I made three maps with the goal of showing how rowing went from an exclusive sport where only the wealthy and elite were allowed to take part, to an inclusive sport where anyone from any background could not only compete, but win. Whether rich or poor, able bodied or disabled, man or woman, anyone now has a fair chance. The first map focuses on collegiate rowing in the United States. The sport started at private Ivy Leagues in the northeast like Yale and Harvard before the public University of Washington won gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The perception of the sport changed from there, and when the G.I. Bill injected millions of college aged men back into the student populace, public universities everywhere started their own programs. This map illustrates that expansion year by year. The second map shows this same declassification of rowing but on the Olympic scale. Richer countries that could both afford and had enough athletes talented enough to compete already had programs at the beginning of the 20 th century, but as time went on the smaller, poorer countries also began to take part. In 2020 you can see the massive jump to 80 teams compared to the 24 in 1936. The map also features how many medals each country has won since the started of the games, highlighting how some of these newer countries have managed to cement themselves as mainstays in the sport. The third and final map highlights both international rowing and the inclusion of para- rowing for disabled bodied persons. In 2002, the sport had now come full circle. Not only could anyone from any class participate, but even those born with disabilities could take part. The sport was no longer exclusive only to the rich and elite of the wealthiest country of the world, it was open to any person of any body, any country, and any class.
What comes to mind when you think of rowing as a sport? Do you think of prep kids at private schools? Do you associate it with privilege or status? Do you think of the Olympics, or perhaps some Harvard frat guys rowing a boat amid autumn leaves, wearing blazers with patches on the elbow? Rowing is associated with wealth, “old money” and “country club” prestige. Why is this? What is the history of these common associations, and do they reflect the demographics of rowing to be? Driven by the Great Depression, FDR’s New Deal, World War II, the G.I. Bill, and a group of American underdogs winning Olympic Gold, rowing went from an elitist, Ivy League sport, to an inclusive, public sport free of class separation. Rowing is an expensive sport with a long and storied history. In the United States, competitive rowing started at prestigious schools. The first race, or “regatta” in the United States, the Harvard vs Yale Regatta of 1852, followed the 1829 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race and the 1839 Henley Royal. That origin helped establish the association of rowing with elite privilege. Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and Yale are widely seen as the most prestigious and wealth- associated schools in the world. The Harvard Yale rowing rivalry would shape the entire sport’s structure and future as their rivalry and respective universities continued to accumulate more status, prestige, and accomplishments. A 1930 article claimed, “The Yale and Harvard races are family parties, with two and three generations of memories behind them” (Kelley). Private schools held a monopoly not only over performance but also over history. These schools were able to continue the expansion and improvement of their programs even under the crippling financial effects of the Great Depression, unlike their newer public-school counterparts. With this elite status came not only notoriety but also popularity. If you were a high school student in the states, the pinnacle of academic achievement was the Ivy League, with Harvard and Yale often associated as the highest of them. This renown created an entire generation of spectators, which, as it still does today, translated into patrons and financial supporters of the university’s athletics. The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) was founded in 1895, cementing rowing as a primary collegiate sport. From this popularity came the expansion of rowing to other schools. Specifically, other prestigious schools that primarily educated the upper classes. Schools like the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Columbia, Syracuse, and Cal Berkeley (then just the University of California) established their own programs. These schools specifically held the pre-established advantage of wealth and status to make their teams instantaneously competitive at the national level. Other schools, primarily public schools whose enrollment demographics were made up by more of the lower to middle classes, didn’t immediately jump to the sport, let alone see their programs have immediate success. This brings us to Seattle, Washington in the 1930s. Seattle’s economic history is one of instability, including both extravagant highs and crippling lows. A historical study described the economy of Washington state as fairly different than that of most other states and described it as “that of a colonial possession, exporting raw and semifinished materials” (Gregory). Alongside the Klondike gold rush of 1896 that skyrocketed most of the west coast’s value, Seattle’s location within the vast forests of the Pacific Northwest created an economic boom through lumber commerce brought on by the shipbuilding necessitated by World War I. The city was developing and expanding at a healthy rate. When the depression hit, these industries were crippled, and over half of the workforce lost their jobs. The Great Depression came during Herbert Hoover’s presidency. Hoover was famous for his administration’s lack of government aid and is widely blamed for how dire the situation became. Tent camps and shack towns, known as “Hoovervilles” began to pop up all throughout the nation. One of the most famous and long standing was in Seattle, located near Elliott Bay, just south of downtown. This Hooverville held more than one thousand occupants and remained occupied until 1941. It wasn’t until 1933, when Franklin Roosevelt took office and enacted his New Deal, that both the national and Washington state economies would begin to recover. Following government support, Washington recovered faster than most other states, as in 1937 incomes had returned to 93% of what it was in 1929, while the national level was only at 88% (Gregory). FDR and his administration put the U.S. economy back on track. His New Deal created federal regulations and imposed them on the financial industry to ensure an event like the Great Depression would never again be possible. The adaptation and implementation of Social Security from the General Pension Law of 1862 also ensured the American people would be insured against any future financial crisis (Dunleavy, Skocpol). The aspect of the New Deal that most greatly frames the expansion of collegiate rowing, however, is the mainstream establishment of the labor movement and advocation for the working class. The labor movement was established in the late 18 th century. It was created to protect the common interest of wage workers and organize labor unions that fought for higher wages, fair hours, and safer working conditions. The unions also advocated for the outlawing of child labor and the provision of health and retirement benefits for those that were injured on the job or retired. The New Deal gave this movement, the unions, and the members teeth against the financial industry. Thanks to FDR’s administration, both the working class and labor industry were protected by Federal regulations that protected them from any future calamities brought on by the financial or banking industries. This idea that the working class was now on equal footing with the wealthy elite ties into the expansion of collegiate rowing through the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The eight-man crew from the University of Washington won gold at the games, beating major collegiate programs at the U.S. qualifier in Poughkeepsie and major Olympic programs in Berlin. Why is this significant? The University of Washington, much like Washington state, was economically crippled in 1936. The state government was forced to slash the schools’ budget and cut enrollments in the early 1930s, resulting in an economic crisis for students, which resulted in a massive loss of the student body. From 1930 to 1933, the university’s enrollment fell 16% (Kindig). Some students had to quit school to find jobs, some could no longer acquire necessary materials for classes, and some simply couldn’t afford tuition anymore. In severe cases, students found refuge in homeless shelters and “found sustenance in bread lines” (Kindig). This was the case for Joe Rantz, one of the eight oarsmen on the Olympic Gold crew. Grieving the death of his mother and being abandoned by his father, he found shelter in a schoolhouse by chopping wood in exchangefor a bed. Rantz was quite possibly the last archetype of college student you’d expect to row crew. Rowers at the time were wealthy, clean cut, and came from good families. Major programs were at elite, private or wealthy universities founded in the 19 th century whose enrollment demographics consisted primarily of students from the upper classes. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown, Cal Berkeley, UPenn. All schools with deep histories, and deeper pockets. The wealthy elite of the nation went to these schools. Their fathers went to these schools before them, and their sons followed thereafter. The men that went to these schools were largely involved in the financial industry that ruined the nation, though they did not have to suffer the way the lower classes did. Farmers and agriculture workers were hit the hardest as “a fall of 65 per cent in farm income was unsustainable for farm operators, especially if they were in debt” (Crafts, Fearon 291). Combined with the fact that “the natural reaction of institutions was to engage in defensive banking” and followed by how these institutions “gained liquidity by bankrupting many of their customers” the wealthy banking and financial industries were able to cushion their fall at the expense of farmers and wage workers (Crafts, Fearon 291). The lower classes were used as collateral by big banks and major economic entities in an attempt to cut their losses. This misuse of the lower classes created a disdain for the wealthy. Not only was the economic responsibility to repay debts placed on the lower classes who couldn’t afford it, Wall Street, along with the banks, hedge funds, and investment firms that had proclaimed themselves experts in the financial field, utterly failed to detect the greatest economic collapse of the 20 th century before it crippled the nation. The common man then fully turned sour towards the elite, creating a newfound sense of anti-elitism. Regarding the lower and middle classes, not only had “49 percent voiced disapproval or resistance” towards the economic system responsible for the Great Depression, but 27% called that same system corrupt, discriminating, and uncertain (Sternsher 140). An additional 12% offered “utopian schemes, war, and revolution against the present order” (Sternsher 140). Combined with how FDR “demonized investors and employers” through policy and progressive legislation, the court of public opinion switched its opinion of the elite from renown and reverence to that of disdain and hatred (Powell 11). The rich were careless and left the poor to pay for it. In response, the poor turned hateful. In come Joe Rantz and the University of Washington. In come the eight “sons of loggers, farmers, shipyard workers, and manual laborers” (Lang 9). Not the sons of bankers, financiers, corporate executives, or titans of industry like their private school rivals. These eight men represented the entirety of Washington and its people. Ordinary men from ordinary families scraping and clawing their way not only to win races, not just to continue their education, but simply to stay fed. Mirror that with the northeastern schools, where these privileged and financially protected rowers were able to solely focus on thriving academically and performing at the highest level on the water. They had the best and latest equipment and facilities. They had more time to focus on athletics as they weren’t going job to job looking for any work that’d give them a paycheck. The Washington team had every disadvantage imaginable, and yet these working-class boys showed the nation how the elite are not inherently superior nor out of reach from the rest of the classes. Following the result at the 1936 games, the newly established program at the University of Wisconsin quickly took the fight to the blue bloods of the sport. In 1938 the Cal Bears paid a trip to Wisconsin, where the scene was set for “Rowing Crews to Clash” (Dallas Morning News). Even though the Wisconsin rowing team was still in its early development, the mere fact a dynasty like Cal Berkeley was willing to not only acknowledge but compete with a new-age public school program was a giant leap forward. This combined with FDR and his New Deal’s support of both the working class and the labor movement created the idea that the wide gap between classes no longer existed. This idea is supported further by the gold medal finish in Berlin, as it drives home the notion that the most ordinary of people can be of world class caliber, regardless of the class they come from.
This rising momentum of the lower classes was short lived, however. As the economy began to stabilize and the nation began to recover, by 1939, a Second World War was raging in Europe. Even though rowing was now a widely popular sport not just among the wealthy but among people from all backgrounds, there was simply no opportunity for public universities to establish teams of their own after Washington proved anyone could do it. The result at the 1936 Olympics was temporarily made irrelevant. There was no money to be found for the addition of collegiate athletics, and even after the Great Depression officially ended in 1941, the events at Pearl Harbor would take place in December of the same year, pulling the United States into World War II. College aged men were not interested in collegiate sports or even college at all, they were preparing to be sent off to war. When the war ended in September 1945, 8 million veterans came home. They were met with benefits provided to them by the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944. This act served as both predecessor and template for the modern-day G.I. Bill. It provided veterans with financial aid for education, housing, unemployment insurance, and funding for trade schools (Archives). The G.I. Bill has been called “the most underrated national turning point” in the history of the United States, as it provided not just benefits but gave veterans opportunities to reach their full potential (Schlesinger). This would then contribute to the U.S. population as a whole since that same population would receive a massive injection of not just citizens but citizens with specific skills and now the ability to attain even more skills. The bill was so impactful it “contributed enormously to the release of economic and intellectual energy that carried postwar America to the summit of the world” (Schlesinger). The bill was instrumental in shaping the United States into the advanced and revered society we see today. How and why is this relevant to collegiate rowing? 45% of the 8 million returning veterans were men in their twenties, and by the early 1950s, around 2.3 million of them received education benefits from the servicemen act which allowed them to either pursue or continue their college education (Bradley). The G.I. Bill expired and was redrafted in 1956. By that point, 15 billion dollars in training and education benefits had been disbursed to benefits. College admissions nationwide skyrocketed, and 2.3 million veterans were now able to take part in civilian life. Alongside this generation being known as the “Greatest Generation” they were also known as the “civic generation” due to their high statistical rates of participating in civic engagements. Civic involvement across both civilian and veteran populations rose 50% in the mid 1950s (Mettler 117). With an injection of 2.3 million to national college admissions, and a 50% increase in civic participation, it’s all but guaranteed an uptick in collegiate athletic participation would occur. Not only is 2.3 million a massive number of students on its own, but 2.3 million students who are in peak athletic condition, are accustomed to being on a team, and as the statistics show, at least 50% of them are looking to involve themselves in civic groups. This is further supported by research conducted specifically for this essay. Three modern day veterans currently attending universities through educational benefits provided by the G.I. Bill are involved in three different collegiate athletic programs. One of them even competes for the men’s rowing team at the University of Texas at Austin. They were individually surveyed on how they ended up in collegiate athletes. When asked what motivated them to join athletic programs at their respective schools, the general consensus was that since their school and housing were paid for by the government, they had time enough on their hands to participate in things they normally wouldn’t have. The ability to be part of a team, represent their school, and have an outlet to stay in shape made athletic programs ideal for them to take part of. The uniformity, the strict schedule, and physical requirements that they were not only used to but felt more at home adhering to added to the athletic appeal. This type of commitment, community, and continuous strain is something that’s hard to find in civilian life, which makes veterans joining athletic programs while they’re able to an inevitable outcome. A 1945 newspaper claim supports this, saying rowing “should have a special appeal to Texans returning from naval service” (Dallas Morning News). Naval veterans would especially have incentives to join collegiate rowing programs. Not only would the strict lifestyle and grueling nature of the sport add to the appeal, but for returning veterans in a state like Texas, being able to get back on the water would add yet another sense of familiarity. Consider that in the 1920s all the way to late 1950s American football and basketball were only rising in popularity and not yet titans of professional sports, many of today’s minor sports held a higher percentage of the athlete pool. The evolution of College Football mirrors the evolution of rowing. Steven Salaga claims, “In conjunction with the returning influx of playing talent, the lenient restrictions associated with the GI Bill sparked a recruiting rampage” (Selaga 119). The end of World War II meant the disparity of college athletes was soon at an end, and with the G.I. Bill giving these returning athletes endless opportunities to participate, athletic enrollment numbers were due to skyrocket. Collegiate rowing’s popularity was at a steady all- time high in the 1920s through the 1950s, as with consistently strong Olympic teams, the absence of modern-day mainstream sports, and Washington’s actions in Berlin evolving rowing into an every-man sport, open to anyone from any background, rowing was a premier sport in the United States (Socolow 149). In 1936 at the Olympic qualifier in Poughkeepsie, New York, the emergence of national radio broadcasts allowed for networks to reach “audiences in the millions” (Socolow 150). As many as one hundred thousand spectators lined the shores of the Hudson River to watch the regatta take place as well. Top Power 5 schools in College Football today like Texas, Alabama, Michigan, and Tennessee have famous, colossal stadiums whose capacities go up to one hundred thousand. This goes to show just how popular rowing was at that point in time, as even in today’s world, national regatta audiences of the time could have filled the biggest of America’s favorite sport’s venues. If in the early to mid 1950s 2.3 million veterans were now students and if even a fraction of them sought to join athletic programs, rowing would’ve been near the top of the list in terms of interest level. With FDR and the New Deal creating the newfound sense of anti-elitism, Washington proving rowing is not just a sport for the elite, and the G.I. Bill injecting 2.3 million athletic candidates into the enrollment pool, the stage was set for the mass expansion of collegiate rowing nationwide. Between 1951 and 1959, nine of the today’s top 25 public rowing programs were established. The reason only the top 25 is recorded is to highlight schools that were and still are competitive with the private institutions in the same way Washington was. There was not only a spread of collegiate rowing, but a spread of nationally competitive collegiate rowing. Public schools like Michigan and Purdue now had teams that could beat the likes of Cal Berkeley or Princeton on any given day. With how young the program was and how diverse their athlete class demographics were, this was a huge step forward for rowing programs at public universities. The Dallas Morning News covered this in 1945, saying in response to the end of war “SMU, TCU, Texas, Baylor, and Rice should simultaneously take up varsity rowing. Within a few years… the conference might be holding an annual regatta here and sending representative crews to Poughkeepsie”. (Dallas Morning News). Public schools were primed to establish programs but lacked the athletes due to the war in Europe. The expansion into public universities continued from there, and in 2008 the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA) was established, giving public universities their own platform to compete nationally. The expansion of United States rowing mirrors that of international and Olympic rowing. At the 1936 games there were 24 countries represented by multi-boat rowing programs. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, there were 80 countries represented. It might not be the flashiest or most popular sport either watched or participated in, but rowing at all levels has seen a constant rise in popularity since its creation. This expansion of rowing to 80 countries also mirrors the expansion of collegiate rowing as no longer are rich or storied nations the only ones to possess Olympic caliber teams like in the 1936 games. In Berlin the countries consisted of global superpowers and former empires with countries like Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and of course the United States. Nowadays we see newer or developing countries like Algeria, Chile, Cuba, Iran, and the Philippines competing in the same events. Though most of these countries don’t usually manage to steal medals away from the larger, more established teams, stories of underdogs and heroics still exist. In 2024 the Romanian women’s team stole the eight-man gold medal from the likes of Great Britain and the United States. Forbes even nicknamed this eight “The Girls in The Boat” mimicking the 2013 novel The Boys in The Boat and the 2023 film of the same name that revitalized rowing’s popularity in the 21 st century (Genske). Nearly 100 years apart, we’re still not only seeing the same inspirational stories that popularized rowing in the first place, but the same evolution to a sport free of class separation from that of one run by the tenured elite. SportsGazette backed this claim in a 2018 interview with a former collegiate rower at the University of Wisconsin, encapsulating the overall attitude of the sport in todays world with “Maybe there are a few universities and a few clubs that still dabble in that elitist atmosphere, but I have to say for the most part it’s quite an antiquated understanding of rowing. People always think this. But I really think it’s just a lack of information” (Bowers).It’s clear that modern day rowing is finally unburdened by an elite monopoly.
The sport became even more inclusive in 2002, when para-rowing was added to the FISA World Rowing Championships. The idea of “adaptive” rowing first emerged in 1913. Headmaster George Clifford Brown at the Worcester College for the Blind in Great Britain established a boathouse “to provide the same sports as a public school” (World Rowing 2). With a sighted coxswain “blind men and boys could compete with no real disadvantage and demonstrate their athleticism as equals” (World Rowing 2). Awareness for adaptive rowing continued from there. In 1945 American veterans blinded in WW2 entered the Navy Day Regatta in Philadelphia. World Rowing’s A Short History of Para-Rowing called it a milestone that “set a precedent for adaptive rowing and while it would take a while to gain worldwide momentum, the seed was now planted” (World Rowing 8). Awareness and advocation for adaptive rowing continued throughout the 20 th century. In 2002, para-rowing became an official category at the FISA World Championships in Seville, Spain. Minus a few outliers, para-rowing has become a world championship mainstay in the 21 st century.
The inclusion of para-rowing concludes rowing’s transformation from the mid 1850s. From an elite-exclusive sport where only the rich and privileged could take part, to a sport where the only entry requirement is merit, rowing is now a sport free of both class and social separation. The lower classes and even disabled bodies can not only take part, not only compete, but win against programs and demographics that 100 years ago not only dominated but completely controlled the sport. It’s anyone’s game now, no matter where they come from.