Orange Crew To Honor Bill Sanford With Boat Christening
5/15/2003 9:58:48 AM | Men's Rowing
“When I heard the news last week, the immediate thing that happened was my career and all of my top classes flashed before me,” Sanford said. “From the ‘50s, I thought of the Pan-American crew in ‘59. In the ‘60s, I thought of my freshman boat with Bill Wilson The ‘70s was the era of the ‘75-78 years when we won the (IRA championship). In the ‘80s I thought of a few individuals including Tom Darling. In ‘87, I had one of my faster crews, and in 1990 I think I had the fastest crew. Now I hope that the student-athletes who row in this boat have as much success as the crews I mentioned.”
Many boats have been christened since Sanford’s tenure began in 1968. Some of the more recent have been named in honor of Associate AD Emeritus Doris Soladay, Robert Herrick, SID Emeritus Larry Kimball, Joe Peter ‘69, Charles Roberts ‘61, and 1938 co-captains Bob Otis and Les Foster. Sanford’s boat is being christened due to his dedication and work with the crew team.
Sanford, who was SU’s mentor for 34 years, retired following the 2001-02 racing season after he was elected to the New York State Assembly for the 118th District in February, 2002.
Sanford began his rowing career at Syracuse in 1960. He competed on the Orange freshman squad that year and rowed on the varsity crew for the next three. As a senior, he was elected varsity captain. Sanford received his bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from SU in 1963 and took charge of the freshman crew that fall.
In 1968, he was promoted to varsity coach after his predecessor and mentor, Loren Schoel, retired. The following year, Sanford completed his master’s degree in psychology.
Sanford earned a reputation for building tough, hard-working squads, which row with a do-or-die attitude. A benchmark of his career occurred in 1978 when the SU varsity eight rowed to the Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Championship and Varsity Challenge Cup. Other IRA victories during Sanford’s tenure came from the freshman eight in 1976, 1977 and 1978 and from the varsity four in 1981. Five Olympic rowers developed under his watchful eye. In 1990, Sanford’s varsity crew was undefeated during regular season competition.
Sanford was not only a leader at the University; he is also a leader in the community. Before being elected to the State Assembly he was serving his 11th term in the Onondaga County Legislature representing the Town of Salina. He was elected chairman of the Legislature in January 1988 and served in that position until the February 2002 election.
He is a co-founder and past president of the Syracuse Chargers, an amateur athletic rowing club, which has been a model for similar clubs throughout the country. Sanford is active in a number of charitable organizations. He was chairman of the 1985 New York State Special Olympics Summer Games and was named honorary chairman of the 1986 Special Olympics competition. In 1993 Sanford served as fundraising chairman for the Special Olympic Summer Games, which were held in Syracuse.
In 1990 Sanford was honored as a Syracuse University LetterWinner of Distinction, an award voted on by his peers in SU’s Varsity Club. On June 6, 1998 at Alumni Reunion Weekend, Sanford became the sixth recipient of the Dean’s Outstanding Alumni Award in recognition of his loyalty and commitment to SU and to the local community.
Sanford is married to the former Nancy Hawley and they have three daughters, Shawn, Jennifer and Kristen. Jennifer is the head women’s rowing coach at the University of Connecticut and Kristen is the head coach of the Syracuse women’s team.
