ICSA inducts five honorees into College Sailing Hall of Fame

by Jennifer Mitchell on 2 Jun 2015 The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) recently honored five individuals for their contributions to the sport of college sailing by inducting them into the ICSA Hall of Fame. Jack Swikart (Rumson, N.J.) was recognized with the James Rousmaniere Award for student leadership; Capt. Richard Morin, USN, Ret. (Annapolis, Md.) was honored with the Lifetime Service Award; Adam Werblow (St. Mary’s City, Md.) was awarded the Graham Hall Award for Outstanding Service by a college sailing professional; and Charles Harvey Kaye Williamson (Ithaca, NY.) and Robert A. Migliaccio (Barrington, R.I.) were awarded Outstanding Service by a volunteer.

The Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor individuals for either undergraduate competitive achievement in sailing or outstanding leadership and service to the establishment, development and growth of the sport. The names of the inductees will be added to the ICSA College Sailing Hall of Fame, which is on permanent display in the Robert Crown Center at the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.)

Each of the honorees is being recognized throughout the Spring 2015 ICSA National Championships taking place now in Newport, R.I.

James Rousmaniere Award for Student Leadership – Jack Swikart

This award honors an undergraduate for extraordinary achievement in leadership whose efforts made a significant contribution to the development, progress and success of his or her club, team, conference or the ICSA.

Jack Swikart, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania is the recipient of the 2015 James Rousmaniere Award for his leadership and efforts to help better not only his sailing team, but the teams in his school’s conference.

Since Swikart’s first year at U Penn, he has made a difference in the success of the sailing team. He served as team captain for two terms and expanded the team to large enough numbers that for the first time, this past fall, the team had to hold tryouts to keep the size at a manageable level.

As the student president of the MAISA conference, Swikart promoted concussion training and created a website for teams to login and record their participation. As of September 2014, over 20 teams had completed the training. These are just a couple examples of Swikart’s hard work and leadership in the sport of college sailing.

“I'm extremely honored to receive this award,” Swikart says. “As a senior reflecting back on the past four years, I truly realize how important sailing has been to me - it's defined my college experience,” he says.

“I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to give back to the sport by working with other leaders in MAISA and the ICSA, as well as on my own team at Penn,” Swikart explains, “It's been an exceptional learning experience as well.”

Swikart will compete with the Penn sailing team in the Gill Coed National Championship beginning on June 1 and in the fall plans to finish up his studies at Penn part-time to get his business concentration in management.

“Sailing will always be an important part of my life, and hopefully I can find ways to keep giving back to the sport that has given so much to me,” Swikart says.

Lifetime Service – Capt. Richard Morin, USN, Ret.

This award recognizes a career of extraordinary service to college sailing, as a volunteer or professional. Capt. Richard Morin, USN, Ret. has been a supporter of the U.S. Naval Academy’s sailing program for over 20 years.

“It will be hard to find a more worthy recipient of ICSA’s Lifetime Service Award than Capt. Dick Morin, USN (ret.),” says Jahn Tihansky, director of the offshore sailing team at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Capt. Morin has helped the offshore program in many ways; as an onboard coach for practice and racing, onboard safety officer for Navy-hosted intercollegiate big boat regattas, race committee, protest committee judge, program Fleet Captain and NASS Race Committee Chairman.

Capt. Morin also served both the offshore and dinghy programs as a judge for protest hearings often after a long day on the water as a safety officer or race committee member.

He has helped sailors develop their skills, provided guidance for visiting teams and managed the training and scheduling of other volunteer coaches for the teams. Not only did he work tirelessly for the teams in a sailing capacity, but he and his late wife also helped organize social events preparing meals for generations of college sailors

“As a retired Navy Captain, he felt it was his responsibility to positively influence the development of Midshipmen in their teamwork and professional leadership skills and took every opportunity to provide guidance and mentorship to them as well as to the many visiting sailors with whom he also interacted,” says Tihansky.

“As a result of his close connection with Navy Sailing, he was appointed as Rear Commodore of the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron and has continuously been an instrumental and trusted advisor to the Director of Naval Academy Sailing, a position filled by an active duty Navy officer who usually has little sailing background,” Tihansky explains.

Capt. Morin, now in his mid 80’s, has been forced to slow down a bit, “…Boy, do we find ourselves missing him,” Tihansky says, “Without question, Navy Sailing would not be where it is today without Dick’s incredible dedication and years of service.”

Graham Hall Award for Outstanding Service by a College Sailing Professional – Adam Werblow

This award annually honors organizers, administrators, advisors or coaches who have served the best interests of college sailing at the club, team, conference or national level.

Adam Werblow is in his 27th year of coaching at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and in that time the team has amassed 15 national titles and his sailors have earned over 150 individual All-America honors.

'For me, College Sailing is the greatest game on the planet,” says Adam Werblow. “To be selected for the Graham Hall Award and named to the ICSA Hall of Fame is certainly one of the high honors of my life,” he says.

Werblow sailed as an undergraduate at Connecticut College and was a captain of the team. He also went on to be a member of the U.S. Sailing Team in the Flying Dutchman class from 1989-1992.

“I am so grateful for the wonderful people who have contributed to my experiences over the past 30 years both as an undergraduate at Connecticut College and as a coach at St. Mary's College of Maryland – my mentors, teammates, coaches, players, colleagues and competitors have all made the journey incredibly rewarding,”

Werblow has made the St. Mary’s sailing team consistently one of the best teams in the country and his sailors have gone on to be world champions after their time on the team. He has volunteered his time for the ICSA, including heading the All-America Committee. His peers admire him for his work as a coach and how he has helped to grow the sport of college sailing.

One of Werblow’s greatest accomplishments to date is the construction of the new James P. Muldoon River Center and Boathouse – a jewel of the St. Mary’s campus — and host to last year’s Team Race and Co-ed National Championships.

“I am particularly proud of all the Seahawks I have been so fortunate to have coached,” says Werblow. “I wish to thank my wife, Amy, and my family for their sacrifice in order to allow me to pursue my passion for College Sailing,” remarks Werblow.

Outstanding Service by a Volunteer – Charles Harvey Kaye Williamson

This award honors an individual who has volunteered their time, talent and resources to advance the interests of college sailing at the club, team, conference or national level.

Charles Harvey Kaye Williamson has served as the faculty advisor for the Cornell University Sailing Team for over 15 years. In addition to his help advising the sailing team, he has also been a board member for the Friends of Cornell Sailing (FOCS) for over a decade. He has worked with alumni to help continue the development of the sailing program.

“I became advisor to the team in 1998 and did not have a clue what an advisor did,” says Williamson, “I was signed up during a chance meeting with some sailors in a late-night cafe in College town,” he says. “One thing I knew was that I loved being around the dedicated sailors on the club sport at Cornell,” says Williamson.

Williamson has been involved in many aspects of the team including budgeting, fund-raising, scheduling and help with regattas and practices. He has coordinated alumni events and engaged the surrounding Ithaca, New York community. Most recently Williamson put together an event held in conjunction with the MAISA Women’s Spring Championship in April of 2014 and invited Gary Jobson as the guest speaker.

“Charles is a model for what a volunteer faculty advisor should be and for what it was intended to be,” says Brian Clancy, head sailing coach at Cornell. “He has led a group of sailors on a student run club sailing team and was instrumental in guiding and mentoring them to where they are today, with women varsity athletes and club male team members working just as hard,” Clancy says.

“As a volunteer we owe a debt of gratitude for his loyalty, commitment, dedication, and friendship,” Clancy concludes.

On being honored, Williamson says, 'It represents an award for something I feel so passionate about, and its just thrilling to have been put up for this.”

'It is a real honor to be given the Service award and equally an honor to have worked with some amazing alumni to finally achieve our goals, namely the existence of the brand new Merrill family Cornell Sailing Center in 2009; the hiring of a fantastic Coach Brian Clancy in 2010; and finally under the wings of our coach and FOCS, the transition from a club sport to a Varsity sport (for women) in 2014, in fact the first sport since 1986 to achieve this status,” says Williamson.

Outstanding Service by a Volunteer – Robert Migliaccio

Since the spring of 2008, Rob Migliaccio has been volunteering his time, expertise and services by photographing New England and inter-conference college regattas and providing his high quality photos – always free of charge – to ICSA, ICSA Conferences and individual ICSA teams.

Migliaccio graduated from Boston College in 1979 and has pursued his love of college sailing through his photographs. He takes time out of his busy law career to capture college sailing events. Migliaccio’s work has been published numerous times and he has won a number of awards in the sailing media.

“Rob’s volunteerism has been invaluable to ICSA, to many teams and conferences, to parents who love his work, and to the sailors themselves,” says Greg Wilkinson, head sailing coach at Boston College.

“To say I am honored to receive the award is an understatement,” says Migliaccio. “College sailing is really exciting to watch, as well as photograph, “Migliaccio continues, “My personal challenge is always to try to convey through my photographs the excitement I am experiencing, and the excitement I see in the sailors' faces,” he says.

“It is a thrill for me to know that the images are appreciated and are, in some small way, contributing to the promotion of college sailing,” says Migliaccio, “I am most grateful for the recognition.”