Kent School Boat Club - History and Tradition

History and Tradition

Kent School is known far beyond the banks of the Housatonic River in Kent, Connecticut. Kent is well known at England's Henley_Royal_Regatta, where its crews have rowed many times since first winning the Thames Cup in 1933. Kent was the first American secondary school to race at the Henley Royal Regatta. The NEIRA (New England Interscholastic Rowing Association) championship silver bowls for the first and second boats bear the names of Kent's founder and first head coach, Father Frederick H. Sill and his successor, "Tote" Dixon Walker. Every KSBC oarsman knows the importance of sportsmanship and excellence to the school. Father Sill was a coxswain at Columbia University and built his school directly on the Housatonic so that with a river running through it, there could be rowing one day.

While Kent has had five headmasters since 1906, KSBC has had only four coaches, including Father Sill, "Tote" Walker `19, W. Hartwell "Hart" Perry and Eric Houston `80.

Kent's impact on scholastic and collegiate rowing is vastly disproportionate to its size. Among others, Hart Perry has been past president of the NAAO and was a founder of the National Rowing Foundation and the Rowing Hall of Fame in Mystic, CT. He remained the only American steward at the Henley RR until his death 2010. Steve Gladstone `60 has headed rowing programs at Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Cal Berkeley, California Rowing Club, and currently at Yale. Curtis Jordan `70 heads Princeton's rowing program. Bill Stowe `58 once ran the Columbia and the Coast Guard's program, and he stroked the Vesper Boat Club eight to olympic gold in Tokyo in 1964. Fred Schoch `69 has won many national and international races, and directs the world's largest rowing event, the Head of the Charles Regatta. Many others have rowed in world championships and in the olympics, both establishing Kent's legacy in the 20th century and ensuring it will continue into the next one.