The Red Rose Crew 🌹

The path to the 1975 World Championships and then the 1976 Olympics.

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Prior to Title IX, and even after it's passage in 1972, women had to fight tooth and nail to be seen as athletes in their colleges and universities as well as in international competitions. The Red Rose Crew is about eight rowers and one coxswain: Anne Warner, Lynn Silliman, Nancy Storrs, Carie Graves, Claudia Schneider, Carol Brown, Wiki Royden, Chris Ernest and Gail Pierson, brought home a silver medal from the 1975 World Championships in Nottingham, England. A year later, four of the 1975 eight, went on to compete in the 1976 Olympics and win bronze.

1975 World Championships

Women weren't seen athletes in the 1970s. This was prior to Title IX, which meant that female college athletes rarely had locker rooms or quality equipment. Yet despite those hurdles, women stepped forward to break barriers. Some of these battles are more well-chronicled than others; in the year after the events depicted in "The Red Rose Crew," Chris Ernst and Anne Warner spearheaded the famous "These are the Bodies" protest in the Yale president's office that finally turned the tide at Yale in getting equal facilities, access and support of rowing for women at that school
Nine women competed in Nottingham, England in 1975, bringing home silver after losing by a hair to the East Germans who were state-supported athletes groomed and trained since childhood. Many contend they would never have passed the rigorous drug testing of today’s international competitions. American male rowers had always been tops at their sport, but before Nottingham, no American women’s team had ever come close to finishing among the top three.

Coach Harry Parker

Coach Harry Parker, the legendary Harvard men’s crew coach, overcame his doubts about the ability of women to withstand the rigors of hard training. The women proved themselves and went to the final in the eights in the 1975 World Championships where they took the silver medal. Parker would go on to coach the USA women's eight at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal where they earned a bronze medal.

1976 Olympics

Four of the 1975 crew later took a bronze medal in the eights at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. The United States also has had very competitive crews, and in recent years these crews have become even more competitive given the surge in women's collegiate rowing.

The crew's moniker, 'The Red Rose Crew,' stems from the red roses that team manager Debbie D'Angelis tied to the shoes in the boat at each seat as the crew was getting ready to launch for the final at the World Championships.
📚 Read the book, The Red Rose Crew 📚