Hello SDSU Rowing Alumni, Supporters and Friends,
After an exciting fall, it was a pleasure to kick off the spring season with the Crew Classic! The regatta featured some of the premier teams in the United States, and provided the Aztecs an opportunity to test themselves against the fastest crews in the nation. Both SDSU men and women attended the regatta, with a great crowd of supporters to cheer them on. In addition to the weekend’s amazing races, the Aztec tent was filled with great stories of past racing, fresh food off the BBQ, and memorabilia of SDSU rowing.

Annual Crew Classic Banquet 

The weekend kicked off with the Annual Team Banquet. The event saw a healthy attendance, and a number of items up for auction. The evening featured a social dinner, speeches, and a silent auction. The O’Hara family provided three scholarships in memory of James O’Hara for exceptional Novice athletes. Congratulations to Sawyer Lowe, Shane Siegal and Sarah Levin for receiving the memorial scholarship from the family. The team and the recipients express their appreciation for the O’Hara family for their continued support. 

Crew Classic 2019 

We were excited to have both the Varsity 8 and Novice 8 racing in finals on Sunday.  The Varsity 8 pretty handily took out Long Beach in their heat, and secured a 6th place finish in the Petite Final on Sunday.  The Novice 8 took 3rd in their heat, which landed them in the Grand Finals on Sunday, where they narrowly missed the podium by finishing 4th overall.  In addition to the boats making the Sunday finals, the team was also able to field a 2nd Varsity 8 that raced on Sunday to round out their showing at the event.  With two 8’s of athletes on Varsity, and almost a full second eight of novices, the team is continuing to use their numbers to drive inter-squad competition as they prepare for WIRAs. Full results from Crew Classic weekend can be found here

Crew Classic BBQ and Presentation from former coach Chuck Datte

During Sunday Finals, Andy Olson and Dan Smith fired up the grill and served up a whopping portion of food. Visiting Alumni reminicised of their years on the team, and shared stories of racing at Crew Classic with current rowers. The team is incredibly grateful to all the alumni that attended the event, and appreciates the history shared.

To make this event even more influential on the Aztecs, a history of Aztec Rowing was given by Mr. Chuck Datte, who coached for the Aztecs from 1985-1986-. Chuck unearthed some relics of Aztec racing, with photographs of the team racing at IRA’s, Henley, and training for WC trials. The amazing crews of that era toiled greatly at the oars. Chuck described the difficulties faced by the athletes and coaches as they raised expectations to unprecedented levels. Most inspiring, he instilled in the athletes that this accomplishment came from the athletes themselves.

2019 Foundation Meeting and Officer Elections

After Chuck’s dialogue, attending Alumni gathered at the tent to kick off the H. Del Beekley Foundation’s 11th Annual Meeting.  The meeting visited the successes of the past year, namely the alumni participation at local events, and the purchase of a new racing 8. A discussion with the team brought forth the upcoming goals for the following year, which focus on the development of benchmarks for the team and foundation. In addition, the team officers highlighted the Alumni events and their positive impact on the team. Meeting minutes will be posted on the H Del Beekley website, but for convenience, the 2019-2020 officers are introduced below.

President – Bernard Aparicio – Bernard served as vice president in 2018, and takes on the president role under the guidance of his fellow officers.

Vice President – Matthew Stewart – Matthew takes on the vice president role after serving with distinction as an at-large member.

Secretary – Brandt Watson – Brandt continues as secretary, where he served in great capacity last year.

Treasurer – Steve Lewis – Steve continues as treasurer, in which capacity he has been outstanding for three years.

At Large – Andy Olson – Andy opted to take a step back this year. As an at-large member, he will prove invaluable for his extensive history and undying passion for Aztec rowing.

At Large – Haakon Christoffer Jonsmyr – Chris returns as an at-large member, which he served admirably last year.

Boat Fund Update – Boat Purchased

Finally, the weekend included the purchase of a 2017 Pockock 8+ from the University of Texas. Last year, the foundation voted to purchase an appropriate racing shell for the team. After a steady year of fundraising, the foundation raised $30,000 for the purchase, and secured the boat shortly before crew classic. The team happily brought the boat home on Saturday, and it is now the top boat for SDSU men’s crew. The boat was purchased not with a single donation, but through the generosity of over 50 Alumni over the past two years. This collective effort shows the great ability of the Alumni base to support the team, and we endeavor to continue this over the next year.

Alumni Spring Row – May 4, 2019

If tales of Crew Classic has inspired you to take up the oar again, you’re in luck!  On Saturday May 4th at 7:30am, come down and relive the glory days as you join with fellow alumni to give the current Aztec oarsmen a run for their money. As usual, all eras of rowers are welcome, and several 8’s are expected to be racing. A $20 buy-in gets you a seat, first come, first served (fitness not required). If you would like to participate, contact us (info@beekleyrowing.org) or a member of the board and we will reserve your seat.  Come down and pay tribute to the great oarsmen of Aztec Rowing!

Please contact us if you have any questions!

Aztecs Spring Race Schedule

• April 27th-28th – WIRA – Sacramento

Future Beekley Foundation Events

• May 4 2019  – Spring Alumni Row 

Hello Aztec Rowing Alumni and Friends,

Spring racing is well under way and the next event on the schedule is Crew Classic on April 6-7th!

Crew Classic invokes great memories of racing, being with friends and teammates, and making boats go fast. This year will be no different. The Aztecs will be entering three 8’s: a Varsity 8, Junior Varsity 8, and a Novice 8. The athletes are primed and ready to go to row at the big show.

We would like to enlist your help and support to make this Crew Classic the best one yet. On Friday April 5th, we will be having our annual banquet and auction. This will be a fun night of food, meeting current oarsman, seeing old friends and making new ones. Please RSVP here.

The team leadership and the alumni board are working hard to make this a weekend to remember. Here are some key details about the weekend:

• Auction: We will be auctioning off the naming rights to two eights in our fleet. Cement your legacy at your Alma Mater in the best way possible by immortalizing your name in the Aztec Rowing boathouse. We appreciate all of the support from our alumni and want to make auction items worthwhile. For a complete list of auction items, click here (link to list I am putting together
• Racing: The reason we are here! Racing begins the morning of Saturday April 6th with each boat having at least one race, with finals Sunday April 7th. The racing schedule can be found on the Crew Classic site and will be updated with final times as the event approaches.
• Crew Classic BBQ: Along with the racing on Sunday April 7th, we will also be hosting the famous carne and pollo asada BBQ at the team tent.  We’ll be firing the grill up early and plan to start serving food by 11:AM.
• Beekley Foundation Meeting: At 1:30PM, the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation will convene its annual meeting.  Any alumni or supporter is welcome to attend and any member of the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation in good standing is eligible to vote on the issues and run for any office.

This will truly be a weekend to remember, see you on April 5th!

We’re just short of one month from this years H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundation Golf Tournament and it’s time to get your registration booked for the event!  This year’s event will be held on Saturday, February 9th at the historic Balboa Park Golf Course in San Diego. Tournament participants will play 18 holes in a Scramble format, and will play alongside current rowers, coxswains and coaches throughout the course.
Golfers can participate for as little as $85/person (in a foursome) and sponsorships start at $89 to sponsor an athlete or coach for the event.  For full details, please visit our EventBrite registration page and claim your spot for this years event!

All net proceeds from the event will go directly to the H. Del Beekley Rowing Foundations (http://beekleyrowing.org) Boat Fund which has a current goal to put a new 8 man racing shell in the SDSU boathouse during the 2019 season.
Online registration closes on Sunday, January 27th at midnight!  For more information or questions about any form of sponsorship, contact us at info@beekleyrowing.org

Boat Fund Update

With the Fall season here, it’s time to redouble our effort toward the 10th Anniversary boat fund. The Foundation has raised more than ½ of the $35,000 needed to update the boathouse with a newer racing shell by Crew Classic. Replacing equipment is an ongoing challenge, and keeping the boathouse fresh with new and gently used equipment ensures the current and future success of the team. You can make donations to the boat fund at any time on the Donate section of our website. As is customary, the largest donor or group of donors will have first naming rights.

Special thanks to donors Kris Corley, Ed Baldry, Chris Anderson, Dustin Hinds, Joseph Dodson, and James Osborn for the contributions to the boat fund over the summer! 

RSVP Today! – Alumni Row and Homecoming Tailgate

On October 20th, the team would like to invite our alumni oarsmen and coxswains to join the current aztecs in a mixed row (which is certain to end in a little racing) at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center Boathouse.  Those interested in rowing should reach out to Bernard at info@beekleyrowing.org to reserve a spot. We’ll be meeting at 6:00 AM and plan to be off the water by 8:30 AM to give you plenty of time to rest up and join us at this season’s Homecoming Game for the SDSU Men’s Crew Alumni Tailgate!. 

Is the thought of getting back into a racing shell not quite your speed these days?  No problem! We’ll be grilling hot dogs, burgers, and some smoked meats before the Aztec football team takes on San Jose State at this year’s Homecoming Game.  Plan to head on down to the stadium and join us as early as 3:30 PM in section H3. We’re asking for $5 per person to help offset the cost of the food, water, soda, and utensils.  Please let us know if you plan on attending – and/or would like to provide something – so that we can ensure we have enough to go around. Because current team members are invited, we will not be providing alcohol. But if you so choose you can bring your own adult beverages (and remember that the stadium doesn’t allow glass containers).  This will be a great opportunity to meet the current team and swap war stories with other alumni.

Please send your RSVP or any questions about either event to info@beekleyrowing.org by Friday October 12.

 Aztecs Fall Race Schedule

10/27 – Head of the American, Lake Natoma, Sacramento, CA
11/11- Fall Classic, Mission Bay, San Diego, CA
11/24 – Newport Chase, Newport Beach, CA (select crews)
11/25 – Head of the Harbor, Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (select crews)

 Future Beekley Foundation Events

• Early February 2019 – Beekley Rowing Foundation Golf Tournament
  • Last year’s event was a bunch of fun and we’re looking to improve upon it this year.  We’ll be working to finalize a location and exact date in the coming couple of months, but wanted to get this in people’s minds now!
• April 6-7 2019 – San Diego Crew Classic
  • The team will be racing all throughout the weekend
  • We’ll be hosting our usual Sunday BBQ and Annual meeting of the Board for the Foundation.
  • For the first time in several years, we’ll be fielding a boat or two of Aztec Alumni