The Susan Rogers '75 Regatta is named in honor and remembrance of Susan Rogers, former captain and member of the Cornell sailing team. Women's sailing was officially recognized by the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) in 1967, and Susan was among the first female competitors and leaders pioneering the way for women in our program.
Susan was an Ithacan from birth, a Cornellian Class of '75, a passionate educator by profession and a consummate outdoors woman and athlete. Born into a family of sailors, she began sailing as an infant; sailboats were ever present and water was within sight throughout her life. At the Ithaca Yacht Club, Susan raced along and with her brother or father, and when she became a teenager, often in a Star. Being on the water in a sailboat was a passion and priority for Susan.
While at Cornell, she was captain of the Cornell women's sailing team for two years (her father was a volunteer coach), leading it to a first place in the Middle Atlantic Sailing Championship at West Point. Susan and crew won five races of nine, qualifying for nationals at Annapolis and there claimed a fifth place. According to sports news, throughout her senior year, "Rogers and Team were consistently first or second." Opposite sailing season, Susan was a member of the Cornell ski team and a ski instructor. An adventurous spirit at heart, she embraced a spectrum of activities ranging from tennis to winter camping.
Tantamount to her athletic adventures, Susan’s priority was to be a trusted and caring individual. Throughout her four years at Cornell, Susan enjoyed her fellow students as well as professors, was a serious and invested student, a devoted friend to many and developed close and binding friendships. Professor Marcham wrote “….she had herself known the joy of learning and had seen how learning opened to her a new world… she thus became a teacher.” From Cornell, Susan went on to graduate school at Brown University, then began her teaching career at Pomperaug High School in Connecticut. She continued her life course there as a person committed to students, peers and friends through her love of learning and the great outdoors.
Susan died February 22, 1981 in a fall while on an outing with her students. In her life, short as it was, Susan had fulfilled herself, she had triumphed; as an athlete, a remarkable sailor, a dedicated teacher and a young woman of tenacious spirit and grace.
REGATTA PARTICIPANTS
Columbia University
Dartmouth College
Fordham University
George Washington University
Georgetown University
Harvard University
Hobart & William Smith Colleges
Loyola University (Md.)
Monmouth University
Northwestern University
Old Dominion University
Queen's University
Rochester Institute of Technology
Stony Brook University
SUNY Maritime
Tufts University
United States Merchant Marine Academy
United States Naval Academy
University of California at Santa Barbara
University of Michigan
University of Pennsylvania
University of Rhode Island
University of Vermont
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin
