Perfect Vision

“Your eyesight is like a big crayon box. I lost a lot of the crayons without even noticing because I lost my peripheral vision first. When I found out what I had, it was almost all gone.”

John Curran, who didn’t set foot in a boat or pick up an oar until after a retinitis pigmentosa diagnosis in 2002, not only learned to row with complete vision loss but also became skillful enough to race in a single at one of the premier fall regattas, the Head of the Schuylkill.

Curran’s passion for rowing, his desire to share it with others—especially those with disabilities—and his compassion, selflessness, and generosity have made him a prized and beloved member of the rowing community in Philadelphia.

Retinitis pigmentosa, which afflicted one of Curran’s sisters as well, is a rare genetic condition that affects the retina and can cause blindness. Curran, 68, began experiencing symptoms when he was in his 40s, and his eyesight became progressively worse. He had held various jobs—outpatient billing, a moving company, supermarket night crew—but his failing vision prevented him eventually from working.

He began rowing 20 years ago when, while training to use a cane, he was told about the Pennsylvania Center for Adaptive Sports, which is headquartered on Boathouse Row and is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people with disabilities through inclusive sport and recreation programs.

Curran was handed an activity list and among such sports as cycling, skiing, and kayaking, he spotted rowing. The first time he rowed on an erg, he was on the machine for only five minutes when a coach noticed his strength and was convinced he was an experienced oarsman.

Curran went out on the water that very same day and received instruction from a coach with the U.S. National Para team. He continues to surprise rowers and coaches with his strength and power.

“I had always been a weightlifter, and I was in pretty good shape,” Curran said, “so I wanted to compete against the best.”

Curran races in a single currently with the assistance of a guide either in a scull next to him or a launch following him. Through a Bluetooth speaker, the guide gives him directions, just as a coxswain would.

Curran is active in the Philadelphia rowing community. At Whitemarsh Boat Club, where he serves on the board, coaches and members alike praise him for his involvement, his efforts to get others passionate about the sport, and his determination on the water.

“He’s done pretty well getting in the single and hammering away at it,” said Whitemarsh coach Sean Hall. “He’s a well-respected member of the club, and people take his opinions quite seriously. His back story is the stuff of Boys in the Boat.”

Curran appreciates the camaraderie and the support he receives from friends and fellow club members, such as rower Ed Fox, who demonstrated his admiration by contacting Rowing News and sharing Curran’s remarkable story.

A major beneficiary of Curran’s involvement at Whitemarsh is the annual Pumpkin Regatta, when junior and masters rowers race in Halloween costumes.

“I met Laura Olah after the Pumpkin Regatta one year,” Curran said, “and she said her son Lev was at the Pennsylvania Center for Adaptive Sports but too young to row. She told me he had a brain tumor and was losing his eyesight.

“I told her if she ever needed anyone to row with him, just look me up and I’ll find somebody.”

When Curran got home, he called the Whitemarsh president and suggested that the club invite the family to the Pumpkin Regatta. He also asked the coach of the high-school program to get the kids together to cheer for him.

“It was like a Hallmark movie,” Curran recalled. “I wanted to make it neat not only for him but also for the parents. I got two different kinds of medals and let him pick.”

“Lev is not on a crew and wouldn’t otherwise compete in this friendly regatta,” Laura Olah said. “However, John cooked up a plan to start the regatta with Lev and another athlete taking on two established rowers in a double.

“Nothing has made Lev so excited. He shared that he would be competing with every teacher, every family member, and even people in line at the grocery. Little did any of us know that John even brought medals for Lev to ‘win’ when they drove across the finish line—first, of course, because John contrived that as well.

“That day is one of the most memorable days for Lev, and it was all created by another person living with a disability knowing how much it matters to give the gift of strength and optimism.”

Lev’s rowing journey is one of many that Curran has helped launch and nurture. He has done so cheerfully despite not only dealing with blindness but also battling leukemia, which was diagnosed in 2016.

Last fall was the first time Curran has been cancer-free in nine years.

“John reached out shortly after the 2024 Pumpkin Regatta,” Laura Olah recalled. “He was checking in on Lev because we were absent [beginning treatment in Boston for Lev’s brain tumor]. This time, John offered to support Lev’s interest in the 2025 BAYADA Regatta.” Sponsored by the home health-care company, it takes place on the Schuylkill and bills itself as the world’s first Para rowing event.

“He sent details and offered to help with networking and anything needed to get Lev more support in the rowing community. John is that person always pushing and pulling to connect rowers, to foster their competitive spirit, and to encourage their determination and will over all odds.

“He’s very open about his own challenges. He repositioned my grief into something more powerful. I was more committed than ever to not allowing medical challenges to overcome Lev’s personal determination—with any sport, and anything in life.”

After Curran’s cancer diagnosis, his doctor cautioned that the disease would make him feel fatigued. When Curran informed him he rows five days a week, the doctor was speechless.

While Curran sometimes must cut back the number of days he makes it down to the boathouse, his leukemia has not kept him from the sport he loves.

“Last summer, I was going through leukemia treatments and rowing one day a week trying to stay somewhat in shape,” Curran said. “When I wasn’t feeling so good, I figured I wasn’t going to be feeling that good anyway, so I might as well try to train. May through August, it was pretty rough. I just went out with some people who didn’t mind if I wasn’t killing it.”

Curran’s last treatment was Sept. 17. Less than two weeks later, on Sept. 29, he participated in the King’s Head Regatta on the upper Schuylkill, racing in a mixed quad. His admonition to his boatmates: “I’m not really in shape, so keep the stroke rate down.”

“John never complains about anything, and it puts things in perspective,” said Whitemarsh coach Art Post. “It’s a constant reminder that the joy of rowing overrides all our little complaints. If he’s cold, he doesn’t say so. If he’s getting splashed a little bit, he’ll joke about it. We have a boat at the club named after him: Strong Curran. In spite of his limitations, he’s a pillar of strength.”

While Curran’s resume in team boats is impressive, more remarkable is his racing in a single at such events as the Head of the Schuylkill and the King’s Head Regatta.

“Being blind and going out to row a single is pretty neat,”  Curran said. “It’s like when you let a bird out to clean the cage and you can’t contain it—that’s me on the water.

“Maybe somebody sees me doing this and is encouraged. I met a girl rowing for Lower Merion, and she told me, ‘I’m rowing two-seat, same as you.’ I talked her into going to the disabled club to learn how to scull.

“Sometimes I feel like an ambassador for disabled people, letting people know we’re no different from anybody else. It’s just getting the opportunity.”

Curran has rowed the Head of the Schuylkill twice, once in a masters single and once in an open recreational single.

“It was storm conditions,” Curran recalled. “The regatta was worried because the next race was an elite race—Mahe Drysdale and those guys. They were afraid the launch guiding me would affect their race. My guide assured them we would be out of the way. I was on the water when they came by. They sounded like race cars.”

Every time Curran races in the single, he’s excited by the challenge. Navigating the Schuylkill, the Twin Bridges, the Girard Avenue Bridge, and Boathouse Row in a single is no easy feat—even for someone with perfect vision.

Racing in a single, Curran has won the BAYADA Regatta six times.

“They told me that I couldn’t do the BAYADA because they banned blind single rowers on the Schuylkill. I was like the dog that gets out of the yard all the time. I talked a couple of other blind rowers into doing it, and the race had to buy more headsets.

“The last year I did it, there were 10 men and 10 women [racing singles],” Curran said. “It became the race to do, and they thanked me for keeping the race alive.”

Curran’s determination and demonstrated ability have not gone unnoticed by coaches, athletes, and regatta directors. After he won permission to race the BAYADA and Head of the Schuylkill, races in and around Philadelphia expanded the Para and blind-rowing categories to allow more entrants.

His latest ambition: to race in a single at the Head of the Charles.

“I was in one of the first groups of disabled rowers to do The Charles in mixed fours,” Curran said. “Now they have a bunch of different races. It’s really come a long way.

“Every time someone says, ‘You can’t do this,’ I try to get it done. At the Charles, where there’s no singles race for blind people, they asked me, ‘Why don’t you row a double like everybody else?’ I don’t want to do what everybody else does.

“It’s been fun, a pretty wild adventure. Somebody offered to write my story, and I said, ‘It’s not done yet.’”

Emily Winslow works in athletic communications at Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. She captained the women’s rowing team at the University of Rhode Island, where she also coached, when the team won multiple Atlantic 10 championships and advanced to the NCAA DI championships.

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