Cogitator Dec 12, 2012

VISITING ROTARIANS/GUESTS

None.

CLUB ANNIVERSARIES

Happy Rotary anniversary this week to two Rotarians:  Lou Lepry was inducted nine years ago on December 10th, 2004; and, Past President Janet Essex came into the club twenty years ago on December 15^th, 1992.  Kudos to both for your many years of service to Rotary and our community!

 CITRUS UPDATE

Chuck Sauer gave an update for wife Bonnie, who was absent due to a creaky back from all of her exertion over the past weeks.  In the end, we were able to sell all of our oranges, but several boxes of grapefruit were still available.  Chuck offered a healthy discount on all remaining items in an effort to clear out inventory, including gift baskets and candy, so as to wrap up final Citrus numbers. 

AMPED FOR EDUCATION

International Service Chairwoman Jane Boynton received a nice thank you note from Jeff Pluta, Sue Dorne’s son, who founded Amped for Education in Nicaragua.  Our club’s donation helped some 52 students attend Jeff’s new school. 

HAPPY BUCKS

-Bob Miller invited Red Sox fans to ‘eat their hearts out’ with the recent Yankee acquisition of longtime Fenway all-star, Kevin Youkilis (Yoooouuk). 

-Vin Meola offered a ‘good riddance’ and cracked that at 37 years of age, Youk brings down the average age of the 2013 Yankee team.  Hehe.

-Richard Waterman announced that the 2012-2013 East Greenwich Rotary Phonebook is out!  (The cover looks great—an outdoor photo, at Rocky Hill, with Rotarians forming the number ‘50’ in celebration of our big birthday coming up in 2013.)

-Steve Lombardi thanked Santa John Wolcott for his visit to a recent Chamber of Commerce event. 

-Yours truly thanked Santa John for listening to my little guy’s recitation of his Christmas wish list at EG Photo last Saturday. 

-Alan Flynn got a December 7^th birthday call from friend Doug Moody, who keeps in touch with the club via weekly Cogitators.  Doug says ‘hello’ to all and mentioned to Alan that he is selling his boat, meaning his wonderful trips to the Bahamas are unfortunately coming to an end.  (Come on back up North, Doug.  We’ll help you find a nice new boat, a slip at the Yacht Club, and…some long pants!)

-Matt Bussey gave a happy ‘go Colorado hoops!’

-Chub Clement wondered if our joking about all-women’s lunch tables scared the ladies away this week. 

-Bill Winter’s 9-year-old daughter took first place in the all-around competition in gymnastics while representing Aim High Academy. 

-Lou Lepry gave a happy buck for today’s unique date—12/12/12. 

PROGRAM/SPEAKER

George Schuster, Chairman of Cranston Print Works, and…Master Rower

George Schuster’s resume below (see link) from the website of the National Textile Association, for which he also serves as chairman, is indeed impressive.   

http://nationaltextile.blogspot.com/2011/06/george-w-shuster-of-cranston-print.html

A resident of Harmony, RI, George is a former law partner at Edwards and Angell, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale University, an Eagle Scout, and he once served on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations.  But today, he shared with us his experience on a true passion of his—rowing. 

Called upon by President Ron Machtley to help begin and coach a new Bryant University athletic team, women’s rowing, master rower (since his days at Yale) George Schuster rose to the challenge.

The team’s initial challenges included finding a good spot for practice and trying to secure approvals from the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) for the building of a regular dock. 

Stump Pond, an artificial pond from local damming, is loaded with actual tree stumps at its bottom…not necessarily an ideal place for long lightweight wooden scows.  However, it has turned out to be deep enough for practicing, and to date there have been no problems. 

DEM finally gave the dock approval after George sent them warnings that the dock-less women’s crew team was experiencing numerous dangerous slipping episodes in the cold days of April.  That finally got the bureaucrats ‘off their butts.’

George served briefly as the team’s first coach, but then passed the baton to Mark LaBossiere who he says is doing a terrific job with the team.  They placed 6^th out of 54 schools in their first national championship, an ‘outstanding first showing’ according to George. 

While perceived as an ‘elite’ sport, rowing is ‘brutally hard.’  What began as punishing work centuries ago in the days of slaves is now ‘the only sport in the world that’s not a game.’  Rowing athletes use more oxygen per minute than athletes of any other sport, and they have the highest level of lactic acid build-up due to the fact that every single muscle in the body in used. 

George told the story of ‘little Johnny Cook’ from Yale, who exerted himself so greatly that during the Yale team’s final Olympic race he ended up in the hospital.  Small in size, yet huge in heart, Johnny had truly given his all in winning gold for Yale and the USA, so much so that he couldn’t see colors when the race was over.  

‘You can’t understand the pain and difficulty until you go through it.  It’s a tough and great sport,’ said George, ‘one which creates deep bonding with teammates.’  Master rower George also noted that, ‘It is great exercise.’  He noted that his standing heart rate is usually around 31 beats per minute!   

 http://www.bryantarchway.com/%E2%80%98ready-all-row%E2%80%99/

 http://www.bryantbulldogs.com/sports/club/Crew/BoatDedicationSummary

George Schuster with Alan Flynn