Sailing Keeps Building Momentum As Ted Moore '71 Names Head Coaching Position

In the moments before the horn sounds, signifying the start of a race, it can be completely quiet on the water aside from the natural elements.

On rough days, the wave’s fine mist reminds you what's ahead. On calmer seas, it's easier to get fixed on the path that will let you circle the course a split second faster than the boats surrounding you.

Brian Clancy, the newly titled Ted Moore '71 Director of Cornell Sailing, runs his hands through the water as he makes his way to the start, a gentle but stark reminder to clear his mind and let his experience, athleticism, training and instincts take over. More often than not, that has served him well. 

No one needs to explain that feeling to champion sailor Ted Moore '71. He's felt it at his core for just about as long as he can remember, whether on the lakes Central New York while growing up in Binghamton, or in an Olympic class race on the Atlantic. 

Moore recently made a gift to name Cornell's head coaching position after helping play a key role over the years in helping resurrect sailing to varsity status. He was part of the process that brought Clancy to Ithaca and has kept him here a decade later, building one of the most successful programs in the country.

“I was so humbled when Ted called me on Giving Day,” Clancy said. “As we’ve continued to raise the endowment for sailing, this is an investment, not only in the program, but in the people.”
 

Moore's experience on Cayuga Lake, and what the sport has given him since, inspired the opportunity to endow Clancy’s position.

“I went from being an upstate New York lake sailor to a world champion ocean sailor in the four years I was at Cornell,” Moore said. “Many of my good friends are from the sailing world – people that I’ve met while at Cornell sailing or because of Cornell sailing.”

Sailing has a long and storied history at Cornell since its inception in the late 1940s under Athletics Hall of Famer Jack Rogers '45, who not only was a football and swimming star at the university, but also served as a volunteer coach for the sailing program. 

After a short stint as a varsity program in the 1970s and early 1980, sailing returned to club status. A core leadership group that included Moore, Rob Swanson '74, Doug Merrill '89 and Andrew Davis '02 advanced the interest of the sailing program and ensured it would be fully funded prior to implementation. 

Long planned and patiently executed, the announcement of the program’s elevation to varsity status in 2014 came five years after the completion of the state-of-the-art Merrill Family Sailing Center and a decade after the alumni began a campaign to ensure the future of sailing at Cornell. That campaign led to the ability to hire Clancy as head coach. 

Merrill was thrilled when Moore made the commitment to name the coaching position. Like the facility that bears the Merrill family’s name, Moore’s gift significantly enhanced the long term security of the sport at Cornell. From the beginning, bringing in a coach that could enhance and elevate Big Red sailing was a focus of Moore’s passion.

“I was just so happy for the team and for Ted,” Merrill said. “It’s also a relief. We’ve been waiting so long to make this a reality, and Ted just made it happen. He feels so passionately about what he got out of it at Cornell, and he wants to make sure that experience is available to others.”

The support of Cornell sailing alumni, Moore knows, will be key in further enhancing the program as it builds its national profile. 

“Brian is exactly the kind of person you’d want to be the face of your program. He deserves to be supported, and the program needs to be supported.”

The support continues to come in on all fronts and from all angles – enhancing the experience of the current student-athletes with hopes to expand the sport’s reach on campus.