Fabulous Party Will Help Build a Home For Saline Rowing Teams

When scores of people dressed up in Roaring 20s attire and enjoyed great food and fine drinks at the third annual Great Gatsby Regatta, they weren’t just enjoying one of Saline’s best parties.

They were supporting a Saline Area Schools program that turns gangly kids into national champions like John Recknagel.

The Saline High School graduate, who now has two national rowing championships to his name at the University of Michigan, was the guest speaker at the annual Saline High School Crew Team fundraiser, held on the lawn of the historic Hoyt-Ford Building by Mill Pond Park Aug. 23.

During his brief talk to the guests, Recknagel, entering his junior year in the neuroscience program at the University of Michigan, held up a picture of himself rowing as a high school freshman in a boat filled with girls.

“Most alumni probably remember me as a gangly freshman. The kid in this picture would probably describe himself as a loner who was silent at practice that was filled with upperclassmen girls,” Recknagel said, pointing out that he’d never experienced any success in team sports up to that point. “I consider myself the luckiest kid in the world for having the experience and learning from my teammates and coaches at Saline.”

Recknagel said the lessons he learned from the Saline Crew program helped him chase down those national titles with the University of Michigan.

“All I see now is how much I owe coaches Dave (Fiske) and Bridgette (Sparks). They sacrificed so much and that gave me the opportunity to have these great live experiences from one end of the country to the other,” Recknagel said.

Proceeds from the annual fundraiser will help the Saline Crew team pay for its share of a boathouse that is to be built on Ford Lake with the help of Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti Township Recreation Commission, and a grant from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Recknagel said it was an important project for Saline Crew.

“It will mean that Saline Crew will finally have a home. I think it is the essential next chapter in the story of Saline Crew,” said Recknagel, who said a boathouse would help the program recruit and retain athletes, and also save money on boat maintenance.

“At Harvard, the boathouse is a historic land market on the Charles. At Wisconsin, they use the boathouse to dazzle freshman with their equipment,” Recknagel said. “I think the value of a physical home should not be underestimated.”

Saline coach Katie Larder said the boats are currently stored on a trailer at the school.

“We’re only looking a very small boathouse that will barely fit our equipment and boats,” said Larder. “But I think it will be a very important step for our program. As John said, it will help us protect our equipment, and I think it will give us a home.”

Karen Ragland, who hosts the annual Great Gatsby Regatta on the property of her business, Design Hub, said she and a friend dreamed up the unique party as a fundraiser because “We didn’t know how to golf, and we knew how to throw a good party.” Ragland’s son Parry rowed for Saline and went on to continue rowing as he studied at Michigan Tech University.

“Not everyone is a big, muscle guy who plays football. But watching my son in crew, I saw him go from a quiet, reserved individual to becoming a young man with leadership skills,” said Ragland, who recently took up the sport herself with the Ann Arbor Rowing Club.

As for the party, guests paid $55 each or $100 a couple for a truly unique night on the town. Attendees enjoyed a surf and turf dinner catered by Mac’s Acadian Seafood Shack. They can also select from red and white wines from Spotted Dog Winery.  Elsewhere, cigars and scotch were served while the Saline Big Band played vintage jazz and swing tunes.

Saline Crew is a club sport that depends for support upon volunteering and fundraising, especially by team members’ parents, and donations from community members About 50 students are competing in the fall training season’s longer, more endurance-oriented events.  Forty or more students will then participate in the spring racing season, which emphasizes shorter, more sprint-like races.

Saline Crew’s girls and boys teams have earned medals at several Midwest regional regattas. The team’s lightweight boys 4+ boat finished fifth nationally at the American Schoolboy Championship in Tennessee in Spring 2008. In the spring 2010 state finals, the team’s lightweight boys 8+ boat took first place, earning a trip to the nationals in Saratoga, New York, where it came in 12th.