MARIETTA, Ohio — Celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2021, Marietta College Rowing is at a crossroads in its long and heralded history. Formed in 1871 as the first sport to be established at Marietta College, the rowing program is currently experiencing the greatest surge in student interest and alumni involvement since its last winning season in 2012.  

Marietta's rowers are hoping to celebrate the milestone with a special reception at the prestigious Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia — currently scheduled for May 6-8, 2021. The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest regular intercollegiate rowing event in the United States, held annually on the Schuylkill River and drawing more than a hundred colleges and universities from North America.

The historic Pioneer Navy is an original charter member of the Dad Vail — Marietta won the inaugural race in 1934 and has participated ever since. Last spring, when the regatta was cancelled along with all NCAA Division III sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was the first time in its history that Marietta was unable to compete in the race.

For many intercollegiate rowers — including Marietta College alumnus and former Pioneer Rowing coach, Jeffrey C. Hugel '77 — competing at the Dad Vail is a career highlight they remember all their lives.  

"Marietta College Rowing helped to make me the person I am today," Hugel said. "It's where I found my confidence, and where I achieved my first successes in life."

Hugel, who stroked his junior varsity heavyweight eight to win the Dad Vail in 1976, considers rowing to be the quintessential team sport.

"In other team sports, one individual can rise to the occasion and win the competition for the rest of the team," he said. "In rowing, there is no one person in the boat that can win a race for everyone else, but anyone can lose the race for everyone else. In fact, if you stand out, you're doing something wrong. In rowing, you win as a team and you lose as a team. This makes the emphasis on teamwork so much more intense."

Hugel is part of Marietta's recently formed Rowing Advisory Council that includes a roster of prominent crew alumni from across the decades: David Nystrom '67, Tom Feaster '69, Brent Haney '76, John Strotbeck '79, Andrea Haynes-Perry '82, Mary Korn '82, Kevin Suter '85, Marc Ponchione '96 and Zach McGurk '11.

The council is planning a series of events to commemorate the anniversary, including a virtual Homecoming celebration on October 17 and an online store featuring limited-edition 150th celebration gear that sports a vintage logo designed in 1963 — when all oarsmen were required to travel in a blazer and a tie. The logo displaying a shield and crossed oars was proudly worn by the undefeated 1967 men's team when they competed at the Henley Royal Regatta in England.

Despite having their season cut short last year, along with the current uncertainty about what the fall season will look like, Men's Rowing Coach Greg Myhr reports that morale remains high.

"I have coached faster teams, but I don't think I've ever had a better team," said Myhr, who joined the Marietta College Athletic Department in August 2019. "I can't think of a single practice where they demonstrated any sign of feeling sorry for themselves. They just worked and remained almost absurdly upbeat throughout."

According to Myhr, any rowing that is happening in the U.S. right now is being done exclusively in singles, so his strategy for the fall is going to revolve around practicing and racing in singles.  Nonetheless, USRowing has released some updated guidelines regarding the potential move toward team boats, so there may be a chance for them to be back rowing in 4s and 8s this fall.

"It's remarkable how excited the athletes are," Myhr said. "Every member of the team is demonstrating a decisive commitment to rowing, no matter what. As things get back to normal, I see this as a major part of attracting and training teams capable, not only of returning to the medal stand at the Dad Vail, but also driving a team presence at the IRA and catapulting additional Marietta athletes to our U.S. National and Olympic Teams."

Marietta's women's rowing team formed in 1977 when legendary coach, Ralph Lindamood, cautiously agreed to let a group of female students borrow a boat. Since then, the women have claimed seven Dad Vail gold championship wins, two of which, in 2011 and 2012, were aided by rowing alumna Abigail Klicker '13, who returned to her alma mater as head coach of the women's team in 2018.

"As a student-athlete, I learned incredibly valuable lessons through the women's rowing team," Klicker said. "Resilience, trust, and ownership were key themes for my teammates and I as we trained and made our mark on MC rowing history. Now, as the head coach, I'm living the dream. Every day I get to invest in the lives of student-athletes while giving back to the program that has given me so much."

This year's team is young, but ambitious, Klicker reports.

"Our sights are set on the Dad Vail and Conference Championships," she said. "But our day-to-day focuses are to grow in trust and respect as a team and to work to get faster each day."

The Marietta men's rowing program has 39 Dad Vail gold medals to its credit, including five varsity heavyweight eight golds. Its gold medal sweep of the heavyweight eight events in 1966 is a feat that has only been accomplished twice in Dad Vail history. The men also won their last championship in 2012, and Myhr and Klicker both have big dreams for Marietta again establishing Dad Vail dominance in the near future.

"There aren't many programs in the country — at any level — that possess the combination of easy access to miles of protected water and the institutional will to get it done," he said. "Marietta does. And I cannot wait to get year 150 started!"

Klicker agrees.

"The energy and excitement this fall are palpable," she said. "I have never seen the boathouse so alive with possibility."

Located in Marietta, Ohio, at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, Marietta College is a four-year liberal arts college. Tracing its roots to the Muskingum Academy back in 1797, the College was officially chartered in 1835. Today Marietta College serves a body of 1,200 full-time students. The College offers more than 50 majors and is consistently ranked as one of the top regional comprehensive colleges by U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review, as well as one of the nation's best by Forbes.com. Marietta was selected seventh in the nation according to the Brookings Institution's rankings of colleges by their highest value added, regardless of major. Marietta College has also been named a Great College to Work For two consecutive years (2018 and 2019).