Christening of the John Schintzel
Thursday, April 10th, 2014The Grand Valley Rowing Club welcomes a brand new Hudson Boat to their fleet named the “John Schintzel”. The Hudson Eight was donated by the Schintzel family as well as many generous donors as a gift to the team after John’s passing in Late 2013. John died of West Nile Virus late last fall.
Schintzel and Coach Bancheri were friends at the University of Charleston in the 80’s, “Schintz†was insistent to John Bancheri that he should consider coaching crew in the future; he had a natural ability and solid knowledge of the sport that could truly help young rowers. As we all know the rest is history, John Bancheri is a very successful Head Coach here at the Grand Valley State University’s rowing program and club. What most don’t know is that John Schintzel backed up his words of encouragement and belief‘s for many year. Over the past 20 years he has been an active financial, moral and sounding board to Coach Bancheri and the University’s rowing program.
The decision for his family and generous other donors to gift the new eight to the team will not only benefit the entire rowing program, but will also carry on John’s memory for years to come.
The Schintzel family will formally christen the new boat on Saturday at 2pm during the annual Lubbers Cup Regatta held at the Spring Lake Yacht Club.