The James Darrow Kirkpatrick Leadership Award was initiated in 2015 and is awarded annually to that Naval Academy Lightweight Varsity Oarsman or Coxswain who demonstrates inspirational leadership to the entire Navy Lightweight team, guiding them to become better midshipmen, athletes, and individuals.
Captain James Darrow (Darrow) Kirkpatrick, CEC, USN (’57) rowed four years at Navy from 1953-1957. Darrow’s first year of rowing was with Navy’s heavyweight crew, but in the spring of 1954, upon Navy’s introduction of lightweight rowing, Darrow transitioned to lightweight crew where he rowed three years in Navy’s varsity boat and in his 1/c year was elected Navy’s fourth lightweight crew captain.
Following graduation in 1957 Darrow served as Assistant Division Officer, Assistant Navigator, and Administrative Officer aboard USS Antietam (CVS-36). Upon completion of his Antietam tour, Darrow attended and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, became certified as a registered Professional Engineer, and transitioned to the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps (CEC). One of Darrow’s CEC service tours was as Commanding Officer, U. S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion SEVENTY-FOUR (NMCB-74) in Vietnam (August 1970 – April 1971), service for which Darrow was awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat V. Darrow completed his naval career as Assistant Chief of Civil Engineers.
Upon Darrow’s passing in 2014, the Kirkpatrick family donated his Navy sword to lightweight rowing to be used as an annual leadership award. The sword is mounted on a plaque and displayed in the Hubbard Hall King Room with names of each year’s awardee engraved on a brass plate.
Please send any corrections to the NavyLights Staff Historian.
| Year | Name |
| 2015 | Jordan I. Spear ’15 |
| 2016 | Stephen M. Walsh ’16 |
| 2017 | Anlon P. McGuigan ’17 |
| 2018 | Andrew J. Schutta ’18 |
| 2019 | Morgan R. Whetstone ’19 |
| 2020 | Jesse M. Hall ’20 Max P. Gelbach ’20 |
| 2021 | Andrew V. Laberee ’22 |
| 2022 | Andrew V. Laberee ’22 |
| 2023 | Oliver T. Hasler ’23 |
| 2024 | Stephen Frost ’24 |
| 2025 |