Harriet "Holly" Metcalf '81 – Rowing

(Presented by Catherine Crowley)

One of the most decorated athletes in rowing history, Metcalf was a six-time member of the U.S. National Team and won a combined five World Championship and Olympic medals in her career. At the 1984 Olympics, she captured the Gold Medal in the women’s eight at the Los Angeles games. In addition to coaching extensively at the club, college, and national team levels, Metcalf returned to her alma mater where her rowing career started as the head coach of the varsity crew team at Mount Holyoke from 1981-85. Metcalf went on to direct the Silver Medal winning crew at the 1990 World Championships. In the 1990s, she earned a master’s degree at Harvard, studying rowing as a metaphor for girls’ and women’s psychological and emotional development. That experience prompted her to start Row as One programs that have initiated women into the demanding sport and inspired advanced rowers to be more competitive. She extended this concept to inner-city girls in 1996 with her G-ROW program in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Six years later Metcalf established WeCanRow, a wellness and rehabilitation organization for female cancer survivors, which recently evolved into WeCanRow National. Currently, Metcalf is the head coach for the Division I openweight crew team at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Over the years, Metcalf has accrued numerous awards and honors, including USRowing Woman of the Year honors in 2008 (with Olympic teammates) and 1999 (with Ernestine Bayer) and the 1999 YWCA Outstanding Woman Award. Additionally, Metcalf has been inducted into the New England Sports Hall of Fame (1999), the Maine Hall of Fame (1984) and the USRowing Hall of Fame (1984). CLICK TO VIEW THE OFFICAL RELEASE.