12/06/2023
On Saturday we had the honor of awarding Rick Stehlik with Malta's most prestigious award, the Dr. George Morton Illman Award for his lifelong contributions to Philadelphia Rowing.
Congratulations Rick!
Illman Award Committee:
Tim Bennett
Charles Brown
Dennis Egen
Geoff Marshall
Dan McGuinn
Brian Roman
***Below is the speech from his friend Chuck Patterson who helped present the award.
Illman Award to Rick Stehlik
(The Rower)
• Rick joined Malta in 1965 (age 18) and quickly established himself as one of the better/best scullers on the Row.
• In 1968, he competed in the Olympic trials in a single
• In 1971, He won the Championship Single at the Canadian Henley Regatta- the first Malta rower to do so.
In addition to rowing and racing in all the major regattas, Rick was coaching. Notably, he was coaching some of the young men from LaSalle High School – Charlie, Pat, Tim, and Mike Brown, as well as Kevin Weinstein and Stan Depman.
When I joined Malta in 1973, Rick was the only older, elite oarsman in the Club. But, we began attracting some former Villanova graduates (Dan Eck, Steve Shaud, Dennis Normile) and others and Rick coached all of us as well as racing himself.
In 1976, Rick teamed up with Fred Duling and rowed a double in the Olympic trials. He also rowed in our Elite Lightweight Quad which won the National Championship.
In 1977, Rick and Fred took 3rd place in the World Championships in the Light double, and in 1978, he coached Fred and Stan Depman to another Bronze medal in the Lightweight double in the World Championships.
Rick has won races in every major Philadelphia regatta multiple times and has continued his rowing and racing (the HOSR) right up to the present day.
(The Leader)
Rick served as our Club President for 13 years and has headed our House committee for many, many years. He has been a major part of every house project we’ve ever done, from improvements, to the lightings, renovations, dock replacements, and the side yard expansion. Rick knows every square inch of this property and has worked on all of it.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, Rick also served as our Captain for 5 years and our coach for about 10 years.
(Boat Restorations)
Rick is a master craftsman, and has worked on a number of vintage boats both here at Malta – upstairs is the Octapede which Rick helped to restore when we renovated our locker room, and the Fred Weiss single which hangs in our weight room - and elsewhere.
Rick recently worked to beautifully restore the Pocock single that belonged to Joe Burk. That single was presented to the University of Pennsylvania this past year when they dedicated their newly renovated “Burk-Bergman Boathouse”.
About the same time, he was asked by some ladies at PGRC if he would help them prepare and hang their “Liz Bergen” single, which Rick did (quietly and professionally as Rick always does).
Another interesting story – in 2020 – Rick stopped by the Mystic Seaport Museum on his way back from Maine. As he spoke with one of the curators about who he was and his ties to Philadelphia, the man took him into a large warehouse where they had the bow section of the 1964 Vesper Gold Medal winning Donoratico 8. Rick was able to acquire the bow section, put it on his car, and bring it back here to Malta, where it stayed in this room until it was turned over to Vesper in a special ceremony.
(Archivist/Historian)
About 7 years ago, Rick and I realized that we had file cabinets and boxes full of old, dried out records, documents, minutes, etc. Rick bought a copy machine and we began compiling, organizing, and copying 1000’s of pages of these records and through Rick’s tireless efforts, we now have, in binders, 11 volumes of minutes dating from 1897, 2 volumes of records and documents, and one volume on “The Willows”, Malta’s upriver club. These are in the bookcase in the Cochrane Room.
Rick also purchased the bookcases in the Hanna/Brannon Room where books and 100’s of rowing magazines have been organized and files.
Along the way, Rick developed a working relationship with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania where we have taken tens of boxes of original documents to be preserved, catalogued, and available.
(Boathouse Row Community)
Rick arranged to meet with Henry Haupfuhter and visit “The Button” to peruse and discus their archives.
He reached out to Joe Sweeney and was able to borrow a number of Penn AC photo albums and scrap books. About the same time, Rick came to learn that Dan Barrow’s daughter lived in Maine and actually had his bronze medal from the 1936 Olympics. Rick contacted her, visited her, and then invited her and members of Dan Barrow’s family here to Malta, where he hosted them so that they could share the many photos and clippings from Penn AC and about Dan.
Rick hosted Dotty Brown and gave her a tour of Malta when she was writing her book on Boathouse Row.
He invited William Lanouette, author of The Triumph of the Amateurs, to come here and speak.
And in 2019, just before the Pandemic, Rick hosted a meeting here at Malta for about 10-15 people to discuss an archiving project.
Finally, Rick has been and still is a contributor and participant in the “HOSR 50 Years, 50 Stories series” headed by Jen Wesson.
Rick’s example of leadership and service inspired our President, Paul DeVleiger, to institute and present the “Spirit of Stehlik Award” to Rick last year.
Over the past 58 years, Rick has been dedicated to the sport of rowing, to Malta Boat Club, and to the preservation and enhancement of the history of Boathouse Row.
And so it is with great pride and pleasure that we present the 2023 George Morton Illman Award to Richard “Rick” Stehlik.
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