Kearny native Jeff Klepacki pours champagne on the newest addition
to the Kearny crew team fleet that was named after the three-time Olympic
participant during a ceremony near the Kearny boathouse Saturday morning.
KEARNY –
The greatest rower in the history of the Kearny High School crew program returned home Saturday, as the newest boat to be used by the Kearny crew team was officially christened and named in his honor.
Jeff Klepacki, a member of three United States Olympic teams and a three-time world champion, came home to the Kearny boathouse as the latest entry to the Kardinals’ fleet was introduced as the Jeff Klepacki.
Klepacki, who represented the United States in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, poured champagne on the boat before current members of the Kearny crew team took it onto the Passaic River to give the craft its initial voyage.
“I was joking with my friends recently that I’m now officially retired and I’m officially old when they start naming things after you,” said the 47-year-old Klepacki, who attended the ceremony with his wife and three children and mother Joan, who still resides in town.
“I’m just happy to be here,” said Klepacki, who lives in Skillman near Princeton, where he trained extensively with the U.S. Rowing squad. “It’s great to see friends and family again, some I haven’t seen in a while. I respect Kearny and Kearny athletes so much. Not every school offers crew and it’s great to see that crew has grown so much since my days.”
Klepacki told an audience of approximately 200 people that when he joined the Kearny crew team in 1986, there were only six active crew programs in the entire state.
Now there are more than 35, with 13 schools actively using the Passaic River as their home base.
Original programs Kearny, Belleville and Nutley have been joined locally in recent years by North Arlington and St. Peter’s Prep, all housed either in the Kearny boathouse or the new facility in the Bergen County Park in Lyndhurst.
Klepacki shared the story of how he became involved in crew – albeit late in high school.
“I was a senior and I always felt like I never hit my athletic stride, although I felt I was an athlete,” Klepacki said. “I kicked around a soccer ball when I was little and I played Little League baseball. I played freshman football and tried out for the varsity basketball team and got cut.”
Klepacki accepts town proclamation congratulating him on the honor
from Mayor Alberto Santos.
Klepacki’s friends, who included current Kearny High girls’ coach Dave Paszkiewicz, encouraged Klepacki to give crew a try in the winter of 1986.
The coach of the boys’ crew team at the time, Al Somma, recalls Klepacki becoming a member of his team.
“I was the supervisor of the weight room at the time,” said Somma, who went on to become the athletic director, then Kearny High principal before retiring in 2010. “A few of our team members came down to tell me that they had this kid to join the team, but the only bad thing was that he was a senior.”
Somma then remembers casting his eyes upon Klepacki for the first time.
“I noticed he was a big kid, around 6-foot-4, and I said, ‘This is great,’” Somma said. “So we went to the old swimming pool where we had a regular boat set up that simulated regular rowing. Dave (Paszkiewicz) got in and showed him what to do. Well, Jeff gets in the boat and it was like he was doing it for years. We knew we had something special.”
“Mr. Somma said, ‘Just pull as hard as you can for six minutes,’” Klepacki recalled. “I didn’t know how to row, but I just did it. The rest, as you may say, is history.”
Klepacki was such a natural that he immediately set time records that were faster than others.
Klepacki was a member of the novice 8 squad to begin with, but got a chance to row with the varsity 8 after one of that team’s members showed up late on race day.
“I had a rule that if you were supposed to show up at 8 a.m., then you got there at 7:45,” said Somma, a tactic that is used by other notable coaches, including New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. “Well, it was 7:45 and our six man wasn’t there yet, so I said, ‘Jeff, you’re it.’ The guy showed up at 8 saying, ‘Mr. Somma, I’m here.’ But I said it was too late and Jeff never relinquished that seat again for the rest of the season.”
Kearny native Jeff Klepacki told the story of how he became involved in
the sport of crew and how crew enabled him to “travel the world and represent
the United States” in three Olympic games.
Klepacki helped the Kearny varsity 8 to several honors that season and enabled Klepacki to get spotted by Rutgers University, where he headed off to after Kearny.
“I just followed the next step, which was Rutgers,” Klepacki said. “That was a great experience. I was with a good group of athletes there. I pursued the next step, which was the U.S. National team and was able to win some national titles. When I won the first national title in 1989, that’s when I started thinking I had a shot to be in the Olympics.”
Klepacki was part of the U.S. National Coxed Eights squad that finished fourth in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. He won the world championships in 1994, 1998 and 1999. He competed with the Coxless Fours in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, placing 11th and was back with the Eights for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where he finished fifth.
“Once you go to one and you don’t win, you want to go back,” Klepacki said. “I went three times. I had no idea something like that would happen.”
Klepacki and Jen Dore, another product of Kearny crew, would go on to represent the United States in the Olympic Games.
Klepacki is the most decorated product of the Kearny crew program.
“It probably makes you realize that you did something right with the boys,” said Somma, who helped initiate the program back in 1968 and still remains an avid follower. “It’s just a great feeling when you see one of your athletes reach these types of accomplishments. It makes you think you did a good job. It’s a great feeling as a coach and for the program.”
Klepacki told the crowd that he was proud to grow up in Kearny.
Former Kearny High
School principal and athletic director Al Somma (l.) shares memories of his
most decorated athlete.
“I grew up on Chestnut Street, right up the block, where my lifelong fan, my mother (Joan) still lives,” Klepacki said. “Joining the crew team was the single best decision I ever made in my life. I had a chance to travel the world, representing the United States in the Olympics.”
At the ceremony, Klepacki was wearing a leather jacket with the Olympic rings on it. Embroidered on the inside of the jacket were his name and his three Olympic appearances. Needless to say, it was stunning.
“There are a lot of great traditions in Kearny, like the soccer team,” Klepacki said. “I’m proud that the crew team is still here.”
Several members of the current team were in attendance to honor Klepacki, all wearing dress shirts and ties, except the uniformed members who took the Jeff Klepacki boat into the water. A bagpiper led the boat from the boathouse into the water.
Kearny Mayor Alberto Santos was in attendance and presented Klepacki with an official proclamation.
“You helped to put Kearny on the United States map and global map,” Santos said in presenting Klepacki with the proclamation.
Paszkiewicz was elated to be part of the celebration for his friend and teammate.
“It’s thrilling to be here today,” Paszkiewicz said. “We’re all so proud of Jeff. We knew his potential back then and encouraged him a little to come out. The rest was history. No one deserves this honor more. Kearny has had its share of great athletes, but Jeff is right there. You would never know it from him, because he’s such a humble guy.”
John McKenna, the current Kearny boys’ crew coach, was the master of ceremonies for the ceremony.
“We recently purchased the boat in order so our fleet could stay on top,” McKenna said. “It was purchased through the fundraising efforts of our team members. The boys always speak of Jeff. His pictures hang all over the boathouse. So when the time came to name the new boat, there wasn’t even a question. We’ve always had the chance to say that Jeff is a Kearny guy and we’re now proud to say we’re rowing the Jeff Klepacki.”
Both Klepacki and Somma told the audience and especially the current team members that there is a moral to the story.
“I believe that this is a feeding center for future Olympians,” Klepacki said. “The foundation Kearny set for me, in terms of discipline, in terms of staying focused. Perhaps the next Olympian from Kearny is standing right behind me.”
“For current and future rowers, it proves that anything is possible,” Somma said. “If you work hard enough and dedicate yourself, the sky’s the limit. This is proof.”
Klepacki then opened a bottle of champagne and poured it on the boat, posing for pictures and offering wide smiles. He was greeted with hugs galore and hearty handshakes throughout. Once again, Jeff Klepacki came home – and now there’s a permanent reminder of his greatness and importance to the sport of crew in his hometown.
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Jim Hague | Observer Sports Writer
Sports Writer Jim Hague was with The Observer for 20+ years — and his name is one of the most recognizable in all of sports journalism. The St. Peter’s Prep and Marquette alum kicked off his journalism career post Marquette at the Daily Record, where he remained until 1985. Following shorts stints at two other newspapers, in September 1986, he joined the now-closed Hudson Dispatch, where he remained until 1991, when its doors were finally shut.
It was during his tenure at The Dispatch that Hague’s name and reputation as one of country’s hardest-working sports reporters grew. He won several New Jersey Press Association and North Jersey Press Club Awards in that timeframe.
In 1991, he became a columnist for The Hudson Reporter chain of newspapers — and he remains with them to this day.
In addition to his work at The Observer and The Hudson Reporter, Hague is also an Associated Press stringer, where he covers Seton Hall University men’s basketball, New York Red Bulls soccer and occasionally, New Jersey Devils hockey.
He’s also doing work at The Morristown Daily Record, the very newspaper where his journalism career began.
During his career, he also worked for Dorf Feature Services, which provided material for the Star-Ledger. While there, he covered the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets.
Hague is also known for his announcing work — and he’s done PA work for Rutgers Newark and NJIT.
Hague is the author of the book “Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man.”