Head Of The Charles Regatta 2016 HOCR Program | Page 33
the growing event, and to do so, they
would need someone to dedicate themselves full time to that task. Without a
director who could seek sponsorship
and long-term funding, the costs would
fall to the athletes. For a year, HOCR
founder, D’Arcy McMahon served as the
first Executive Director, before Smith
and Carr recruited Schoch to be the first
full-time director in 1991.
Smith and Carr knew Schoch from
his year teaching at the Belmont Hill
School in 1978-1980, when he rowed at
Cambridge Boat Club. So when they
saw Schoch at work running the Challenge on the Hudson – a regatta that
had been formed to support environmental group Scenic Hudson – and securing IBM as a sponsor, they knew they
had found their guy. As an oarsman and
coach with business acumen, they had
found the person they were looking for
to fill the role of Executive Director.
Quickly, Smith became a mentor to
Schoch, as he began to work with a new
group of people and learn the ropes of
HOCR and CBC. Tog