GW Men's Rowing Alumni Night Is Friday
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George Washington men’s rowing alumni have the Champions Club reserved this Friday night, November 13, at 7:00 p.m., for the men’s basketball game on campus in Foggy Bottom, and every GW oarsman in range of Washington should buy the $25.20 ticket and come. A share of every ticket bought through the team’s link goes straight to GW Men’s Rowing. The current athletes and coaches will be in the room to meet the alumni. And the program walks in off a strong fall season that closed Saturday at the Wahoo Henley in Charlottesville, where the Novice 8 beat Virginia’s Novice 8 head-to-head. I rowed heavyweight for GW, so I am pimping this the way an alumnus is supposed to: loudly, in public, with my name on it.
Friday night in Foggy Bottom
The alumni social runs with Friday’s men’s basketball game, and GWMR has the Champions Club reserved for it. Head Coach Lee Rumpf and the team are eager to connect with the local alumni, and there is still space. The team’s ask is simple: if you plan to go and have not bought your ticket yet, buy it soon, and if you are undecided, decide yes. Each ticket is $25.20, and certain proceeds from tickets bought at the link below go directly to GW Men’s Rowing.
Buy tickets to the November 13 basketball game here.
The standing I am spending
I rowed on the GW heavyweight men’s crew and took my BA from George Washington in 1993. The photograph at the top of this piece is my crew on the dock in the yellow GW racing tanks, oars in hand, our coxswain kneeling in front. I am the tall man at right. A college rowing program runs on alumni who keep showing up after their own last race is long behind them. Friday night is the cheapest showing-up there is: a basketball ticket, a room full of rowers, and money that lands in the program’s account.
The fall season the alumni are celebrating
The last race of the fall is in the books, and it was a good one. At the Wahoo Henley in Charlottesville on Saturday, November 7, GW put four 8s on the water at the same time. The Novice 8 beat UVA’s Novice 8 to claim victory in the “lower” division. The Varsity 8 was finally knocked out of the consolation bracket by a Potomac Boat Club boat carrying five GW alumni, which is the correct order of things: the old boys should still be able to teach the current boys a lesson. The 2V turned second-half hero and won at least two races from behind. Virginia were gracious hosts, and the field ran deep: Georgetown Lightweights, Columbia Lightweights, Navy Lightweights, UNC, Delaware, and Bucknell.
Winter work starts now. The team hikes Old Rag this weekend, rows its last water session on the 21st, and doubles its erg count at Lerner so the whole program can grind together. Rumpf signs his rundown the way the program runs: “It’s All of Us or None of Us.”
Save April 10
Five months from today is the GW Invitational. Save Saturday, April 10, with additional alumni activities on Friday, April 9 and Sunday, April 11. The team wants to build on last year’s momentum and make this Invite the biggest and best yet. Alumni who want to help plan, or simply spread the word, should reach out through the GWMR website or at friendsofgwmr@gmail.com.
The endowment
The new Men’s Rowing Endowment is live, and every cent given goes to it. The flexible door is the University: corporate matches, donor-advised funds, and stock gifts all work through the GWU endowment link. The other door is the Friends of GW Men’s Rowing Inc. at its donation link, by cash, card, Venmo, CashApp, or PayPal; specify “Men’s Rowing Endowment.” Questions go to friendsofgwmr@gmail.com.
So the whole of it is this: Friday, November 13, 7:00 p.m., the Champions Club in Foggy Bottom, $25.20 a ticket with a share to the crew, the athletes and coaches in the room, a fall season worth toasting behind them, and the April 10 GW Invitational ahead. Buy the ticket. Show up. Raise high.
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