IRA DIII Championship Trophy Named For Former Coach Gary Caldwell

MEDFORD - The trophy for the new Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) Division III Championship has been named in honor of former longtime Tufts University rowing coach and current IRA commissioner Gary Caldwell.

For the first time ever in 2022 the IRA National Championship included a Division III Championship. Winners of the DIII national title will now be presented with the Caldwell Cup.

"Gary has worked over four decades to keep the sport of rowing strong, and everywhere you look you see the results of that work," said Tufts Director of Rowing Noel Wanner. "The shape of rowing in America reflects the love Gary has brought to the sport. Gary has been a steward in every sense, and it's a fitting honor to give the D3 championship his name."

Caldwell's influence in the world of collegiate rowing is wide. As a coxswain at Yale, as a coach at Tufts for 27 years (1990-2016) and as a regatta director and a race steward, he has always been a builder and a maker of connections.

"Everyone - and I mean everyone - knows Gary, and if you want to find out what's going on in rowing, Gary Caldwell should be your first phone call," Wanner said. "Everywhere Gary goes, he works to make the sport of rowing stronger and better. His generosity of spirit is visible everywhere he has been."

As a coach and a director of the rowing program at Tufts, Caldwell shepherded the team through lean times and built the strength of the program year upon year, culminating with the construction of the William A. Shoemaker Boathouse in 2007.  The creation of this gorgeous boathouse has been his crowning achievement at Tufts, giving the team a permanent home on the Malden River. Every success the team has had in the last 15 years springs from that foundation he built.

Among several leadership roles, Caldwell has been in charge of the IRA since 1998. As the commissioner he has helped this most traditional of championship regattas maintain its stature as the premier race for the best crews in the country, while also working behind the scenes to ensure that the regatta moved confidently into the future. His most recent step, adding a separate championship event for Division III men's crews to the IRA regatta, has galvanized the growth and excitement in D3 programs around the country.  

"I'm humbled that my fellow DIII coaches felt I deserved this recognition," Caldwell said. "It really has been a collaborative effort from the start, and is so emblematic of the way we all run our programs. The wave of cooperation across the DIII rowing coaches community is profound and I think singular in the sport."

Tufts Men's Rowing was one of seven teams to earn a berth into the inaugural IRA Championship this past June. The Jumbos finished as the national-runner-up.

"With the Tufts men taking the silver at the inaugural event this past spring, we now have even more motivation to bring the new Caldwell Cup home next year," Wanner said.