Written by ANN HAUPRICH | PHOTOS COURTESY OF WAYNE BUTLER, PATRICIA KAY, THOMAS PRAY, RALPH PASCUCCI, JODY WHEELER AND NATHANIEL WHITTEMORE
By the time they became charter members of the Saratoga Springs Rowing Club in the mid-1980s, the friendship between former college fraternity brothers Ageo Frizzera and Thomas “Woodbine” Pray had already been on an even keel for two decades.
Having each come to admire the other’s unsinkable spirit after meeting at their SUNY/Plattsburg orientation in 1967, the pals who went on to establish careers in the Capital Region, often reunited for intense biking, running and swimming practices and competitions. Cross-country skis were also given their share of workouts on Ballston Spa dentist Pray’s historic Agewood farmstead in Charlton.
After several years of the latter, however, financial whiz Frizzera and Pray felt they were ready for a new outdoor sporting challenge that would entail world class teamwork and travel to destinations neither had previously dreamt possible –including prestigious regattas on the other side of the Atlantic.
In what was far more than a stroke of luck along the shores of Saratoga Lake in 1984, Frizzera and Pray (neither of whom had ever paddled a boat with an oar before) met architect and seasoned oarsman Tom Frost, who offered to give them their first rowing lessons. The trio soon thereafter joined forces with fellow founding fathers Brian Brady, Wayne “Pinky” Butler, Chris Ciocci, Jack Cogan, Jim Martinez, Ralph Pascucci, Elmer Robinson, John “Rocky” Rockwell, John Stacey and Bob Tarrant. Other notable early members included Paul Heiner and James “Jingles” Natale, Jr.
According to Butler (now Vice-President of Sales for the Life Sciences division of Corista, LLC and a 20-year US Rowing Referee veteran) the founding fathers had just three goals: to promote the sport of rowing, to hold a regatta and to build a boathouse. And indeed, it wasn’t long before the pioneering Saratoga Springs Rowing Club began bringing home an impressive array of gold, silver and bronze medals as well as trophies they had won at regional, state, national and international championships.
In hindsight, Pascucci – who went on to launch his Emmy-winning Myriad Productions company in 1985 – says what he cherishes most about his four decades strong affiliation with the SSRC “is not the hardware; it’s the friendships.” Pascucci’s most treasured memories include competing alongside SSRC teammates in the nationals in Lake Placid and the Head of the Charles in Boston as well as visiting every rowing venue at the four Olympics that he attended for NBC. Pascucci is especially proud of the SSRC’s philanthropic legacy which includes scholarships awarded to deserving high school students in the community.
Pray, who was a teen when The Beatles made huge entertainment waves after they landed on American soil for the first time in 1964, flashes a sunbeam wide smile as he recalls how he, Frizzera and two other early SSRC members would later be dubbed The Fab Four “because we never lost a race when the four of us were together in the same boat.” In a fascinating twist (if not a Twist & Shout!) of fate, Butler says he was the equivalent of original Beatles drummer Pete Best when he relinquished his seat as a Fab Four member to Ringo Starr. Dan Szot took Wayne Butler’s place with Ageo Frizzaro, Thomas Pray and Bob Tarrant.)
Best known nowadays in racing circles of a different sort as Saratoga’s unofficial track dentist, Pray has high praise for the Thoroughbred-like stamina that was exhibited by the SSRC crew members in the boat they had purchased for $8,000. “Our boat was state-of-the-art. We’re talking about Olympics quality. There was nary a slacker aboard when our team swept the USA Nationals Masters Championship in 1988,” insists Pray.
Among the bounty of historic images provided by Pray to accompany this feature are those taken when he and Frizzaro were part of the rowing team that earned second place in the Canadian National Championships in Montreal and global rowing competitions in France and Scotland. Coming in fourth with Frizzera in the two-man 1,000 meter event in the World Rowing Championships in Miami, Florida is another cherished memory.
Especially dear to Pray’s heart are photos taken at the October 1992 Head of the Fish regatta – the same year when the SSRC sold some of its rights to the Saratoga Rowing Association. “Our cox was sick and so my daughter Jessie, then just eight years old and 45 pounds, filled in for her. Jessie was the lightest weight coxswain ever to compete in a regatta at that time.” Lest one cast the above anecdote aside as a whopper of a fish tale, we’ve got the now 32-year-old photos to prove its validity – hook, line and sinker!
OAR you kidding? The Butler did it!
Why Saratoga Springs Rowing Club founding father Wayne Butler could "knot" resist weaving comedic & historic strands together during landmark speech.
BONUS COMPANION PIECE Written by WAYNE BUTLER
When invited to say a few words about the early days of the Saratoga Springs Rowing Club, Wayne “Pinky” Butler pulled out all the stops! In addition to the laugh lines the SSRC founding father and 20-year US Rowing Referee veteran wove into the keynote address he delivered to pioneering members of the SSRC earlier this year, Butler -- who earned the nickname “Pinky” after returning from a regatta sunburned four decades ago – adlibbed additional passages. Among the quips that generated waves of chuckles and giggles described a beloved charter member this way: “Elmer had only one direction. Forward. And one speed: Fast.” As a show that Simply Saratoga admires Elmer Robinson’s rowing repertoire, we urge you to now follow one direction when reading the full context of Butler’s speech: Down. And one speed: Leisurely
I’d like to begin by sharing some comments on rowing and this great community of Saratoga Springs. Most know that modern day rowing started with the waterman of the British Isles… The group that rowed the fastest for their work survived and prospered, those that didn’t fell to the wayside.
But, on what makes our sport (if you can call it that) is the speech by Thomas E Weil at the 150th anniversary of the Harvard-Yale boat race and its time-honored display of elements of character that are not equaled in any other team sport born of life and death struggles.
Thomas relates the story of 426 BC when the 20 fastest Spartan triremes pursued the remaining 11 Athenian vessels -- with the outcome of the battle almost certain, even rowing to a protected Port. Upon seeing a moored merchant vessel, inspiration seizes the Athenian commander, orders a racing turn, resulting in being hidden by the moored vessel, and is now pursuing the Spartans- the Athenians rowing for their lives, their children, their wives and country: overtake and defeat the invading Spartans.
And on the wonderful community of Saratoga Springs -- called a “city in the country” with so much history and community. It was that community that helped not only us, so many years ago.
You are all aware of the great regattas of the 19-th Century held in Saratoga Springs raced on the main lake from Snake Hill towards the railroad bridge. Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Hamilton, Dartmouth, Bowden, Brown, Williams, Union, Columbia and Wesleyan each with their own boathouses on the lake. Over 30,000 would attend, paying five dollars ($120 today) with over $250,000 ($6-million today) reported wagers. It was the Saratoga Springs community that sponsored the event.
Moving to more modern day, The American Henley Regatta was held in 1961 in Saratoga Springs with Harvard, MIT, Vesper and St. Catherine’s among the crews. MIT won the Eights. In 1975-the Red Rose Crew-first US women’s camp boat for the Olympics, training under what only can be described as “miserable and unfair” conditions-marched into Yale’s president’s office and stripped to gain attention to those conditions-one can say this was the beginning of title 9 and that rowing belonged to all. But back to Saratoga Springs. Skidmore College rowing starts as a student-run club in 1978-and a young architect Tom Frost -with Princeton rowing experience and his own single assist- supports Skidmore’s program.
In 1984 Albany Rowing Center is started by Dr. Neil Kaye, a former coxswain. And (future Saratoga Springs Rowing Club founding father) Bob Tarrant- invites me to take a row in an Alden and the word starts to circulate: “We ought to start a rowing club.”
In late 1985, the first real meeting is held in Chris Cuccio’s workshop with an initial 13 members with more to join. We all pitched in $100. As Ageo Frizzaro said: “No promises.” We were founded with just three principles: To promote the sport of rowing; to hold a regatta and to build a boathouse.
Tom Frost was our first president, John Rockwell our VP/Commodore, and Ageo Frizzera our treasurer. Jim Martinez would later take on that role for 15 years. In what became a club tradition (started by Ralph Pascucci) if you missed a meeting you were volunteered-and that’s how I became the first secretary. Thank you Ralph! Milford Lester served as our first chaplain and provided real business acumen. Our SSRC colors were cobalt blue and roan. Headquarters was Sperry’s where John Rockwell oversaw our bulletin board. Scott Perkins did our incorporation.
Then in 1986, a perfect storm occurred. We secured our first 4 -- a wooden Pocock from the Gunnery School -- and Jon and Suzanne Disem of the Waterfront let us launch from their beach. We had our first race in Albany and gained experience. Skidmore College hired a coach to take their Club Sport to Varsity-a national champion by the name of Jim Tucci arrives with his very special yellow van. SSRC hired Jim to coach us and offered the very first Learn-To-Row program from the Waterfront. Jim went on to start an adult program in 1988 and youth rowing camps from 1992 to 2004.
Jim introduced two outstanding Skidmore coxswains Tara Nichols (ex pres.) and Louise Pleasirio for our training. Other outstanding coxswains included Ruth Robinson, John Stacy and Tom himself. Off we went- to the Head of the Connecticut, Head of the Mohawk and Head of the Charles.
And the Schuykill, Lowell and others purchased a Heavy Weight Schoenbrod 4 -aptly named the Grappa. Jean Tarrant, our first female member joined in 1988, the first year a 4 went to worlds. We always raced open events, and the very famous Coast Guard midshipmen quote at the HOC “Who are those guys?’ -soon became “Saratoga’s here!” in later years. Additional coaching (was provided by) Bill Hand (Dartmouth) of Hand Melon and wherever we could find it.
We held that first regatta in November 1986 with 62 boats starting on the course you know today, but rowing through the 9-P bridge to the lake, finishing at the Waterfront.
All members worked and the community support was overwhelming (Adirondack trust, Allerdice, Stewart's) Jon Disem donned the fish head as part of the awards ceremony, and I served as emcee.
Two young rowers from Skidmore, Chris Grosso and John Onderdonk, rowed in that first regatta-and went on to win two golds at the Dad Vails. John would later lead the redesigned Skidmore Rowing Pavilion, and Chris would serve as President with the notable achievement of selling the HOF to the SRA.
One must celebrate one’s achievements, and the First Friday in February event was started-we held a black-tie ball event that first year in the Hall of Springs, followed by the Golf and Polo Club the next year. Not to take ourselves too seriously, we also held events at the Le Bouef restaurant in Montreal and the Saratoga Raceway (the dirt track)
We soon outgrew the Waterfront, and Elmer and Ruth Robinson (as their grandson does today), leased us our boathouse-Tom Roohan, Ralph Pascucci and others helped us reconfigure and our first House was “built.”
As children will often want to do what their parents do, six young ladies spoke to Tom Frost and convinced a SHS wrestling coach to start a club. This could not have happened without the tireless efforts of club members to promote the sport of rowing and its history in Saratoga, with Tom Frost and Janit Stahl leading that effort.
The support from SSRC and Skidmore to SRA was enormous. From regatta buildouts, community acceptance, and designing the SRA boathouse. Elmer and Ruth stepped forward again for launching on the property adjacent to ours. In fact, Jim Tucci was inducted into the Skidmore Athletic Hall of Fame!
Looking back-we’ve now seen hundreds of regattas in Saratoga Springs, with thousands of rowers, that promoted the sport and helped build three boathouses. I thank you ALL for our first 40 years and can only imagine what the next 40 will bring!
This winning group photo was taken following the 1986 Head of the Mohawk regatta. From right to left are: Wayne Butler, Ralph Pascucci, coxswain Tara Nichols, Bob Tarrant and Ageo Frizzera. At far left are Schenectady County officials and the race’s chairwoman.