They were known as the "First Family of American Rowing. Yet, despite the impact each member of this Stratham New Hampshire "royal" family had on the sport of rowing, "Mama Bayer" as she is sometimes known, had perhaps the biggest impact of all. In Ernestine Bayer’s case, it was breaking into the "gentlemen’s sport" of rowing at a time when women were thought of as little more than housewives, that would ingrain her name in rowing history.
In 1938 Ernestine Bayer, Lovey Farrell, and 12 other women started the first competitive women’s rowing club in U.S. history, calling themselves the Philadelphia Girls Rowing Club (PGRC), of which Bayer became their first president. "Rowing in Philadelphia was a man’s bastion. The river back then was no place for a woman". "These boat clubs were the stalwarts of Philadelphia society" and everything associated with sports followed the rule: ‘men do this and women do this.’"
By 1969, Ernestine was setting her sights on the European Women’s Rowing Championship in Vichy, France. Initially, she was turned down by U.S. officials because she was told American women were not in the same class as European women. However, after rowing in a race in Montreal against a team of seasoned nationally competitive males, the PGRC was asked to attend. Though they didn’t win, their entry, the first group of American women ever to do so, would pave the way for the sport to become a category in the next Olympic games.
She remained active in rowing, including racing in the Masters Tournaments in Montreal, as well as the Head of the Charles, and an indoor rowing competition with which she still holds the record for people over 90. In 1984, she was the first woman elected into the Rowing Hall of Fame.
You may enjoy reading: The first New England winter rowing regatta
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