Charles E. Courtney - Legacy

Legacy

The impact of Charles Courtney career's as a competitive rower was very profound. During his professional career, rowing was at the height of its popularity in the United States, and was considered one of the major sports in America. Some believe that the controversies surrounding the Hanlan and Courtney single scull races in 1878 and 1880 caused a public backlash against professional rowing that eventually led to its loss of popularity. The American public lost confidence in the integrity of the sport, assuming that the races were fixed. By the late 1890s, professional rowing had all but disappeared in the United States with only a few exceptions.

The impact of Charles Courtney's career as a rowing coach was also very far-reaching. When Charles Courtney started his college coaching career at Cornell, few colleges in America were active in rowing other than Cornell; Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Pennsylvania were the only other schools to have significant programs. Several of his former rowers would help expand the number of rowing schools by starting or developing rowing programs across the country. In 1900, Edwin Sweetland, who rowed varsity for Courtney in 1899, became the first rowing coach at Syracuse University. Mark Odell, who rowed Varsity for Cornell in 1897, was instrumental in establishing the rowing program at the University of Washington. In addition, The University of Wisconsin–Madison rowing program was started with the help of the University President Charles Kendall Adams, former President of Cornell during the beginning of Courtney's tenure. From his experiences with Courtney at Cornell, Adams knew how a strong athletic program could increase his University’s national reputation. In the spring of 1894, Adams hired Amos W. Marston, who rowed for Courtney from 1889 to 1892, as the first Wisconsin Badgers rowing coach.

Courtney was also instrumental in American college sports in the transition of power away from the students to the head coach. He helped transform the head coach into the dictatorial coach seen throughout the 20th century. When he was first hired, it was common practice for the captain of any team to hire the coach and the captain decided on whether the coach stayed on. Since the captain was a student, they would change from one year to the next, and there was no job security. Unlike other 1890s college coaches, Courtney signed a multi-year contract, starting in 1895. He used his job security to demonstrate his power when he overruled team selection of the team captain for the Henley Regatta that same year. Another illustration of his authoritative power that he had gained was in 1897 when he kicked out most of team for eating strawberry shortcake before the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta. He would instead take a crew made up of mostly substitutes to victory.