Dad Vail Regatta

The Dad Vail Regatta is the largest regular intercollegiate rowing event in the United States, drawing over a hundred colleges and universities from North America. The regatta has been held annually on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1953.

Since 2019, the regatta has been sponsored by Thomas Jefferson University, a private university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is officially known as the Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta. Previous sponsors have included Aberdeen Asset Management (2010–15), and Sunoco (1998-2000).

The purposes of the Dad Vail Rowing Association are: "to perpetuate the 'Dad' Vail tradition, foster and encourage intercollegiate rowing among colleges new to the sport, and promote schedules for member schools."

Origin of the name "Dad Vail"
The regatta was named after Harry Emerson "Dad" Vail, for his years of coaching at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

The story of the Dad Vail Regatta, and of the Rowing Association, begins with two men, "Rusty" Callow, then coach at the University of Pennsylvania, who came up with the idea, and Lev Brett, who made the idea a reality.

Callow originated the idea of promoting competition among colleges struggling to found rowing programs. These included schools too small to hope to ever compete in major races and larger institutions not yet ready for such competition. In order to create competition, Rusty created a trophy as the competition prize, in 1934, which was named in honor of Vail.

Since then, the name "Dad" Vail has become one and the same with the race. Vail's passion for rowing helped form the modern-day Dad Vail Regatta and motivate the multitudes of colleges to come compete.

History of the regatta
The first race, before the formation of the Dad Vail Rowing Association, was held in 1934 with "Rusty" and the University of Pennsylvania as hosts. Marietta College, coached by Ellis MacDonald won the first leg on the new trophy by finishing second to a Penn sub-varsity boat, which was an added entry. Rutgers, coached by Ned Ten Eyck, was third and Manhattan College, coached by "Skippy" Walz was fourth.

The race in 1935 was at Marietta. With the addition of Rollins College and Wisconsin, the order at the finish of the race was: Rutgers, Penn, Marietta, Wisconsin, Manhattan, and Rollins. There was no race held in 1937. In both 1936 and 1938, only Rutgers and Manhattan competed on the Harlem. Rutgers won both times. In February 1939, a meeting was held and the Dad Vail Rowing Association was formed in order to help promote the race and encourage schools to compete.

The first regatta organized by the Dad Vail Rowing Association, in 1939, involved seven colleges racing on the North Shrewsbury River in Red Bank, NJ. After bouncing around between the Connecticut River, Ohio River, Charles River, and Hudson River, in 1953 the regatta settled on the Schuylkill River along Philadelphia's Boathouse Row. The event slowly began to grow with a then record 10 colleges participating in 1955, to 20 colleges in 1961, and in 2012 crews from 132 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada competed in Philadelphia. However, from this high water mark participation began to wane and by 2024, collegiate participation plummeted by over half to 63 teams attending the regatta in its new home in Pennsauken, NJ.

Like most of intercollegiate athletics prior to the 1970s, the regatta was strictly a men's event. However, as the sports landscape changed began changing following Title IX, so too did the Dad Vail Regatta. Women competed for the first time at the regatta in 1973, albeit in "unofficial" races. The Dad Vail Regatta Association staged 2 half-mile races for women, with the Vesper Boat Club prevailing in the women's eights, and the Philadelphia Rowing Club winning in the women's coxed fours. In 1974 Allison Pacha became the first women to win a gold medal at the regatta when she coxed the Florida Institute of Technology men's shell to victory in the coxed-fours race. She was joined later that day by Sue Joyce who coxed the St. Joseph's College (PA) shell to a win in the junior varsity eights race for the Ernie Bayer Trophy. Women's teams began competing officially in 1976, with Ithaca College winning the inaugural Evelyn Bergman Trophy as victor in the women's varsity eights race, and Western Ontario claiming the coxed fours crown.

Briefly in late 2009, the Dad Vail Organizing Committee announced that the regatta would be held in Rumson, New Jersey in 2010, citing loss of local sponsors. However, this decision was soon rescinded due to pressure from the city and logistical problems with the Rumson location, and the event returned to Philadelphia for 2010.

The Dad Vail entered its 75th year in 2013.

In 2023, because of dredging being done on the Schuylkill River, the regatta was moved to the Cooper River in Pennsauken Township NJ. The event was also scheduled again for 2024 for the Cooper River, the 85th anniversary of the Dad Vail

Points trophies
The Jack Bratten Trophy was created in 1967 to recognize the best overall team at the regatta based on how well their boats performed across all of the various races. Originally, the award only recognized the men's team, as women did not compete in the Dad Vail Regatta. However, in 1976, when women's events were first officially contested, the points won by both the men's and women's team were combined to determine the best overall team. In 1986, the Dr. Thomas Kerr Trophy and the Nancy J. Seitz Trophy (later renamed the Jack & Nancy Seitz Trophy) were awarded to the best Men's and Women's teams respectively, base on accumulated points in the various races.