Aberdeen Dad Vail ® Regatta - A Legacy Reborn: Single Sculls Return To Dad Vail

Seventy-seven years later, America's grandest collegiate regatta is coming full circle.
For now, though, let's start at the beginning ...

After stewarding Harvard men's rowing as team captain in 1892-93, an amiable man named Harry Emerson Vail embarked on a career as a premier single sculler. From there he would go on to become a figurehead in American rowing as head coach of the University of Wisconsin from 1911 to 1928. It was there that Harry Vail was nicknamed "Dad," by virtue of his fatherly influence on his athletes.

Six years after Vail's passing in 1928, University of Pennsylvania coach Rusty Callow embarked on a mission to promote rowing and give smaller collegiate programs a platform to perform on. This competition would need a name and only one came to mind.

"Dad" Vail.

With that, Callow gave birth to a little event called the Dad Vail Regatta in 1934. It's hard to imagine he could have foreseen its growth spurt.

On May 13 and 14, 2011 over 100 colleges and universities will gather on the banks of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River for the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta presented by Coca-Cola. Thousands of student-athletes annually gear their seasons around a peak performance at that "little event" named for Mr. Vail.

Only this year, two new events are on the docket: The Philadelphia Challenge Cup and the exhibition Open Singles Sculling Collegiate Championship. At long last, the Dad Vail Regatta will prominently feature the race that the oarsman it is named after excelled in — the single sculls.

"The 2011 Collegiate Single Sculling Championship is a demonstration of a renewed commitment to develop world class United States single scullers," said Jack Galloway, chairman of the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee. "Further, it is a celebration of the prestigious Philadelphia Gold Cup event being held on the same day, May 14, on the historic Schuylkill River National Course. We expect to attract the top American collegiate scullers to this initial event."

Whereas United States rowing tends to emphasize "team boat" races in eight- and four-oared boats, international rowing typically exalts single scullers. "Anyone who is serious about the singles in this country is going to be a hot commodity for a coach to use on a four or an eight," noted Greg Doyle, who raced in Dad Vail from 1988 to 1991 with Villanova University and won numerous medals in both sweeps and sculling at USRowing national championships from 1989 to 2000.

Thus, U.S. singles are typically at a disadvantage in international competition. Most homebred single scullers don't focus solely on the event until after college.

That may soon change. And it could start in Philadelphia. The Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee has kept a mobile perspective in order to dovetail progressive endeavors with cherished traditions.

"It's very exciting for American scullers to compete at this level, single scullers especially," said Sarah Stevenson, a Dad Vail board member who competes as a single sculler out of Vesper Boat Club. "In time, it will no doubt improve our competitiveness internationally in the small boat events. Most high school and college rowers train for the traditional big ticket events.

"By adding a singles event at regattas like the Dad Vail, hopefully we can get more kids sculling through high school and college, so by the time they graduate, they are pretty well developed and can really start training hard to compete internationally."

University of Massachusetts head coach Jim Dietz, one of the top American single scullers in history, couldn't agree more.

"Our sport, the way it's evolving, should look like the Olympic sport," said Dietz, a member of the U.S. National Team from 1967 to 1983 who won 45 United States and 37 Canadian national championship titles. "I am just thrilled that 1.) the Dad Vail is bringing back the Gold Cup so that thousands of collegiate rowers can see some of the best scullers in the world race and 2.) to have the (collegiate) exhibition. I couldn't be more happy. I've been waiting for this to happen forever."

Across the board, American single scullers are ecstatic over Dad Vail's new commitment to their event. Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, a Philadelphia native who began rowing for a small club program at diminutive Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota before going on to win the lightweight single sculls at the 2010 World Rowing Championships Trials, believes a glaring void has been filled.

"This is such a great decision," Urevick-Ackelsberg said. "This is perfect for individual athletes from small schools. It really gives them something to shoot for. I would have loved — loved — the opportunity to have rowed at Vails."

In a sport where individuals dissolve into a single unit in team boats, the single sculls is an entirely different animal. According to Dietz, the event breeds a "personal responsibility" in a rower. There is no hiding when you're alone in a shell. "There's no one else to blame," said Julie Nichols, who finished sixth in the lightweight single sculls at the 2010 World Rowing Championships and served as an alternate on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. "It's just me and my level of investment. It becomes such a personal race. The people you race are all competing as individuals too, so all these little rivalries develop."

Only time will tell what develops on the Schuylkill River on the second weekend of May. For now, however, it's clear that the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta has indeed looped around and come full circle.

In Harry Emerson "Dad" Vail's obituary, published in the Wisconsin State Journal on Oct. 8, 1928, the following ran as the conclusion; "As long as rowing is discussed, there will be those to tell of the feats of "Dad" Vail when he was one of the greatest single scullers in the world."

Now, once and for all, the event baring Vail's name will help to produce the world's greatest single scullers.

Brendan F. Quinn
Editorial Writer
Dad Vail Regatta Organizing Committee
DVROC Office Line: (610) 234-2076
brendan.quinn@dadvail.org.
www.dadvail.org
www.twitter.com/DadVaildotTV

About the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta, Presented by Coca-Cola®
The Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta presented by Coca-Cola is the largest collegiate regatta in North America with over 100 colleges and universities from the United States and Canada. Held annually since 1953 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the Schuylkill River, thousands of student athletes and spectators visit the City of Philadelphia during the weekend of the second Saturday in May.

About Title Sponsor — Aberdeen Asset Management
Aberdeen Asset Management Inc is the wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary of Aberdeen Asset Management PLC, a global investment management group which is headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, and manages more than $287 billion of assets for both institutions and private individuals (as of Dec. 31, 2010). Philadelphia is home to the U.S. equity and fixed income investment management teams, as well as U.S. client servicing, consultant relations, business development and other operational staff: more than 180 employees in total. Aberdeen manages and services approximately $53 billion in total assets on behalf of North American and international clients. For more information, visit www.aberdeen-asset.us Here in the U.S., Aberdeen is also proud to be one of the supporters of the British Garden at Hanover Square, New York. This New York City park celebrates historic ties of friendship and unity between the U.S. and the UK. Globally, Aberdeen has a long standing association with university rowing competitions having sponsored the Oxford v Cambridge University Boat Race in the UK from 1999 – 2005. The company also continues to support the Aberdeen Universities Boat Race in Aberdeen, Scotland in their annual event which takes place every February.

About Presenting Sponsor — The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Together with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio includes 14 billion dollar brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply and Georgia Coffee. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of 1.6 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that protect the environment, conserve resources and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. For more information about our Company, please visit our website at http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com.

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