The rowing community lost a treasure last week.
Stanley Pocock, oarsman, coach, and boatbuilder died. He was 91.
Stan Pocock attended the University of Washington and was a key member of the school’s storied rowing team. He remained on the team as a coach after earning an engineering degree and later coached U.S. Olympic crews that won gold in 1956, ’60 and ’64. Pocock Racing Shells built all the U.S. Olympic boats from 1948 to ’60, and today the company remains a preeminent shell manufacturer in the United States.
Beyond his noted accomplishments, Stan Pocock’s contribution to the rowing community at large in North America is so special for his continuation of the legacy of his father, the great rowing philosopher, George Pocock and his passion for rowing as an art form.
To appreciate this quote from George Pocock in a speech to rowers in 1965 is to understand the father and son’s perspective on rowing:
“It is very necessary nowadays to attain some manual art. With the machines and how we push buttons, we don’t get any sense of fulfillment in our work unless it is fine craftmanship. Thats the only way to get a sense of fulfillment and rowing is fine craftsmanship.”
In today’s world of social media, how all the more his words still ring true.
In 2000, Stanley Pocock co-wrote “Way Enough! Recollections of a Life in Rowing,” a memoir of his career.
We shall miss him greatly.
For more insight on Stanley Pocock, his father George, and the legends of rowing they shared their lives with, enjoy watching “Rowing: Symphony of Motion”
