Photo courtesy of Navy Lightweight Crew
The Forster Cup is named for John J. Forster and is awarded annually to the winner of the Georgetown/Navy MVL8 race.
Forster learned to row as an undergraduate at Georgetown and continued after graduation from the Business School in 1970. In the 1972 Munich Olympics, Forster rowed with Michael Vespoli in the U.S. four-oared-shell-with-coxswain event, and in 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1977, he was a member of the U.S. National teams that competed in the World Championships. Forster won a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games in the four-without-coxswain event.
Forster is a United States Marine Corps veteran who was awarded two Purple Hearts while serving in Vietnam.
In 1982, Forster was inducted into the Georgetown University Athletic Hall of Fame.
The inaugural cup race was rowed in 2013 and won by Georgetown.
Due to a COVID-19 pandemic there were no races in 2020 and 2021.
Navy leads the series 8-2.
The following 1941 attribution to Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill is appropriately engraved on the Forster Cup: Never Give Up. Never Give Up. Never, Never, Never, Never.
Please send any additional information regarding this trophy to the NavyLights Staff Historian.
[NOTE: THE SERIES WILL BE UPDATED]
The Forster Cup Winning Crews
| Year | Winner | Series N – G |
Trophy N – G |
| 2013 | Georgetown | 0 – 1 | 0 – 1 |
| 2014 | Navy | 1 – 1 | 1 – 1 |
| 2015 | Navy | 2 – 1 | 2 – 1 |
| 2016 | Navy | 3 – 1 | 3 – 1 |
| 2017 | Navy | 4 – 1 | 4 – 1 |
| 2018 | Navy | 5 – 1 | 5 – 1 |
| 2019 | Navy | 6 – 1 | 6 – 1 |
| 2020 | NO RACE | 6 – 1 | 6 – 1 |
| 2021 | NO RACE | 6 – 1 | 6 – 1 |
| 2022 | Navy | 7 – 1 | 7 – 1 |
| 2023 | Navy | 8 – 1 | 8 – 1 |
| 2024 | Georgetown | 8 – 2 | 8 – 2 |
| 2025 | |||
| 2026 | |||
| 2027 | |||
| 2028 | |||
| 2029 | |||
| 2030 |