Inaugural Joy Award to Caldwell

The Conference for Rowing Coaches has named Gary Caldwell the inaugural recipient of the James C. Joy Lifetime Achievement Award, to be presented at the annual coaches conference the weekend of December 5-7 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“I was completely taken aback,” said Caldwell about being informed of the honor by conference leader Peter Steenstra. “when Peter called and expressed some of my contributions to the sport, that made me feel good.”

Caldwell, who started rowing as a coxswain at Yale University, coached the new women’s program at Trinity College (1972), Marist, Northeastern, and Tufts University—where he saved the program and later led the effort to build the boathouse—for 27 years and served as the commissioner of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association for almost 30 years, retiring in 2024. Caldwell continues to volunteer, and remains most coaches’ first call when they need to know more about something.

“An award is only as good as the names on it,” said Steenstra, recognizing “Gary and all he’s done for rowing over 40-plus years. It doesn’t matter if it’s the big things or the small things, he’s been there for all of it and all of us coaches, including during Covid, calling to just check in and see how everyone was doing. He’s tied to every member of the coaching world and has a personal interest in all of us.”

The award is named for Jimmy Joy, a native of St. Catharines, Ont. who spent his life making rowing better for others, including stints at Rowing Canada, MIT, Western Ontario, Yale, Wesleyan, and Hobart & William Smith Colleges. Joy founded the Joy of Sculling Coaching Conference, the predecessor of The Conference for Rowing Coaches, renown for the open and agenda-free exchange of best practices and new ideas for the professional development of rowing coaches. Joy died in 2024 at the age of 88.

“I just hope I’ve left the sport better than when I got here,” said Caldwell, who, with previous IRA commissioner Clayton Chapman, established the regatta as the national championship for men’s lightweight and heavyweight Division I rowing, women’s lightweight rowing, and most recently, men’s Division III rowing, whose championship trophy was named the Caldwell Cup in 2022.

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