The Marin Rowing Association

Jim Andersen

Jim Andersen
Marin Rowing Association Varsity Boys Coach & Master Men's Coach

There's a lot that all of us know about Jim Andersen. He's a stellar coach, leading both the MRA Varsity Junior Boys' and Men's Masters' team to gold numerous times, he's quick to smile, good with dogs, great with the junior boys, and his voice carries (which is a very good thing when you're sculling and he's out with his team).

Unbeknownst to most club members, as a child Jim was left on the boathouse doorstep in a suitcase. He emerged and eventually became a fixture at the club!

But there are a few things you may not know. For example, a major San Rafael thoroughfare bears his family's name; Jim began his rowing career at age 13, weighing in at a trim 77 pounds; and he was once the stroke of a bantamweight eight and was the bantamweight single sculling champion in British Columbia.

To help connect some of the dots, here's a little history. Jim grew up in San Rafael where his father was city manager. At age eight, Jim lost his father, who passed away, and in recognition of the senior Andersen's contribution to the community, San Rafael named a street after him (the now well-known Andersen Drive). At age 12, Jim begged his mother to let him accompany his best friend and attend Shawnigan Lake School, a private high school 20 miles north of Victoria, British Columbia. Jim's mother, who worked as an assistant to the principal at a local school, sacrificed to make it happen and the rest, as they say, is history.

Jim went off to Shawnigan and it was there that he caught the rowing bug, or more accurately, the rowing bug caught him.

"Some of the seniors who were on the crew team quickly recognized my 'talent'," says Jim, pointing to his mouth. "I was loud enough and small enough for coxing and they recruited me."

As an eighth grader, Jim coxed the varsity boys' four. By freshman year, he was coxing the varsity eight. Jim led the team to victory many times during his four years as the varsity eight cox and traveled and competed with the team on two European tours and twice at the Henley Royal Regatta.

Here is Jim coxing the Shawnigan varsity 8+ at the Henley Royal Regatta in 1975, when he was 14 years old.

College brought him back to the U.S. where he enrolled as a freshman at University of California at Berkeley.

"I got the call two weeks before school was to begin," says Jim. "I'd met Coach Gladstone but wasn't too confident about my chances of getting into Cal. As it turned out, one of their recruits opted not to attend and Gladstone remembered me. I was thrilled."

As the junior varsity coxswain for Cal, Jim racked up two Pac 10 titles and a silver at IRAs. In 1982, Jim decided to take a year off college. He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do until someone asked him if he'd ever considered coaching. Two days later, Jim was the head coach at California Maritime Academy and that one-year off turned into a six-year hiatus during which Jim coached at University of California Santa Barbara as the freshman coach.

Jim at the 1985 San Diego Crew Classic.

Jim returned to Cal in 1988 to finish his degree in political economy of natural resources (PENR), and after finishing he worked in San Francisco as a group insurance account manager for MetLife for ten years. But the rowing bug wasn't finished with Jim. In the fall of 1991, he got a call from George Livingston asking if he would help coach at Marin. Fifteen years later, he's made the transition from helper to coach, and has created several gold-medal teams in the process.

Asked what some of the highlights of his MRA career are and Jim becomes uncharacteristically quiet.

"That is tough," he says. "There are so many great memories that it's really hard to list them all."

Pushed a little further, Jim mentions the 2004 lightweight juniors team that won nationals. "We'd come in third, we'd come in second, and that year we got first," says Jim. "It was a concerted effort and they had worked hard for it for years. The whole team contributed to that success."

He also recalls taking two junior eights to Henley in 2001 as one of the best trips he's taken in his life. "That was the year that they got silver at nationals in Cincinnati," he says "And the trip just added to the whole experience."

Besides rowing, Jim is also passionate about baseball and golf. Here he is at an A's game.

As for highlights in his career with masters, Jim is quick to mention the 2005 World Masters Games in Edmonton and this year's gold at San Diego crew classic. "Every year we get stronger and better," he says. "Kent Mitchell is now looking to race us rather than vice versa."

What has been the biggest plus about being at MRA? Jim says that he's been so lucky to work with a string of great coxswains. "I've had some of the best in the sport," he says. "It's phenomenal to see where the MRA alum go."

This past summer, Jim attended the wedding of two former MRA juniors, Karl Betram and Meghan Kay, who both rowed for MRA in the late '90s. It was a great moment says Jim and a reminder of how wonderful it is to be a part of the history at MRA.

"It's a honor to be involved with something so incredible. I met R.C. Cumming in '77 and I've known Lou Lindsey -- the former MRA coach -- for years. I've seen the tradition of great coaches at MRA and I'm humbled to be part of it," says Jim. "It's a thrill to see this boathouse continue to produce great rowers and teams."

Last Updated Monday, June 26 2006 @ 10:15 PM PDT

Jim Andersen Marin Rowing Association Varsity Boys Coach & Master Men's Coach

Jim Andersen
Marin Rowing Association Varsity Boys Coach & Master Men's Coach