Interscholastic Rowing In Illinois
By ROBERT PRUTER
Interscholastic rowing in the Midwest was much slower in taking hold as compared to the East. In Illinois, the sport did not emerge until the late 1930s, and then at most only a handful of schools ever competed in the sport. With such low numbers, sponsorship by the Illinois High School Association has never been even a remote possibility.
Culver Military Academy, in north central Indiana, was an early pioneer in schoolboy rowing in the Midwest, competing against amateur clubs and U.S. Navy organizations as early as 1907. This was not rowing in racing shells, but in navy cutters, much heavier vessels with high sides. In 1921, Culver added competitive rowing in racing shells—used by colleges and secondary schools--beginning with an eight-oar shell. Culver rarely had any competition against other secondary schools until the late 1930s, when the Lincoln Boat Club in Chicago began sponsoring local Chicago high schools rowing teams. The Lincoln Boat Club was formed in 1890, and conducted most of its meets on the Lincoln Park Lagoon. Chicago had a river flowing through it, the Chicago River, but unlike the cities in the East, no boat house row developed on its banks.
Chicago Schoolboy Regatta
The impetus for the development of interscholastic crew came in 1938, when the Lincoln Boat Club served as host for the Central States Amateur Rowing Association, which had been sponsoring a regatta in various cities since 1910. Central States, however, had never sponsored an interscholastic event, and the Lincoln Boat Club took advantage of its hosting status to sponsor a high school eight-oar event. Two Chicago Public League high schools participated in this first event, Lane Tech and Amundsen. Both schools made use of Lincoln BC boats and coaching to develop their crews.
Lane, 1940
In 1939, the Chicago Tribune became involved and chose to sponsor an all-interscholastic regatta for Chicago schools. Lane Tech and Amundsen were joined by two other Public League schools, Lake View and Waller, all whom made use of the Lincoln BC fleet of eight-oar shells and coaching. The meet scheduled two events, senior and junior eight-oar shells. The 1939 meet was conducted in the Chicago River. The following year, Schurz joined the other schools in developing rowing teams, and the meet was conducted in the Lincoln Park Lagoon. Lane Tech dominated both the senior and junior competitions both years. In 1941, the Chicago Tribune sponsored the first-ever Central States Schoolboy Rowing Association Regatta, and a city championship competition was held to determine the qualifiers for the Central States Regatta. The Chicago entries were determined by a series of match races and were deemed the Chicago schoolboy champions. The meet accepted one Chicago entry each for senior and junior eights. In the 1941 match races, Lane Tech met defeat for the first time, losing to Waller in the senior eights but retaining the title in the junior eights.
Lane, 1948
The following year, the city champion was determined by the Chicago Schoolboy Regatta, which was also sponsored by the Chicago Tribune. The first year's regatta attracted four schools—Lane Tech, Waller, Schurz, and Chicago Latin. From 1945 through 1947, the Chicago Tribune awarded the Commander Eugene McDonald Zenith trophy to the winning crew. With the field reduced to two entries in 1946, that of Lane Tech and St. Michael (a member of the small Parish League), the Chicago city champion was determined by a single match race. In 1947, the Lincoln Park Boat Club became the sole sponsor of the competition, and as in previous years supplied the shells and other equipment. Rowers on each crew would pay the Boat Club a yearly $5.00 fee to use the equipment. The Lincoln Park Boat Club would award a trophy to the winner of each of the three matches—namely the senior eights, junior eights, and freshman eights. After the 1950 match races between Lane Tech and St. Michael, the city championship was terminated.
Lane, 1954
Chicago High School Rowing Champions
Senior Eights
1938 — Lane Tech
1939 — Lane Tech
1940 — Lane Tech
1941 — Waller
1942 — Lane Tech
1943 — Lane Tech
1944 — Schurz
1945 — Schurz
1946 — Lane Tech
1947 — Lane Tech
1948 — St. Michael
1949 — Lane Tech
1950 — Lane Tech
Bishop Sheil Schoolboy Regatta
The Bishop Sheil Schoolboy Rowing Regatta began in 1952. Bishop Barnard J. Sheil headed the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) of the Chicago Archdiocese. Sheil was dedicated to providing sports and recreation opportunities for youth in all kinds of endeavors, and promoting a rowing regatta became a part of his mission in the early 1950s. The first year's regatta was held in the Lincoln Park Lagoon, and attracted secondary schools around the Midwest. The regatta also featured university events. A new Chicago secondary school entrant to crew was North Park Academy. In 1953 and 1954, the regatta was held in Lake Michigan's Burnham Harbor. The 1953 regatta attracted nine secondary schools, five of them from Michigan. The 1954 regatta attracted eight high schools. Allen Park High, of Allen Park, Michigan, dominated competition all three years.
Central States Schoolboy Regatta
Meanwhile, the Central States Schoolboy Regatta with its inception in 1941 had become the premier rowing competition in the Midwest. The inaugural 1941 event drew four Chicago public high schools—Lake View, Lane Tech, Schurz, and Waller. Ecorse High from Detroit dominated the early competition. The focus on the regatta was eight-oar shell (junior and senior), but other events added over the years were four-oar (with coxswain), four-oar (without coxswain), double sculls, and single sculls. The meet slipped into obscurity after the first two years, but during the 1940s and 1950s most of the participants in the meet came from the Chicago area and Detroit area. Playing a large role in the sport in the 1950s were two Chicago Catholic schools, Weber and St. Michael, but interest in the sport was generally low during the 1950s.
Lane, 1959
In the early 1960s, only Lane Tech of the Chicago Public League and Weber of the Chicago Catholic League remained competing among Illinois schools in the Central States Regatta. The schools competed against such Midwest schools as Culver Military Academy (Indiana), St. John's Military Academy (Delafield, Wisc), Roosevelt High (Detroit, Mich), and South (St Paul, Minn). The Central States Schoolboy Regatta finally ended around 1968. The Lincoln Park Boat Club attempted to fill the void by sponsoring a Midwest regatta in the third week of May. Little was reported on this regatta, and it soon disappeared.
Midwest Scholastic Rowing Association Regatta
Rowing revived in the 1980s with the formation of the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Association (MSRA) in the fall of 1983. It conducted its first championship competition in May of 1984, drawing ten secondary school teams and two club teams. The following year the Illinois school, Wilmette (Loyola Academy), participated in the meet. By 1990, 23 schools and clubs participated. In 1991, Kenwood Academy of the Chicago Public League became the second Illinois school to compete, and in 1995 Woodlands Academy of Lake Forest joined the competition. Kenwood Academy, however, dropped crew after the 1995 meet. St. Ignatius of Chicago began participating in the MSRA regatta 1997, followed by New Trier of Winnetka in 2003.
By the 2000 meet, 52 schools and clubs were participating. After the 2000 meet, the clubs separated from the organization to form the Midwest Junior Rowing Association. The next year, 39 secondary schools participated, and by 2003 the number had risen to 47. States sending crews were Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and the western section of Pennsylvania. The annual meet is generally held the second weekend of May. The MSRA totals up points for a variety of races for both novice and varsity, for single, double, fours, and eights, to award championships for boys, girls, and combined.
The most successful Illinois rowing teams in the MSRA regatta have been Winnetka (New Trier) and Wilmette (Loyola Academy). By 2016, New Trier had done better than any other Midwest school, having four boys’ competitions (2010, 2013, 2015, and 2016) and nine girls’ competitions from 2007 to 2016 (excepting 2009). In the overall point total for both genders, the New Trier team swamped all other teams, winning all ten combined competitions from 2007 to 2016. Loyola has won the boys team competition three times (1988, 1992, and 1993). Two other Illinois schools that engaged in MSRA crew were Chicago (St. Ignatius) and Lake Forest (Woodlands). Chicago area schools regularly practiced on the south and north branches of the Chicago River.
Besides the Midwest Scholastic Rowing championship in May, Chicago area schools also compete in various other fall and spring meets. Notable spring regattas include the Greater Chicago Junior Rowing Championship, the Cincinnati Invitational, the Midwest Rowing Championship, and the Judge Dunne Invitational (in Skokie). Notable fall competition includes Head of the Rock, Head of the Iowa, and the Chicago Chase. Illinois schools also compete in the national championship meet of the Scholastic Rowing Association of America, which is generally held in Eastern venues, and the Head of the Charles Regatta, in Boston.
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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Illinois High School Association.