Edward H. "Ned" Ten Eyck
Wisconsin's Crew Coach 1907-1910
Rutgers' Freshman Crew Coach 1934-1936
Syracuse's Crew Coach 1938-1949
Edward Hanlan "Ned" Ten Eyck was the son of the famous sculler and coach, James "Jim" A. Ten Eyck. Ned made a name for himself as an amateur sculler, undefeated from 1895-1901. He also held the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen championship title for single oars for 1898, 1899, and 1901. He gained international fame when he won the Diamond Sculls at the Royal Henley Regatta in 1897, the first American to win the race. His entry was part of the entry by the Wachusett Boat Club (Worcester, MA (his hometown)). That same year he began attending the University of Pennsylvania, but did not row on the crew. He retired from rowing in 1901.
After his retirement, Ned assisted his father with coaching the Syracuse crews. But he also began coaching on his own at the Philadelphia Barge Club until the University of Wisconsin hired him in 1907 as head coach in an attempt to reinvigorate their crew program. Wisconsin's new athletic director, a transplant from Syracuse, was impressed with Jim Ten Eyck's work with the Syracuse crews, they won the varsity race at Poughkeepsie within a year of Ten Eyck taking over, and hoped that Ned, who had learned from his father, could do the same for Wisconsin.
Ned's arrival at Wisconsin was met with some apprehension as he had a very different demeanor than that of his oarsmen. Despite some initial tension, he was able to drum up interest in crew and put them on a more competitive edge. He got his father to agree to have his crews row against Wisconsin. The victories were split between the 2 schools that day, with Syracuse winning the Varsity 4 and Wisconsin winning the Varsity 8. This competition against a successful crew improved morale greatly. And when Wisconsin's crews went to Poughkeepsie that year, they finished ahead of Syracuse in the varsity race and the freshmen won beating out crews from both Syracuse and Cornell. While not a varsity victory, the athletic director's gamble on Ned paid off.
Ned continued at Wisconsin until after the 1910 Regatta. His varsity crew finished last and the day after the race, the coaching launch burned in the warehouse it was stored in. He submitted his resignation, perhaps too disheartened to continue at Wisconsin.
In 1934, he became the first crew coach at Rutgers University and built a program from scratch there. He would bring his freshman crew to Poughkeepsie that year, but would not return in subsequent years. Ned left Rutgers in 1936 to serve as assistant to his father and took over as head crew coach at Syracuse University when his father retired in 1937. Ned would only have one victory at Poughkeepsie while coaching for Syracuse, the junior varsity race in 1939.
He retired from coaching in 1949. He was honored by his peers for his work in May 1949, just a month before the last Poughkeepsie Regatta, which would also be his last year coaching.
He passed away in 1958.
Edward H. "Ned" Ten Eyck had a large impact on the world of rowing both for his personal victories and his work with a number of crews. He has been memorialized in a number of ways. He was inducted into the Rowing Hall of Fame in 1958, one of the first inductees, for his victory in the Diamond Sculls at the Royal Henley in 1897. Syracuse awards the Ten Eyck Cup in his honor to the winner of the annual Syracuse-Rutgers race (this hasn't been held since 2008).
Sources about Ten Eyck:
Wisconsin Where They Row: A History of Varsity Rowing at the University of Wisconsin by Bradley F. Taylor
Mark of the Oarsmen: A Narrative History of Rowing at Syracuse University by Malcolm R. Alama
Edward Hanlan Ten Eyck entry in Wikipedia
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