Photo by: Scott Eklund / Red Box Pictures
2023 Season Preview: Made For Strong People
March 28, 2023 | Men's Rowing
by Michael Callahan
Head Coach, Washington Men's Rowing
This sport was made for strong people. You may not come in here strong, but when you leave you are.
One hundred years ago nine men from Washington won our first National Championship in June of 1923. They did that as underdogs, after stroke Dow Walling suffered a leg infection from the Hudson River and could not get out of bed. But like Don Hume in 1936, he got out of bed for the race. In a grueling 3-mile showdown against dominant east coast crews, he stroked his team to a one-length win, and the first National Championship for any west coast team and in any sport at Washington.
Not only did that win not come easy, but the five years leading up to it were some of the most difficult in the history of our program. Our founder, Hiram Conibear, had passed away in 1917; WWI drained the campus of men; we lost our boathouse on Lake Union; and west coast rowing, across the board, had lost its momentum.
Yet none of that stopped the Rowing Stewards, who led the effort to keep it going. Ed Leader, a student of Conibear, stepped up to coach and started to rebuild. He moved the team into a cold and abandoned Navy Hangar in 1919 (now being restored, see our article in this issue). Then Rusty Callow, another student of Conibear, took on the lead role and continued. The two of them, with the Seattle Community always by their side, saved this program from the abyss by committing to the values Conibear taught, and by 1923 Washington was the best in the country.
Since those very early days, our legacy here is to lead and embrace change, and we have been consistent at it. We did that 50 years ago with Title IX, and within seven years had the first of five National Championships in a row (1981-1985) from our Women's Team, a point of pride for this program that we still celebrate. By the early '90s we had women coxswains leading the top crews in our men's program (read about these trailblazers in the Spring '23 edition of SWEEP).
Positive and forward-thinking change is a defining characteristic of who we are.
As we stare down a post-COVID intercollegiate athletics landscape that looks very different from just a few years ago, you can feel the anticipation of something new in the boathouse every day now. An ASUW shell house about to be reborn, a "Boys in the Boat" movie, new practices, new blood, new life. It feels transformational. It has driven a solidarity on this team that feels right: a solidarity of purpose that strong teams thrive on, a competition that pushes and drives and defines us to our core.
I am so proud of my coaching group this year and of this team. They understand change, they understand challenge and they have been on board with all of it from the very first day.
Washington Rowing was made for strong people. You may not come in here strong, but when you leave you are. Ed Leader, Rusty Callow and the 1923 National Champions understood that. As do we.
This preview originally appeared in the Spring, 2023, edition of SWEEP Magazine. You can read the entire edition HERE.
Head Coach, Washington Men's Rowing
This sport was made for strong people. You may not come in here strong, but when you leave you are.
One hundred years ago nine men from Washington won our first National Championship in June of 1923. They did that as underdogs, after stroke Dow Walling suffered a leg infection from the Hudson River and could not get out of bed. But like Don Hume in 1936, he got out of bed for the race. In a grueling 3-mile showdown against dominant east coast crews, he stroked his team to a one-length win, and the first National Championship for any west coast team and in any sport at Washington.
Not only did that win not come easy, but the five years leading up to it were some of the most difficult in the history of our program. Our founder, Hiram Conibear, had passed away in 1917; WWI drained the campus of men; we lost our boathouse on Lake Union; and west coast rowing, across the board, had lost its momentum.
Yet none of that stopped the Rowing Stewards, who led the effort to keep it going. Ed Leader, a student of Conibear, stepped up to coach and started to rebuild. He moved the team into a cold and abandoned Navy Hangar in 1919 (now being restored, see our article in this issue). Then Rusty Callow, another student of Conibear, took on the lead role and continued. The two of them, with the Seattle Community always by their side, saved this program from the abyss by committing to the values Conibear taught, and by 1923 Washington was the best in the country.
Since those very early days, our legacy here is to lead and embrace change, and we have been consistent at it. We did that 50 years ago with Title IX, and within seven years had the first of five National Championships in a row (1981-1985) from our Women's Team, a point of pride for this program that we still celebrate. By the early '90s we had women coxswains leading the top crews in our men's program (read about these trailblazers in the Spring '23 edition of SWEEP).
Positive and forward-thinking change is a defining characteristic of who we are.
As we stare down a post-COVID intercollegiate athletics landscape that looks very different from just a few years ago, you can feel the anticipation of something new in the boathouse every day now. An ASUW shell house about to be reborn, a "Boys in the Boat" movie, new practices, new blood, new life. It feels transformational. It has driven a solidarity on this team that feels right: a solidarity of purpose that strong teams thrive on, a competition that pushes and drives and defines us to our core.
I am so proud of my coaching group this year and of this team. They understand change, they understand challenge and they have been on board with all of it from the very first day.
Washington Rowing was made for strong people. You may not come in here strong, but when you leave you are. Ed Leader, Rusty Callow and the 1923 National Champions understood that. As do we.
This preview originally appeared in the Spring, 2023, edition of SWEEP Magazine. You can read the entire edition HERE.
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