Celebrating Over
30 Years of Tradition

2007 Michigan State Team Champions (Hebda Cup)

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OLSM Crew History

Detroit area boat/rowing clubs have been organized for well over 100 years on the Detroit River. In the early days, they custom crafted their equipment from very specialized designs. As rum running declined, but legitimate racing challenges continued, a specialized boat builder began producing racing shells in Seattle, Washington, to meet the increasing demand within the world of rowing. His name was George Pocock and is synonymous with rowing shells and equipment. In 1954, Pocock built a racing shell for the University of Washington crew to train in for the Olympics of 1956 in Melbourne, Australia. It was an awesome racing shell and team!

THE DESTINY

Also in the 1950's at the Detroit Boat Club, a legendary coach by the name of Judson Ross was developing crews that were feared across the land. In 1960, Judson acquired the University of Washington shell used in the '56 Olympics in order to start a program with Wayne State University and started the Detroit Boat Club. He managed the program out of the old Detroit Beach and Bathing Club on Belle Isle and offered scholarships to many local athletes. When the bathhouse was demolished, he moved the program to the Ecorse Rowing Club. Judson had many friends among the rowing clubs along the river and one of his favorites was Jack "Laddie" LeBlanc. Judson moved the University of Washington's "Pocock 8" down to Ecorse and also held regattas on Wolverine and Union Lakes with his partner "Laddie" until his program at Wayne State lost support.

THE LEGACY

Undaunted, Judson hauled his equipment up to Orchard Lake in 1976 and offered to coach a prep program for St. Mary's. The Washington Pocock racing shell trained in for the 1956 Olympics had found yet another home at OLSM. For the next three years, Judson coached the crews, but with failing health, he finally turned to Jack with a silver-tongued plea to take over the program and passed across his earthly finish line to his Lord a few years later. In 1979, Laddie took over in earnest and continued with the old equipment. He developed hundreds of memories for hundreds of OLSM crewmen across the gunwales of the ol' Pocock 8. He certainly added his best to the legacy he was entrusted with by Judson. The shell was retired from active duty in 1988 as the program grew at St. Mary's and new funding and boosters support offered new and more modern equipment for the crew. The shell retired first, and then Jack retired as Head Coach in 1996. Neither being ready to be totally out of the picture, Jack assisted with coaching while the seats of the old Pocock 8 were reincarnated and converted into coffee tables - a bonafide piece of local rowing history.

(The above story and history was compiled by Coach Jack "Laddie" LeBlanc and Richard Filipiak, former President of the OLSM Rowing Boosters Club, who rowed the old Pocock 8 for Judson Ross while attending Wayne State University).

 

THE LEGACY CONTINUES

St. Mary's Rowing Booster Club was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1989. Its purpose is to provide for maximum involvement of the parents and friends of the St. Mary's rowing program, to develop fund raising activities and bring about better recognition of the St. Mary's Prep rowing program within the school and the surrounding communities. The rowing program has continued to grow and gain increasing prominence and recognition. In 1996, Kevin Van Houten took over as Head Coach and Jack LeBlanc's legacy of producing outstanding crews has continued. In recent years, St. Mary's has achieved many accomplishments:

OLSM's crew may have had its finest year to date in the spring of 1998, when not only did the team win the overall team Midwest Championship, the Senior 8 crew went undefeated throughout the regular season. They won the prestigious Stotesbury Cup Regatta in Philadelphia, the Canadian Schoolboy Championships, the US National Championships and gained international recognition by taking second at the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames, England.

In 1999, Kevin Van Houten handed the reigns of head coach over to Coach Mike German who is continued the tradition of producing outstanding crew teams at Orchard Lake St. Mary's. Throughout Coach German's tenure, the crew continued to be a force every time they hit the water. He lead the team to two Midwest Championships (1999 and 2001), Seven HEBDA Cup Championships and Seven Wyandotte Regatta Championships. These championships make him the most successful crew coach in St. Mary's history.

Fall 2006, brings a change of the guard. Coach John Ray has accepted the challenge to lead the Eaglets in their quest to regain the HEBDA and Wy-Hi championships. Coach Ray's credentials are second to none. He began his rowing career in high school at Central Florida. He has rowed for Johns Hopkins University, the Wilmington Rowing Club in Delaware and at the Lookout Rowing Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Coach Ray has coached rowing at Duke University, the Atlanta Rowing Club, University of the South, Western Reserve Rowing Association in Cleveland, and the Groton School in Massachusetts before coming to St. Mary's in 1997. He holds a Level I Coaching Certification and teaches Chemistry and German at the Prep. As we complete our 30th year of crew at St. Mary's, we hope to be able to continue to pass on the history, the destiny and the legacy that Judson Ross started back in 1976.

o  Midwest Scholastic Rowing Championships 1994 - 1999, 2001
   (2003 Cancelled)
o  Hebda Cup Championships 1994 - 2005
o  Wyandotte Regatta Champions 1994 - 2005
o  1998 Accomplishments
o  Stotesbury Cup Champions
o  Canadian Schoolboy Champions
o  US National Champions
o  2nd in the World at the Henley Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames, England