17 May 2018

Göran R Buckhorn writes: 

For ages, coaches and rowers at Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts, have believed that the rowing programme at the school started in 1919. With that, Tabor is one of the first prep schools in America to formally establish a rowing programme.

On the school’s boys’ crew website, it says about the school’s success on the rowing course:

In 1951, Tabor was one of the founding members of the New England Interscholastic Rowing Association, the league it continues to compete in today. Internationally, Tabor boasts a history that is matched by few American schoolboy crews. The school has won the prestigious Thames Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in 1936, 1937, and 1939 and the Princess Elizabeth Cup in the 1965 regatta. Due in many respects to this rich history, Tabor enjoys success as one of the top rowing programs in New England.

However, now it seems everyone was wrong about the founding year. Jack Gordon, who is a recent Tabor graduate and who rowed and coxed there for four years, told the SippicanVillageSoup.com website: ‘I’ve found that the program probably started more around 1917 or 1918. So, the anniversary of 100 years of crew is actually in 2018.’

To celebrate 100 years of boys’ rowing at Tabor, Gordon has made a documentary, A Century of Tabor Rowing, which will be shown on Sunday, May 20, at 4 p.m. at Tabor’s Fireman Center for the Performing Arts. The screening is free and open to the public.

Here is a trailer of A Century of Tabor Rowing:

When Tabor returned to coeducational teaching in 1979, a girls’ rowing programme was added. The girls’ eight won the New England Championships in 1988 and has also travelled to Henley Royal Regatta.

As a student at University of California, Berkeley, Jack Gordon is mixing filmmaking and rowing. He is a novice filmmaker, but he is hoping to be able to pursue a career in the field. At Cal, Gordon is the coxswain for the men’s team.