The Syracuse Orange will honor Dr. Bruce Chamberlain on April 15.
Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association Co-founder to be Honored
3/29/2006 10:24:26 AM | Men's Rowing
SYRACUSE, N.Y.- The Syracuse University men’s rowing team will honor Dr. Bruce Chamberlain ’41 following its Goes Trophy race with Cornell and Navy on April 15 at Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, N.Y. The program will have a shell christened in recognition of Dr. Chamberlain’s efforts in organizing the Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association (SARA). The race is slated to begin at 8 a.m.
Organized in 1955 by Dr. Chamberlain and Dr. Thomas Kerr ’39, SARA’s purpose has been to support the interest in rowing at Syracuse University, the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County. Support from members of SARA has come in a variety of ways, from the giving of racing shells and equipment to the funding for training trips to maintain the traditionally high standards of Syracuse University rowing.
Dr. Chamberlain and Dr. Kerr had been teammates on the men’s rowing team at SU and began talking about what they could do to help the program in 1953.
“We were tired of losing,” Chamberlain said. “We had a conversation and we decided we’d get some ideas from Friends of Penn Rowing and other clubs and put it (SARA) together.
The Syracuse rowing program has produced 11 Olympic Games participants, five selections to the Olympics as coaches and 13 Pan Am gold medalists. SU has been represented by a coach, rower or alternate at every Olympics since 1964.
Dr. Chamberlain still serves as an active member as director of SARA and will be on hand at the Goes Trophy race to cheer on the Orange against Cornell and Navy and to see a shell christened in his named. He will be joined by his daughters Linda Miller and Laura Dodge and his daughter-in-law Mary Ann Chamberlain to do the honors of pouring the champagne.
SU head coach Dave Reischman said the legacy of Dr. Chamberlain is one that all those associated with Syracuse rowing felt needed to be recognized.
“If you talk to any alumni from the last 60 years of Syracuse Rowing they all have a Dr. Chamberlain story,” he said. “The number of lives he has touched and the reverence people have for him is amazing.”
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