Rowing will become a varsity sport at Xavier University of Louisiana in the fall.
Xavier baby!
Xavier University, located in New Orleans, will become the first HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) to have a varsity co-ed rowing team in the fall of 2025.
In a joint statement, New Orleans Rowing Club (NORC) member and Xavier History Department Chair Elizabeth Manley and Chloe Jobin, NORC’s head of community outreach and diversity initiatives said, “We could not be prouder to work with the Xavier Rowing team as we launch this historic debut as an official varsity university sport. The passion and dedication of our athletes, combined with the support of esteemed national figures including Olympic Rower David Banks, former Division I Coach Kevin Harris, rowing luminary Arshay Cooper, and Brannon Johnson of BLJ Rowing, who have all visited to inspire and coach our students, truly exemplifies the spirit of Xavier. Launching this team of athletes onto the competitive national stage is not just about rowing—it’s about building a community, inspiring our students, and creating opportunities for growth both on and off the water.”
Athletic Director Pat Kendrick is enthusiastic about adding rowing to a list of sports, which include basketball, baseball, softball, competitive cheer, cross country, soccer, tennis, track and field and volleyball.
Kendrick said, “This is an exciting time for Xavier Athletics in welcoming the rowing team to our family. We are so proud of each and every one of these athletes and look forward to seeing them excel in their sport and bring the spirit of Xavier to the water and beyond.”
Since the formation of NORC, the team has received sponsorships and donations from the rowing national governing body, USRowing, Mr. Cooper’s A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund, Vespoli USA, JL Athletics and Concept2.
Cooper said, “For so many young people in our rowing community, Xavier has the potential to enhance their lives both academically and athletically and to provide an opportunity that has not existed before now. Excitement for the program has been building around the country as young men and women are realizing that they may soon be able to fulfill their dreams of attending an HBCU and rowing in college.”
Banks said that he is impressed by Xavier’s commitment to bring varsity rowing to the New Orleans campus.
The Olympic rower said, “It’s another testament to the outstanding students at Xavier, in that they seek out new challenges and opportunities and strive for excellence in whatever they do. It’s not easy being the first few to do something that may seem so very different and even daunting. But I’m confident and hopeful that these students will realize that this sport is theirs to make their own and that they will be an inspiration to many people to take their own new steps. I can’t wait.”
Many of the rowers speak highly of the community that rowing has created at the HBCU.
Rower and junior political science major Kamryn Days said, “The Xavier Rowing Company has offered me the opportunity to find a family outside of my Xavier family and get involved in a sport that allows me to be part of a team and also work on my individual goals…[and] it allows us to shatter negative stereotypes and false perceptions.”
Johnson, who founded the first Black-owned and operated club, said, “Rowing can be a vehicle to a better life. It certainly was for me. But rowing can also be a vehicle for change. Xavier, like so many other HBCUs, is steeped in the rich tradition of creating change for its students. Xavier’s rowing team is a wonderful example of what that looks like now, and it’s vital that we lean in and support this program and the students at its center.”
Growing up on the west side of Chicago, Cooper had no idea what rowing crew was.
When a White lady approached him one day and asked if he wanted to join a crew team, he recalled the warnings his uncle had given him.
His uncle always told him that a crew was another word for a gang.
And if anyone wanted him to roll with a crew, he should run in the opposite direction.
Kaylee Poche of NOLA.com reported, “The woman then showed him footage of rowing, also called crew, at the Olympic Games. Enticed by free pizza, he ended up joining the Manley High team, the first all-Black high school rowing team in the country. It changed his life.”
Cooper chronicled his experiences in a book entitled A Most Beautiful Thing.
The name of his foundation comes from the book title.
Poche reported, “Rowing has long been a predominantly White—and wealthy—sport, despite some barriers having been broken over the last two centuries. A 2021 study of National Collegiate Athletic Association found that only 2% of its women athletes who participated in rowing were Black.
“A history of racism has affected the relationship Black people have had with water over the years.”
Poche said that before the Middle Passage, Africans had a positive view of water.
But because of the slave trade, Black Americans started negatively viewing the water.
Poche added, “Then segregation and discrimination meant many Black people didn’t have access to public pools and even beaches.
“For instance, throughout the Jim Crow era, the only beach along the Gulf Coast available to Black Americans was Gulfside, a resort and Methodist religious retreat run by a Black minister in Waveland, Mississippi. Even after desegregation, pools that served Black communities were—and often continue to be—underfunded and staffed, making it hard for families to access swimming lessons for their kids.”
