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Community Rowing Names New Boathouse After Legendary Harvard Rowing Coach Harry Parker |
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Boston, Ma-September 5, 2008-Community Rowing, Inc. (CRI), the largest public rowing organization in the United States, announced today that it will name its new $15 million boathouse after Harry Parker, Harvard University's men's varsity rowing coach. Mr. Parker is a Trustee of Community Rowing and longstanding supporter of efforts to bring the sport to a broader and more diverse audience. |
Community Rowing Facts
CRI was founded in 1985, by a group of Olympic and National Team rowers, many of whom rowed for Mr. Parker. These athletes formed CRI with the goal of diversifying the sport and securing public access for rowing along Boston's Charles River. CRI's first years of operation were based in Harvard facilities, thanks to the support of Harry Parker.
Today, CRI is a thriving non-profit with 30 programs, a fleet of 150 sweep and sculling shells and an annual operating budget of over $1 million. The organization offers recreational and competitive rowing programs for youth and adults, as well as an extensive community outreach program serving more than 500 people each year. CRI's Competitive Girls Program is among the best in the country.
Information on the Harry Parker Boathouse
The Harry Parker Boathouse is a 30,000 sq. ft. facility located along the banks of the Charles River in Brighton, MA. It features a sculling pavilion, space for 170 rowing shells, lockers, showers, weight room and training space. The boathouse has also been designed to include a classroom for CRI's G-ROW (Girls Row) Boston program, a leading after-school rowing and academic support program for more than 200 girls living in Boston's inner city. Among the ten boathouses along the Charles, the Harry Parker Boathouse will be the only one fully dedicated to public access rowing.
Fundraising Facts
Much excitement is centered on the new boathouse, as demonstrated by the high number of donors and leadership gifts made in honor of Mr. Parker and the significant role he has played in the sport. To date, more than 850 individuals, corporations and foundations have contributed to the campaign with nearly forty percent of the $13.4 million raised for the boathouse coming from athletes who rowed for Mr. Parker while at Harvard or on one of the US National or Olympic Teams he coached. Gifts received from former Harvard oarsmen have been offered as being Harvard's gift to the Boston community and to the rowing community at large in return for the privelege of rowing on the Charles for the past 160 years.
Harry Parker Biographical Information Mr. Parker attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate and while at Penn won the 1955 Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. After rowing at Penn, Harry was the US single sculls champion in 1959 and 1960, won the Pan American Games in 1959 and was 5th in the Rome Olympics in 1960.
In 1963, he accepted the position of Men's Varsity Head Coach for Harvard and forty-five years later continues there at the helm. Having coached six Olympic Teams (1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984) and having won more than twelve national championships, Harry Parker is one of the most successful coaches of all time.
Making Harvard facilities available to fledgling programs such as Community Rowing in 1985, Harry Parker has continually demonstrated a long history of supporting the expansion of rowing. He also was instrumental in supporting women's rowing at Harvard/Radcliffe in 1971 and on the national team level, coaching the first women's national teams in 1975 and 1976.
Boathouse Architects
Anmahian Winton Architects, Inc. (AWA) of Cambridge, MA, designed Community Rowing's Harry Parker Boathouse. AWA has been awarded two impressive honors for the facility's unique design. Architect Magazine bestowed the firm with the prestigious "P/A Award" for its smart and progressive design and The Chicago Atheneum Museum of Architecture and Design presented "The American Architecture Award for 2008" to AWA for the building's new and cutting edge characteristics.
Date for Dedication Ceremony
The dedication ceremony for The Harry Parker Boathouse will be held at 6:00pm on Thursday, October 16, 2008 at CRI's new address: 20 Nonantum Road, Brighton, MA 02135.
Contact Information
For additional information on CRI and the Harry Parker Boathouse please contact Maura W. Hammer at Tel: 617-923-7561 or maura@communityrowing.org or Visit CRI's website at www.communityrowing.org |
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