Edward Kakas, 1964 (Crew)
During the summer of 1963, Kakas and three of his teammates won the National 4+ Rowing championship. That same crew finished second at the Olympic trials in 1964. Following his career with the Orange, he was a member of the 1966 U.S. National Team that competed at the World Championships in Bled, Yugoslavia.
Upon graduation, Kakas went into the family fur business for 33 years. During his time with the northeast's largest fur company he was elected Vice President of the Fur Information Council of America and one of three official national spokespersons for the industry.
In 1991, he returned to the rowing scene and has competed in all but one of the FISA World Masters Regattas, winning 54 gold medals. From 2000 to 2009 he served as Chairman of the U.S. Rowing Masters Commission.
Kakas is currently the Chairman of the Board of both the Foundation for Rowing Education and its subsidiary Row4All. The organization works with the National YMCA to bring rowing to underprivileged inner city youth on a national basis and coordinates adaptive rowing, primarily for injured military personnel from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He has been a member of the SU Alumni crew at the IRA every year since the race's inception in the mid 1990's, in which SU alumni have won more races than any other institution. Until recently was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Syracuse Alumni Rowing Association.
