UCLA Men’s Rowing Launches $10-Million Campaign

The UCLA fundraising effort for the defending club national champion is a chance to “give back to a program that shapes leaders.”

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UCLA men’s rowing, the defending ACRA club national champion, has launched a $10-million endowment campaign, with more than half already raised or committed, including a record-setting $2.5-million gift from 1968 UCLA alumnus Bob Newman and his wife, Mary Jo—the largest in the history of UCLA club sports.

The Friends of UCLA Rowing announced that the endowment will be used to increase the club program’s annual budget from $300,000 to $600,000 and to invest in coaching, equipment and technology, and athlete development.

“This campaign isn’t just about rowing,” said Newman. “It’s about continuing a legacy of excellence and leadership that UCLA men’s rowing has fostered since 1933. It’s a chance for us to give back to a program that shapes leaders.”

“Our program is surging in all dimensions,” said Dominic Pardini, president of the Friends of UCLA Rowing. “The boats are fast, the athletes are aspiring leaders, the coaches are top-tier, and the alumni are hyper-engaged.

“We’re becoming the model for a sustainable future of college athletics—independent from conference politics and 100 percent community-supported for the love of the game.”

UCLA men’s rowing, which began in 1933 after the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games and is governed by the Friends of UCLA Rowing, welcomes walk-on athletes with no prior rowing experience.

“We believe that this is the future of ‘non-income’—one could say ‘character building’—university sports as we see the evolving landscape of college football and basketball with the massively growing costs on very challenged university budgets,” said UCLA alum and former World Rowing executive director Matt Smith.

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