Teams: Men's Crew: Press Releases

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

GARY CALDWELL TO RECEIVE USROWING'S CARLIN AWARD

MEDFORD -- Gary Caldwell, currently in his 16^th year as the Director of Rowing at Tufts University, will receive the prestigious John J. Carlin Award at the USRowing Annual Convention in Towson, Maryland on Saturday, December 3.

The John J. Carlin Award is given annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution and outstanding commitments in the sport of rowing. Caldwell will join this year's recipients of the Jack Franklin Service Award, Julian Wolf Award, Ernestine Bayer Award, USRowing Man of the Year, Clayton W. Chapman Award, Jack Kelly Award and USRowing Athletes of the Year at the annual banquet.

Caldwell has been a member of the rowing community for over 35 years. A four-year coxswain of the men's heavyweight crew at Yale, he graduated in 1972. While there, he participated in the first Yale/Harvard tour of Egypt in 1971. Since then, he has coached at numerous collegiate rowing programs during his career. Caldwell started his career as the first women's coach at Trinity College, followed by service as the coach at Marist College.  From there, he moved on to coach the freshmen at Northeastern University in 1984 with Buzz Congram before going to Tufts University.

His tenure at Tufts, which began in August 1990, has been marked by great growth for the program. Formerly tenants of the Harvard University boathouse on the Charles River in Boston, the Tufts team now practices and competes at its own site on the Malden River. Currently operating out of a temporary tent on property in Malden, the program will move to a new 9,000 square foot boathouse within the River's Edge Project in Medford. The new facility will allow the program to become fully functional.

Squarely involved in the politics and fund-raising necessary to have the project approved and completed, Caldwell is now witness to the fruits of his efforts as construction has begun and a completion date is slated for late winter. The new boathouse will allow the team not only to have a permanent home, but add more boats to its fleet and provide incentive for more athletes to row at Tufts.

The Jumbos had already been making progress on the water under Caldwell's direction. Last spring, the varsity women's eight was one of eight teams in the country selected to compete in the NCAA Division III Championships in Sacramento. The NCAA berth was unprecedented for the Tufts team, which produced strong performances at the New England Championships and at the ECAC National Invitational Championships to surge to the NCAA berth.

In addition to his Tufts responsibilities, Caldwell was also instrumental in organizing the first Champion International Collegiate Regatta in 1993. That regatta has continued to grow and develop and is now the ECAC National Invitational Championship Regatta, which spans two full days and included 58 schools from across the country this year.

Due in part to the talents he displayed in coordinating that regatta, Caldwell was tapped to succeed Clayton Chapman as the ECAC Director of Rowing in 1999. Since assuming the position, he has expanded the role of the ECAC Rowing program to include five national championships each season; at least once every other year coordinating three championships on a single weekend. Since 1999 the Rowing Program Membership has grown to over 150 schools, with over 6,700 student athletes participating in an ECAC championship each year. 

At a national level, Caldwell has been an avid supporter of USRowing. In addition to being a member of committees for the board of directors, he has provided his expert advice to the board of directors as they work to redefine the role that USRowing plays for collegiate rowing.  Caldwell is actively involved to ensure that USRowing continues to work at serving all its members. Most recently, he has provided increased support to the USRowing Referees.

Last summer, Gary married Janet Silva, an athletic trainer at Tufts, and the couple live on the Tufts campus in Medford. He has a son, Courtney, from a previous marriage.

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