Hundreds turn out to bid farewell to coach Erickson

The seven rowers marched in solemn procession, bearing a long white rowing skiff on their shoulders. In front of them strode bagpiper and ex-rower Bill Collins, playing the mournful strains of "The Skye Boat Song." The song begins with the words, "Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing."

It seemed a fitting choice of a farewell tune for a man who devoted his life to rowing.

Hundreds of friends, admirers and relatives filled the launching docks behind the Conibear Shellhouse on the UW campus yesterday afternoon to pay their last respects to Richard Erickson, facilities manager and former Husky crew coach.

Erickson, who rowed for and coached UW crew, and managed UW athletics facilities for 44 years, died at his home in Marysville on July 25. He was 65. There was a private funeral service for the family on Monday.

Chaplain Dennis Neeva, present at both events, remarked on the number of people that came to pay their last respects.

"Wouldn't Dick be surprised at how many people came today, at how many people knew him," Neeva remarked.

Erickson was born in 1935 in Arlington. As a high school athlete, Erickson competed barefoot in track and tennis. But it was during his time rowing for the UW when he earned his laurels. In 1958, Erickson served on a varsity team that defeated the Soviet team in Moscow, in the first sporting event broadcast to the West from the communist bloc. That team was entered into the Husky Hall of Fame in 1984.

After graduation, Erickson trained as a coach at MIT and Harvard, returning to the UW in 1965. In the next 22 years, he took his rowing teams to 15 Pacific Coast championships and to the 1984 national championship. Erickson's teams also won the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta in England, and competed in the Nile Invitational in Cairo. In 1974, he helped to found the UW women's varsity rowing team.

"When I came over here, there were no women in the boathouse," said Jan Harville, women's crew coach. "Dick helped bring us over. There were no differences between men and women."

After retiring from coaching in 1987, Erickson went on to manage facilities for the department of intercollegiate athletics. He also worked as a commentator for the Montlake Windermere Cup races every spring.

"We would do the opening-day regatta together every year," recalled Bruce King, KOMO-TV sportscaster. "He was a terrific guy, a good friend and a super coach."

In 1994, Erickson was once again admitted into the UW's Hall of Fame, this time for his services as a coach. But rowing and Husky sports were only a facet of Erickson's life. Fishing was his great love, and Erickson went to Petersburg, Alaska, twice a year to work as a deckhand. The rest of the year, he would fish or troll in the Puget Sound with his three sons.

"What a ride he took us on," Erickson's son Al said. He had donned his father's characteristic jacket, neck towel, baseball cap, sunglasses and pipe of for the ceremony. "As a father, his energy was boundless. He didn't instill the fear of punishment in us; rather, the fear of disappointing him. Not by failure, but by not trying," he said.

He also served on school boards, dabbled in aviation and spent time developing an affinity with the residents of the Tulalip Indian Reservation where he lived, particularly with reservation children.

"He was always there for kids," said Don Hatch, Tulalip and Marysville school board member. "He took the kids from the reservation on tours through all the UW sports facilities. Spiritually, he's always going to be with me."

Athletic Director Barbara Hedges remarked on the energy and pace at which Erickson lived his live. "I want to welcome you to the Dick Erickson retirement party," she said from the podium.

"He had been here 44 years, and he had accomplished so much," she continued. "I feel privileged to have known him."

After the speeches, the crowd pressed up to the edge of the docks, beside the flower-laden racing boat that bears coach Erickson's name. Seven men, all rowers who had served under the coach, marched down with the piper to the water's edge. After locking their oars in place, they rowed into Lake Washington, the strains of "Amazing Grace" resonating from the bagpipe. The second bench on their racer was empty, reserved for No. 2, Richard Erickson.