Alum to steer octogenarian crew at Head of the Charles- Harvard Gazette

"Bill Becklean feels blessed to have taken up crew 75 years ago, when, as a 14-year-old from Missouri, someone told him he'd make a decent coxswain for his high school team. "I came from Kansas City, Missouri, and never heard of anything called 'crew,'" said Becklean, 89, who had traveled east to attend Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. "I weighed 80 pounds, and somebody said, 'Well, you ought to be a coxswain,' and I was. Look where that has taken me.""

"His most notable stop may be the 1956 summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, when his Yale University eight, with Becklean as coxswain, won gold. The latest will come Sunday on the Charles, when he will steer an extraordinary eight - one full of octogenarians - competing in the 2025 Head of the Charles: the Director's Challenge mixed eights. "I think we're probably going to finish last," Becklean confessed."

"Becklean, who first volunteered for the Head of the Charles in 1966, is familiar with the three-mile course, which winds up the river separating Cambridge and Boston, passing under six bridges. He's watched as the regatta has become one of the world's largest and most prestigious. Catherine Saarela, adult recreational sweeps coordinator at Brighton, Massachusetts-based Community Rowing Inc., is more sanguine about the Becklean's group's prospects. It is a "set boat," she said, meaning it's well-balanced as it moves through the water, with consistent timing from the rowers, which increases efficiency and speed."

Bill Becklean began coxing as a 14-year-old at Phillips Exeter Academy and has remained involved in rowing for 75 years. He coxed the Yale University eight that won Olympic gold at the 1956 Melbourne Games. At 89, he will steer a mixed octogenarian eight in the 2025 Head of the Charles Director's Challenge. Becklean volunteered at the regatta starting in 1966 and knows the three-mile Charles course that passes under six bridges. The crew is considered a "set boat," with balanced movement and consistent timing, aided by members who typically row singles. Becklean expects a modest finish.

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