Navy Lightweight Crew History By Year

Viewing year histories will require that you log on to NavyLights.org.

2021202220232024202520262027202820292030
2011201220132014201520162017201820192020
2001200220032004200520062007200820092010
1991199219931994199519961997199819992000
1981198219831984198519861987198819891990
1971197219731974197519761977197819791980
1961196219631964196519661967196819691970
   1954195519561957195819591960
1919

2019 Henley Royal Regatta

At the 2019 Henley Royal Regatta (HRR) the Centennial of the 1919 Royal Henley Peace Regatta was commemorated, and Navy Crew represented the United States as the United States Armed Forces Crew. In lead-up races to the HRR Navy rowers competed as the United States Naval Academy in two separate regattas. Information and results of all three regattas can be viewed here. And, a list of allied nation entries, race results, and boatings in the 1919 Royal Henley Regatta can be viewed here.

The First Collegiate Lightweight Crew Race in America

On Saturday, 31 May 1919, at the Fifteenth Annual Regatta of the American Rowing Association, a “Special Eight-Oared Shells (150 Lb. Crews)” rowing event was included in the schedule, which was the first American intercollegiate lightweight 8+ rowing event. Two teams competed on the day: the United States Naval Academy and the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Navy Lightweight Crew Timeline and Highlights
Special thanks to Dale P. Hurly, Jr. ’89 and Christopher L. (Kit) Vallhonrat ’93 for researching this timeline through 2001. Post-2001 highlights can be viewed in the current Media Guide located at the Navy Lightweight Rowing website.

Navy Varsity Lightweight Crew Head Coaches

Navy Varsity Lightweight Crew Captains

Navy Varsity Lightweight Crew William J. Francy Memorial Award

Navy Varsity Lightweight Crew The James Darrow Kirkpatrick Leadership Award

Navy Varsity Lightweight Crew Spirit of the Lightweights

Navy Varsity Lightweight Crew Fightin’ Lights Day Class Award

Navy Varsity Lightweight Crew The 20 More Award

Navy Lightweight Crew U.S. Team Rowers

USNA Sports Hall of Fame – Men’s Lightweight Rowers

Personal Characteristics of Rowers

Quotes on Rowing
 

Navy Lightweight Crew Annual Cup and Trophy Races

Russell Stanley Callow Cup [MVL8+ winner Navy – Penn]

1919 Cup [The 1919 Cup is a team trophy for which Navy and Penn lightweight crews annually compete.]

Eads Johnson, Jr. Cup [MVL8+ winner Navy – Yale]

Jon Eric VanAmringe Cup [The VanAmringe Cup is a team trophy for which Navy and Yale crews annually compete.]

Henry Herbert Haines Cup [MVL8+ winner Navy – Harvard]

The Col. Michael Paulovich USMC Team Trophy [Awarded to the crew winning the most races of the 1V – 5V events rowed between Navy and Harvard]

Joseph Murtaugh Cup [MVL8+ winner Navy – Princeton]

William M. Smith Trophy [The Smith Trophy is the only known team trophy that combines men’s heavyweight and lightweight race results. Navy and Princeton heavyweight and lightweight 1V, 2V, and 3V eights compete for this team trophy. [NB: In 2014 3V races replaced 1F races.]

WIT Cup [MVL8+ winner Navy – Columbia – need to research]

John J. Forster Cup [MVL8+ winner Navy – Georgetown]

The 1922 Trophy [MVL8+ winner — Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA)]

The Healy Cup [MVL4+ winner — Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA)]

Ralph T. Jope Cup [Team winner — Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC – Eastern Sprints)]

Joseph Wright Trophy [MVL8+ winner — Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC – Eastern Sprints)]

The Cornell Trophy [M2VL8+ winner — Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC – Eastern Sprints)]

Gary W. Kilpatrick Cup [Originally the MFL8+ winner; now the M3VL8+ winner — Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC – Eastern Sprints)]

Quotes on Rowing


There is advantage in the wisdom won from pain.
— Aeschylus

The road to hell has six lanes.
— Anonymous

Rowing reveals character.
— Anonymous

Real athletes row — everyone else just plays games.
— Anonymous

Rowers do more before 8:00am than most people do all day.
— Anonymous

Crew is life — everything else is just details.
— Anonymous

Crew is not a sport — it’s a way of life.
— Anonymous

Rowing isn’t just one damn stroke after another — it’s the same damn stroke over and over again.
— Anonymous

Port-oars are rowers who know more and more about less and less until they finally know absolutely everything about nothing. On-the-other-hand, Starboard-oars are rowers who know less and less about more and more until they finally know absolutely nothing about everything. Amazingly, Coxswains make them a crew!
— Anonymous

Rowing is the only sport that originated as a form of capital punishment.
— Apocryphal

Gentlemen, let’s go row!
— Robert A. (Bob) Blakely, Wisconsin 1971, Navy Plebe Lightweight Crew Coach 1971-1972

[Rowing] is more than just pulling an oar. It is like golf too—the backswing, the application of power at the right split second. But in rowing, eight men have to do it together when they’re tired.
— Russell Stanley (Rusty) Callow, Head Crew Coach: University of Washington (1922-1927); University of Pennsylvania (1927-1950); United States Naval Academy (1950-1959)

It’s not the best eight rowers that row the best boat, it’s the eight rowers that row best together.
— Russell Stanley (Rusty) Callow, Head Crew Coach: University of Washington (1922-1927); University of Pennsylvania (1927-1950); United States Naval Academy (1950-1959) as related by Charles (Chuck) Wilbur (USNA 1957), heavyweight coxswain

The race is won with the oars out of the water.
— Russell Stanley (Rusty) Callow, Head Crew Coach: University of Washington (1922-1927); University of Pennsylvania (1927-1950); United States Naval Academy (1950-1959)

We’ll row anybody, anywhere, anytime, under any conditions.
— Russell Stanley (Rusty) Callow, Head Crew Coach: University of Washington (1922-1927); University of Pennsylvania (1927-1950); United States Naval Academy (1950-1959)

Line us up and start the clock.
— Russell Stanley (Rusty) Callow, Head Crew Coach: University of Washington (1922-1927); University of Pennsylvania (1927-1950); United States Naval Academy (1950-1959)

Its not laying on the water.
— Russell Stanley (Rusty) Callow, Head Crew Coach: University of Washington (1922-1927); University of Pennsylvania (1927-1950); United States Naval Academy (1950-1959), this was a response from Coach Callow one snowy spring day when a Navy oarsman asked if the crews were going on the water, and since the snow was not on the water, off the crews went; thanks to Lee Walker, USNA ’57, for relating this story

Rowing is more than a fast boat on race day. It’s a complementary experience to a young man’s intellectual development. Rowing, like success, is a journey, not a destination. I tell my oarsmen to have fun, learn, and most of all grow as individuals. The wins the losses will take care of themselves.
— Rick Clothier, Head Coach Navy Rowing (1974-2012)

Fitness – Focus – Form.
— Thomas Phillip (Tom) Cook, USNA 1976, Navy Lightweight Rower

Still loving the sport; still working on the focus.
— Thomas Phillip (Tom) Cook, USNA 1976, Navy Lightweight Rower

Let the boat work – and not me!
— Thomas Phillip (Tom) Cook, USNA 1976, Navy Lightweight Rower

The hardest part of rowing properly: Eyes and Minds in The Boat!
— Thomas Phillip (Tom) Cook, USNA 1976, Navy Lightweight Rower

Follow the stroke – or be the stroke that the rest can follow.
— Thomas Phillip (Tom) Cook, USNA 1976, Navy Lightweight Rower

When eight row together with swing the boat becomes the ninth rower.
— Thomas Phillip (Tom) Cook, USNA 1976, Navy Lightweight Rower

The concentration of all seven behind the stroke should be so strong that you know by feel when that stroke has varied his style or rating without the cox announcing it.
— Thomas Phillip (Tom) Cook, USNA 1976, Navy Lightweight Rower

Rowers are real athletes—all others are mere mortals.
— William Henry (Dales) Daley III, USNA 1975, Navy Lightweight Rower

You’ve got to be an extremely aggressive athlete, and you’ve got to keep the pressure on all the time you cannot – not once – start to think about, ‘Gosh, it’s getting pretty painful so I should start thinking about something else,’ you’ve really got to focus.
— Fredrick Chauncey (Fritz) Hagerman, Sports Physiologist

Great rowers are physiological freaks; but, that quality is minimal compared to their psyche and to their ability to essentially experience pain – and experience discomfort – and yet be able to do the work knowing that it’s going to continue.
— Fredrick Chauncey (Fritz) Hagerman, Sports Physiologist

They’re aggressive, highly competitive, almost everything they think of and do is competitive…they are over-achievers, I think, in many cases; they have a real focus; they’re tenacious; they’re tough in the sense that they don’t give-up very easily. But, I think that probably the one personality characteristic that impresses me the most is that they’re not full of themselves; they’re not egotistical for the most part…I’m impressed by their interest in other things besides rowing.
— Fredrick Chauncey (Fritz) Hagerman, Sports Physiologist

During their college years the oarsmen put in terribly long hours often showing up at the boathouse at 6:00am for pre-class practices. Both physically and psychologically, they were separated from their classmates….In many ways they were like combat veterans coming back from a small, bitter, and distant war, able to talk only to other veterans.
— David Halberstam from “The Amateurs”

The successful sculler thinks whole, integrated, and connected.
— James C. (Jimmy) Joy, athlete, sculler, rower, coach

Easy speed.
— James C. (Jimmy) Joy, athlete, sculler, rower, coach

The art of building wooden shells makes them beautiful while the science makes them fast.
— Graeme King

No matter what hurts at the beginning, by the end of the race something else will hurt worse.
— Bob O’Connor

In rowing I found a sport that demanded some skill, granted, but placed a much higher premium on plain hard work and persistence.
— Harry Parker, Penn Lightweight Crew (1953 – 1954); Penn Heavyweight Crew (1954 – 1957); Harvard Freshmen Heavyweight Crew Coach (1961 – 1963); Harvard Varsity Heavyweight Crew Coach (1963 – 2013)

What’s unique about [rowing] is this utter dependence on one another – no one guy can make the boat go faster by himself; on-the-other-hand, one guy can slow it down a lot. So [rowers] really do learn to trust one another and depend on one another in a pretty unique way.
— Harry Parker, Penn Lightweight Crew (1953 – 1954); Penn Heavyweight Crew (1954 – 1957); Harvard Freshmen Heavyweight Crew Coach (1961 – 1963); Harvard Varsity Heavyweight Crew Coach (1963 – 2013)

Because [rowing] is 99.9% percent amateur activity and because there’s very, very little personal recognition or publicity it certainly takes people who are satisfied with the effort itself – with the rewards of doing it.
— Harry Parker, Penn Lightweight Crew (1953 – 1954); Penn Heavyweight Crew (1954 – 1957); Harvard Freshmen Heavyweight Crew Coach (1961 – 1963); Harvard Varsity Heavyweight Crew Coach (1963 – 2013)

Eight hearts must beat as one in an eight oared shell or you don’t have a crew!
— George Yeoman Pocock (1891-1976), leading designer and builder of racing shells in the 20th Century

It’s a great art, is rowing. It’s the finest art there is. It’s a symphony of motion. And when you’re rowing well, why it’s nearing perfection. And when you near perfection, you’re touching the Divine. It touches the you of yous. Which is your soul.
— George Yeoman Pocock (1891-1976), leading designer and builder of racing shells in the 20th Century

Harmony, balance, and rhythm. They’re the three things that stay with you your whole life. Without them civilization is out of whack. And that’s why an oarsman, when he goes out in life, he can fight it, he can handle life. That’s what he gets from rowing.
— George Yeoman Pocock (1891-1976), leading designer and builder of racing shells in the 20th Century

On race day, there’s tremendous anxiety. Leading up to the stake boat, I distinctly remember saying to myself, ‘I can’t wait till this is over.’
— Frank Shields, Penn 1963

Think of aerobics plus weight lifting minus the music or camaraderie. Combine unalloyed endurance with straightforward strength and demand poise, timing, and practiced form as well. Think of pure pain: that’s the ergometer.
— Barry Strauss from “Rowing Against the Current”

There is a place where cerebral and corporeal meet — they call it rowing.
— Barry Strauss from “Rowing Against the Current”

Anyone who has not rowed in a really close boat race cannot comprehend the level of pain.
— Dan Topolski from “TRUE BLUE, The Oxford Boat Race Mutiny”

Nurture your mind with great thoughts; to believe in the Heroic makes Heroes.
— Christopher L. (Kit) Vallhonrat, USNA 1993, quoting Disreali (emphasis added is Kit’s)

Be one with the boat!
— Jon Eric VanAmringe, Yale 1970, Navy Lightweight Crew Head Coach 1973-1976

Long and strong!
— Jon Eric VanAmringe, Yale 1970, Navy Lightweight Crew Head Coach 1973-1976

Don’t worry guys — you’ll pass out before you die.
— Jon Eric VanAmringe, Yale 1970, Navy Lightweight Crew Head Coach 1973-1976

Five hundred meters to go!
— Jon Eric VanAmringe, Yale 1970, Navy Lightweight Crew Head Coach 1973-1976

Rowing is the kind of sport that seems to really resonate with certain individuals at a very deep level and it gets to be like A Calling.
— David H. Vogel, Yale Lightweight Crew (1967 – 1971); Yale Varsity Lightweight Crew Coach (1972 – 1989); Yale Varsity Heavyweight Crew Coach (1989 – 2003)

There’s something very compelling about a sport where when all is said and done your sheer willpower to push harder than the other team is what ultimately decides the closest of the contests.
— David H. Vogel, Yale Lightweight Crew (1967 – 1971); Yale Varsity Lightweight Crew Coach (1972 – 1989); Yale Varsity Heavyweight Crew Coach (1989 – 2003)

One of the old coaches put it that long after people have lost their fascination with games rowing would still be around because it’s very visceral; it’s simply, ‘Are you willing to push yourself closer to death than the next guy just for the sheer ability to say that you won.’
— David H. Vogel, Yale Lightweight Crew (1967 – 1971); Yale Varsity Lightweight Crew Coach (1972 – 1989); Yale Varsity Heavyweight Crew Coach (1989 – 2003)

It’s not till the end of a race when rowers really show how much physiological stress they’re under because typically at the end of any race…you’ll see oarsmen collapsing over their oars and gasping for breath…and I think that’s a little hard to understand even when you’re up close on a close-up shot from a television camera because two strokes before this guy was just going as hard as he could – he didn’t look like he was in that much trouble – I guess you just can’t see willpower on television.
— David H. Vogel, Yale Lightweight Crew (1967 – 1971); Yale Varsity Lightweight Crew Coach (1972 – 1989); Yale Varsity Heavyweight Crew Coach (1989 – 2003)

I don’t see the value in changing the sport of rowing to meet modern ideas and modern ethics in sport because I see that much of what is modern about sport is not particularly admirable. If crew were to change its fundamental core then there would be no reason for it to survive in this age.
— David H. Vogel, Yale Lightweight Crew (1967 – 1971); Yale Varsity Lightweight Crew Coach (1972 – 1989); Yale Varsity Heavyweight Crew Coach (1989 – 2003)

It’s a sport that takes a strong back and a weak mind.
— Clarence Lee Walker, coxswain, Undine Barge Club (Philadelphia), ca. 1940s, a tongue-in-cheek remark he often made to his son, Lee Walker, Jr. (USNA 1957), as they boated from East Falls to downtown Philadelphia while watching rowers and scullers on the Schuylkill River

Pain is weakness leaving your body.
— A United States Marine

Pain is good — extreme pain is extremely good!
— A United States Navy SEAL