Steel City Rowing Club teaches and coaches rowing from its location along the Allegheny River in Verona, Pennsylvania. It began in 1997 through the efforts of Laci and Dori Tompa and has grown to serve hundreds of youth and adults who try rowing for the exercise and beauty of the sport and who may go on to compete because of the thrill of competition and the chance to row alongside their teammates.
SCRC stands-out because of its geographic location, the results of its rowers, and the sense of responsibility that it engenders:
Location:
Steel City Rowing Club is the only rowing organization on the upper Allegheny River. It is located mid-way in what the Army Corps of Engineers call “Allegheny River Pool Number 2,” with the Highland Park Bridge on its southern end and the locks at Harmarville at its northern end. This stretch of the river is one of the finest pools of water for rowing in the County because of beautiful, undeveloped wetlands on both sides of the river, relatively low river traffic and few barges to disrupt rowing, and nine full miles of rowing without locks or dams. It is a stretch of the river that can support hundreds of rowers from schools in the eastern part of the City and the Allegheny Valley, which are within easy reach.
Results: College scholarships, international champions
Universities and rowing organizations recognize Steel City Rowing Club as one of the country’s leading centers for the development of winning rowers. SCRC’s rowers are recruited by and/or receive scholarships from some of the country’s leading colleges and universities, including:
- Yale University
- Harvard University
- Princeton University
- Holy Cross College
- Villanova University
- Notre Dame University
- Bates College
- Southern Methodist
- Mercyhurst College
- Brown University
- Stanford University
- Boston University
- University of Pennsylvania
- Trinity College
- Marietta College
Over 50 of Steel City’s rowers have been national champions and five have represented the United States in world competitions. In August 2003, two of the four boats on the women’s team that the United States sent to the Junior World Championships in Athens, Greece were filled with rowers from Steel City Rowing Club in Verona, Pennsylvania. In 2004, two young women qualified to represent the U.S.A. at the Women's Junior World Championships in Banyoles, Spain.
Responsibility: Rowers helping our community
Steel City stands out for its results, but it also engenders a remarkable sense of responsibility among its members. Its youth and adult rowers volunteer in the community, including performing community service in Verona, raising funds for Juvenile Diabetes and other causes, and teaching adjudicated youth to row. They do all of the clean-up of the facilities and many of the boat repairs for the organization. Former high school rowers often return during their summers in college to teach novice rowers. These are young people whom colleges want on their rowing teams and whom employers value.