History of Rowing in Oklahoma

While rowing may seem a new sport in Oklahoma, it’s been around for longer than you might think. The first Oklahoma City rowing club was established in the 1970s. Three universities now have varsity women’s rowing teams – the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University and the University of Central Oklahoma. Oklahoma State University and OU have club crews, and the University of Tulsa has had a varsity women’s team since 1996. The Tulsa Rowing Club has been rowing since 1983 with both juniors and masters programs.

Rowing was first introduced to central Oklahoma in the late seventies by Bob Stroud, founder and president of the Oklahoma City Rowing Club. Stroud and the early pioneers of Oklahoma rowing erected a boathouse on land between the North Canadian River and Lake Overholser. During the early eighties, the “Dust Bowl Regatta” was staged annually at the North Canadian River attracting universities from throughout the Midwest. Olympic-level rowers have even competed in Oklahoma City where they were challenged by the Oklahoma wind during the 1989 U.S. Olympic Festival’s rowing event at Lake Overholser.

Oklahoma Association for Rowing

In 1996, the framework for a new community rowing organization began to develop. That spring, former Oklahoma State University rowers Mike and Tempe Knopp began working to help energize the sport in Oklahoma City. After assisting Bob Stroud in renovating the “Stroud House” boathouse, recruitment began and soon rowers could be seen on the North Canadian River.

Driven by the vision to build a program that could put Oklahoma City on the map as home to a community rowing organization as diverse and competitive as any found on the east and west coasts, local rowers Jan Robb, Robert Wood, Tempe Knopp, Kevin Casey, Jackie Hubbard, Diane Taylor, and Mike Knopp worked together to form a new community-based rowing organization: the Oklahoma Association for Rowing (OAR).

With the development of OAR came the start of a juniors program that helped several rowers earn collegiate athletic scholarships and was the foundation for one young rower, Carly York, who earned a spot on the United States Junior National Team. A strong masters program brought adults together to row recreationally and competitively, winning medals at races across the region. OAR volunteers also developed an at-risk youth program to share rowing’s lessons of teamwork and leadership with youth from all walks of life.

As OAR grew, so did its need for space. A building that previously housed a cafe was converted into a boathouse, and rowers had a new home at Lake Overholser.

As the planned redevelopment of the North Canadian River near downtown became a reality, the founders of OAR could see the future of rowing – and it was downtown. Sharing this vision with city officials, OAR received permission to begin a fundraising drive for a boathouse to be built on the Oklahoma River at the Byers Street Bridge. Enthusiastic about rowing from the beginning, the City also purchased a championship rowing course which transformed the new waterway into a one-mile long athletic venue.

On September 21, 2002, thousands of spectators watched as 250 rowers from surrounding states helped christen the new river during the first Sooner State Games rowing competition. Just two years later in 2004, OAR hosted its first major race on the Oklahoma River, the Rose Rock Regatta.

As the grassroots effort to build a boathouse moved ahead, Oklahoma City businessman Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy Corporation heard about the venture. Intrigued, he began exploring the opportunities and was soon the primary supporter of the boathouse drive. Calling on architect Rand Elliot, Elliot + Associates, to create a design as unique as the sport, the Chesapeake Boathouse was conceived. McClendon, working in tandem with another Oklahoma City leader, Clay Bennett, set about securing funding for the multimillion dollar boathouse with the promise of creating an historic, landmark presence for Oklahoma City.

While this first boathouse effort was taking shape, Oklahoma City University began considering adding rowing as a varsity sport. In 2000, a club team was formed. Then in 2003 the varsity program was established and in 2004, in celebration of their centennial anniversary, OCU staged the first Head of the Oklahoma regatta attracting more than 400 rowers and 15,000 spectators to the banks of the Oklahoma River. This same year was the groundbreaking for the Chesapeake Boathouse, the first boathouse in the Boathouse District.

The Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation

The Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation was chartered in 2005 to support the growth of community rowing – and eventually other sports including canoe/kayak – and to oversee both the operation of the new Chesapeake Boathouse which opened in 2006, and development of the area which would become known as the Boathouse District.

In 2009, The Oklahoma River was designated an official U.S. Olympic/Paralympic Training Site for the sports of rowing and canoe/kayak. And, the Oklahoma River was also established as a center for High Performance training by USRowing, drawing athletes from across the country to Oklahoma City to train with the goal of making Team USA and representing the country at international competition. 

In 2010, Oklahoma City University opened its own boathouse, the Devon Boathouse. The $10 million facility features training facilities for OKC National High Performance Center athletes as well as the OCU men’s and women’s rowing teams. Canoe/kayak sprint athletes also train out of the boathouse, and it provides event space for community and private events.

The sport of rowing continued to flourish in Oklahoma with community corporate rowing leagues, youth and masters teams on the water daily, and both national and international rowing events taking place on its 2000m Olympic-distance race course. In 2011, Chesapeake Finish Line Tower was opened as a gift to the community from Chesapeake Energy . The four-story tower represented another major step toward achieving the vision of creating a world-class rowing and canoe/kayak venue in Oklahoma City.

The momentum continued with the University of Central Oklahoma opening another iconic boathouse in the Boathouse District in 2015. The University of Central Oklahoma Boathouse serves as home to the UCO women’s rowing team. It also includes a live music venue and an art gallery, establishing it as a unique presence “where art meets the river.”

National and International Rowing Competition

Over the years, RIVERSPORT has hosted numerous national and international rowing events on the Oklahoma River. The OCU Head of the Oklahoma, the RIVERSPORT Stars & Stripes Regatta and the USRowing Central Youth Rowing Championships are annual events attracting rowers from around the country.

The first international event, the 2007 USA Rowing World Challenge, offered a preview of the teams expected to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and featured top rowing teams from New Zealand, Canada, Czech Republic, Republic of Georgia, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico, and Moldova as well as the US National Team.

In 2008, the river was the site of the CanAmEx International Rowing Championship, the American Collegiate Rowing Association Championships, and later that year, US Olympic Team Trials for Canoe Sprint – the first major canoe/kayak race to be held on the river.

In 2011, RIVERSPORT hosted USRowing Masters Nationals and a second USA Rowing World Challenge, with the third Rowing World Challenge held in 2017.

2018 brought the US Olympic & Paralympic’s “Next Olympic Hopeful” program to the Boathouse District with a combine approach to identifying crossover athletes interested in training in a sport new to them – including rowing. The response was so successful, it was repeated in 2019.

RIVERSPORT has continued to host rowing events throughout the years, but none larger than the USRowing RowFest in 2024. More than 3,000 athletes from 105 clubs participated in 356 events over the week-long event.

Making Rowing Accessible

The OKC Boathouse Foundation was renamed RIVERSPORT OKC in 2016 to encompass the growing number of sports in the Boathouse District, but one thing remained consistent: the organization’s commitment to making rowing and paddlesports accessible to those who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity. Since its earliest days, RIVERSPORT had provided scholarships for underserved youth to participate in rowing and a Scholastic Youth Rowing League was established offering youth teams to schools with demonstrated need.

RIVERSPORT volunteers came together to give those with visual impairment the opportunity to learn to row – and compete as a team. The VIAPRS have been racing together for over a decade.

RIVERSPORT also hosted numerous paralympic training camps for USRowing athletes while also developing programs uniquely geared for military veterans. The Warriors Rowing Team offers these men and women the kind of connection that can be hard to establish as they transition to civilian life.

Looking Ahead

RIVERSPORT continues to be committed to getting more Oklahomans involved in the sport of rowing. Learn to Row lessons, free Learn to Row days, summer rowing camps and rowing leagues for all ages make the sport accessible to more people every year. Rowing has a great future in Oklahoma – we invite you to be a part of it!