USRowing Announces 2022 Referee Annual Award Winners

USRowing is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Referee Awards.

Jack Franklin Award – Sandy Killen

Julian Wolf Award – Rich Dougert

Barbara "Corky" Rawlings Award – Norm Thetford

Joan "Mama Z" Zandbergen Award – Liz Jenista

The award winners will be honored in person at an appropriate time and opportunity during the 2023 season.

About The Winners

Sandy Killen - Jack Franklin Award

The Jack Franklin Award recognizes an individual for a lifetime of contributions to our sport. The winner of the Franklin Award is selected by the Referee Committee.

Celebrating his 60th year in the sport of rowing, it is near impossible to summarize Sandy Killen's career and achievements.

Starting his rowing career as a member of the New York Athletic Club, Killen quickly made his way onto numerous national teams, traveling the world to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta, world championships in Lucerne and Nottingham, and the Mexico City Pan American Games. Having started the 1970s as an elite rower, he ended them as an elite coach, supporting U.S. lightweight men's crews on trips to Austria and Denmark.

Killen became a referee in 1980, served on the referee committee from 1981 to 1991, and became a World Rowing (FISA) certified official in 1992, serving on the juries of countless international regattas.

Whether coaching, mentoring, or refereeing, Killen will never hold back from telling you how he feels. He displays a never-ending and deeply held love for our sport and is a deserving winner of the Jack Franklin Award as he enters his seventh decade on the water.

Rich Dougert – Julian Wolf Award

This award pays tribute to the one rowing official in the United States who stood apart from the rest in their contribution to rowing in the past year. It is based upon one, several, or all of the following: outstanding performance, dedication, heroic acts, or outstanding contributions to officiating. The winner is selected by past five Wolf award winners.

Anyone who has rowed in Philadelphia has crossed paths with Rich Dougert, whether they realized it or not. Dougert has been instrumental in most regattas on the Schuylkill River and was more involved than ever in helping the sport in Philly recover from the pandemic over the last two years.

Whether helping to implement protocols to keep participants and spectators safe, dealing with changes as they come, or building racing schedules that allow an endless stream of boats to traverse down a tricky waterway, Dougert has done it all and has done it well as chief referee of the Manny Flicks, City Championships, Independence Day Regatta, and Head of the Schuylkill.

Dougert has dedicated more than 20 years to refereeing as a mentor and a leader, but few years were greater than his recent efforts to manage the challenges of the pandemic and allowing his expertise to help these events return to glory from an unwanted pause.

He is the deserving winner of the Julian Wolf Award for his unmistakable impact in the post-pandemic comeback of racing on the Schuylkill River.

Norm Thetford – Barbara "Corky" Rawlings Award

In recognition of continuous and exemplary mentoring, coaching, and friendship that foster esprit de corps and the love of rowing, the Corki Award is a special award to be held in reserve by the Committee until such time as an appropriate recipient surfaces.

Nominated by a large group of his peers, Thetford has been praised as a rower, coach, referee, clinician, and above all, as a consummate gentleman.

Involved in our sport since the early 1960s as a collegiate rower at Rutgers University, Thetford participated in Olympic selection regattas, FISA veteran regattas and World Masters Games. He later served as chair of USRowing's Masters Committee for two decades and assisted in the development of handicapping in masters rowing.

Thetford became a referee in 1981 and is proud to note that Jack Franklin signed his USRowing referee card. From that year to this, his presence at scholastic, collegiate, and national championship regattas is without exception. His role as chief referee of the Derby Sweeps and Sculls and Head of the Housatonic includes 20 consecutive years. Since 2002, he has had the distinction of serving as ombudsman at the Head of the Charles. He is the athlete's first contact with the jury. As such, he exhibits a professional manner – addressing athletes and coaches in a caring, respectful way.

As the recruiter and mentor of many referees over the last four decades, Thetford could hardly be a more deserving winner of this award.

Liz Jenista – Mama Z Award

The Joan Zandbergen"Mama Z" Award for Sustained Superior Performance is presented to one USRowing official who, over a period of 3-10 years, has stood apart from the rest of their peers. The winner is selected by previous winners.

Liz Jenista is a textbook example of who the Mama Z Award honors. She became a referee in the Southeast Region in 2016 and truly hit the ground running. Her background as a competitive collegiate rower helped ready her for the high stakes of collegiate competition in her area and motivated her to support these races whenever and wherever possible.

When Jenista was motivated by her peers to take the plenary exam to be able to further support the collegiate regattas by leading them, she passed with flying colors, and in 2022, she was chief referee of her first collegiate regatta.

Her peers describe her as a professional, who does her job with vigor and kindness. They are beyond excited that she was chosen as the winner of the Mama Z Award.