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Joe "Okie" O'Connor
Apr. 21st, 2013 07:31 amFrom row2k: http://www.row2k.com/news/news.cfm?ID=79854
And what I wrote on Facebook last night:
Anyone who boated on Tempe Town Lake knew Okie O'Connor. He was the Boating Coordinator for the City of Tempe, but he was also so, so much more than that. I am hardly the best person to talk about everything that he has done for the boating community, but first and foremost there wouldn't even be a boating community to talk about if it wasn't for Okie's work.
I remember when Okie first came out to Arizona. It was about a year after I'd moved there and had started figuring out what I wanted to do, rowing-wise, while going to grad school at ASU. Upon his arrival to work as the Rowing Programs Coordinator, he put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to just listen to everyone and take stock of the situation - to see how the City of Tempe's rowing programs were working, to understand the needs and priorities of all of the lake users groups.
My experience as a rower has been that, wherever there is rowing, there is "rowing politics" - the development of different groups of people with different priorities and ways of doing things. In a lot of cases, frictions can naturally develop between the groups due to their differences. One of the hardest things for a person to do in the sport of rowing is to overcome such "rowing politics," figuring out how to get people to see beyond their differences and work towards common goals. Okie has been one of the rare people with a gift for doing that. He got the rowing programs to commit to an umbrella organization, Tempe Town Lake Rowing, to promote rowing and racing on the lake in a way that has benefited all of the programs. The group just had its 12th annual Desert Sprints Regatta at the beginning of March, and has managed to step up the quality of the event and the racing every year since I started participating in it back in 2004. That's a big deal for a landlocked state with few options for rowers who wish to race. And every year, Okie has been one of the first people to arrive at the lake to start setting things up for the regatta, and one of the last people to leave in the evening, after everything has been put away. In between, he would be out on a safety launch for the entire day, ensuring the races were fair and ran well. And that doesn't include the monthly planning meetings that would run through the entire year.
The other memory which stands out is of one spring where I was lucky enough to join a group of rowers training for the San Diego Crew Classic, with Okie as our boat's coach. He was an excellent coach - the kind of coach who works tirelessly to encourage his student-athletes to improve, both on and off of the water. Also the kind of coach who recognized that even coaches are subject to the things they are trying to teach - the ability to continually learn and become better. As a group, we weren't an easy bunch to work with, and yet Okie took on the challenge and got us to push our limits.
He also put so much effort into getting to know all of the water sports on the lake. I just remember having a conversation with him shortly after stand-up paddleboarding became an option for Tempe Town Lake. He had taken the time to circumnavigate the lake on many types of watercraft, and noted that stand-up paddleboarding had taken a long time compared to the alternatives (kayaking, rowing). It just made me think - here is someone who loves the water, and who wants to understand all of the different relationships people develop with the water. He wants to be able to say to the stand-up paddleboarders, yeah, I know what you mean.
You will be deeply missed, Okie.
--
Rowers are family to me.
And what I wrote on Facebook last night:
Anyone who boated on Tempe Town Lake knew Okie O'Connor. He was the Boating Coordinator for the City of Tempe, but he was also so, so much more than that. I am hardly the best person to talk about everything that he has done for the boating community, but first and foremost there wouldn't even be a boating community to talk about if it wasn't for Okie's work.
I remember when Okie first came out to Arizona. It was about a year after I'd moved there and had started figuring out what I wanted to do, rowing-wise, while going to grad school at ASU. Upon his arrival to work as the Rowing Programs Coordinator, he put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to just listen to everyone and take stock of the situation - to see how the City of Tempe's rowing programs were working, to understand the needs and priorities of all of the lake users groups.
My experience as a rower has been that, wherever there is rowing, there is "rowing politics" - the development of different groups of people with different priorities and ways of doing things. In a lot of cases, frictions can naturally develop between the groups due to their differences. One of the hardest things for a person to do in the sport of rowing is to overcome such "rowing politics," figuring out how to get people to see beyond their differences and work towards common goals. Okie has been one of the rare people with a gift for doing that. He got the rowing programs to commit to an umbrella organization, Tempe Town Lake Rowing, to promote rowing and racing on the lake in a way that has benefited all of the programs. The group just had its 12th annual Desert Sprints Regatta at the beginning of March, and has managed to step up the quality of the event and the racing every year since I started participating in it back in 2004. That's a big deal for a landlocked state with few options for rowers who wish to race. And every year, Okie has been one of the first people to arrive at the lake to start setting things up for the regatta, and one of the last people to leave in the evening, after everything has been put away. In between, he would be out on a safety launch for the entire day, ensuring the races were fair and ran well. And that doesn't include the monthly planning meetings that would run through the entire year.
The other memory which stands out is of one spring where I was lucky enough to join a group of rowers training for the San Diego Crew Classic, with Okie as our boat's coach. He was an excellent coach - the kind of coach who works tirelessly to encourage his student-athletes to improve, both on and off of the water. Also the kind of coach who recognized that even coaches are subject to the things they are trying to teach - the ability to continually learn and become better. As a group, we weren't an easy bunch to work with, and yet Okie took on the challenge and got us to push our limits.
He also put so much effort into getting to know all of the water sports on the lake. I just remember having a conversation with him shortly after stand-up paddleboarding became an option for Tempe Town Lake. He had taken the time to circumnavigate the lake on many types of watercraft, and noted that stand-up paddleboarding had taken a long time compared to the alternatives (kayaking, rowing). It just made me think - here is someone who loves the water, and who wants to understand all of the different relationships people develop with the water. He wants to be able to say to the stand-up paddleboarders, yeah, I know what you mean.
You will be deeply missed, Okie.
--
Rowers are family to me.
