Club History (brief & incomplete)

    The Crew Club at FSU was founded in the early 90's, by students. A land owner who held property on Lake Jackson allowed the team to use their land to store boats and build a dock. Times were tough in the early days, practices were held at the early dawn hours and the team had to make use of what little equipment they had. Despite these detractions, the club managed to start doing great things in the mid-90's.
    In 1996, two boats from FSU won gold medals at the SIRA championships; A men's freshmen lightweight 4+, and a men's varsity lighweight 4+. That same varsity lightweight 4+ went on to secure a position in the Grand Finals of the 1996 Dad Vail Regatta, the biggest sprint race in the country. Paul Clark was the coach of the team at the time, and certainly did a good job building a foundation of success for our program.
    In the 1996-97 year, Dr. Tom Morgan came on as head coach of the team. Formerly coach of Leon High School ( 1999 - 2006 ), Dr. Morgan continued the tradition of success at SIRA's and Dad Vails that Paul Clark began. In 1998, medals were earned at SIRA's once again. A women's freshmen lightweight 4+ took the silver, and a men's freshmen lightweight 4+ took the bronze. Another accomplishment made under Dr. Morgan was that of a team member qualifying for ARCO, a US National Team training site for women.
    In the 98-99 schoolyear, the team fell apart. Lake Jackson had dried up as it usually does in 10 year intervals, and coach Morgan went on to be the head coach of Leon High School. Almost all of the purchased equipment was repossesed, and the team was no more.

    In the fall of 2001, Brian Sprague helped restart the club. 11 rowers were recruited for the 01-02 season, and endured a year of land only training, as the team had not boats nor oars. Mr. Sprague, with the help of Dr. Patti Malarney, the current head of Sports and Recreation at FSU, secured the club a practice location at the FSU Reseveration. A Kaschper 4+ was recovered from years past, and in 2002 the SGA awarded the club enough money to get the program started back up again. A Jennings 8+, and two Jennings 4+ boats were purchased. These are the same boats we use today in our races. In the 02-03 year, Chris Campbell became head coach of the team.
    As of now, the team has been doing a great job of building a foundation of success that we can work with for years to come. As anyone who has been around the sport long enough will tell you, rowing is a sport built on tradition. With the continued support from alumni, friends, and family, as well as the hard work put in by our athletes, coaches, and executive board members, the club will continue to provide a competitive athletic outlet for only the most dedicated members of the Florida State student body.