John Strotbeck, Jr.

John Strotbeck, Jr. is the founder, president and CEO of Boathouse Sports. Strotbeck rowed in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic games, and was elected the Olympic Team’s Captain in the latter. His company, Boathouse Sports, is the nation’s leading direct manufacturer of custom team athletic apparel. Strotbeck currently lives in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania with his wife Stephanie and son Max. [www.olympics.com]

Biography

Early life

Growing up on the sandy beaches of the South Jersey Shore certainly had an effect on a young John Strotbeck. Like many who grew up in Margate, New Jersey, Strotbeck immersed himself in the ocean culture; working as a life guard when not in school and spending the rest of his time rowing and surfing in big waves provided by the Atlantic Ocean.

Strotbeck started to row competitively in his senior year of high school after spending his first years playing football and wrestling. His talent on the water spoke for itself and earned Strotbeck a spot on Marietta College’s rowing team his freshman year. His drive kept him at the top throughout college.

Though small for a world-class rower - standing 6’2” and weighing 180 pounds - Strotbeck found himself cycling through the power seats of the boat. His overwhelming advantage over the competition was his tremendous efficiency and ability to move a boat fast.

Athletic career

After taking a brief hiatus, Strotbeck returned to the world of competitive rowing after moving to Philadelphia in 1981. Philadelphia was a haven for rowers as the city offered access to world-class coaches, proper rowing equipment, and the Schuylkill River, which houses one of the largest regattas in the country and historic Boathouse Row.

After training intensely throughout the winter of 1983, Strotbeck made the 1983 Pan Am team rowing for the Vesper Boat Club. Assuming he would not make it through the first seat race, Pan Am Coach John Bannan consented to allow Strotbeck to try out. After winning the first seat race, and many more after, Bannan relented on his initial position and gave Strotbeck a seat in the Pan Am boat. Strotbeck’s crew placed second in the 1983 Pan American Games earning the team a silver medal.

Prior to the 1984 Olympic games, the US Rowing team’s coaching philosophy had been focused on recruiting big guys from big-name schools for the Olympic and World Games. There was initially no interest in finding a spot on the team for Strotbeck who had few competitive accolades and hailed from a Division III College. After preliminary testing in Princeton, Strotbeck was told he was not going to make the 1984 Olympic team. As fate would have it, US Rowing, the sports governing body, disappointed with the lack of results in the last 10 years of world competition, and looked outside the USA for the coach of Team 1984.

Kris Korzenowski, a Polish expatriate coaching the Italian team, was hired as the 1984 Olympic Rowing Team’s head coach. Because he was not predisposed to recruiting from the predominant American rowing schools, Strotbeck found himself in the crew of the 1984 US Olympic Rowing team. He was best summed up by Olympic Committee President John B. Kelly, Jr. who simply said, “You’re not big, but you clearly know how to move an object on the water.”

The opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games proved to be a turning point in the life of John Strotbeck. As the host country, the athletes representing the United States took the field last. The teams entered the arena in descending order with the rowers towards the back. Strotbeck took ten steps into the Olympic tunnel and was hit with a wave of fans chanting, “USA! USA!” Mesmerized by this enthusiasm and pride, Strotbeck had an epiphany and decided to quit his job after the games and train full time for a gold medal in Seoul, Korea. Strotbeck’s boat placed sixth in his race and he headed back to Philadelphia train with sights already set on Seoul, Korea in 1988.

Professional career

After arriving back in Philadelphia following the 1984 Olympic games, it was clear that there was an immediate necessity to find some form of employment to fill Strotbeck’s free time and earn an income. Using a combination of idealism and innovation, Strotbeck launched a company that catered solely the rowing athlete in 1985. He envisioned an entity that would create uniforms, training gear and outerwear solely for the competitive rower. Boathouse Sports was the first and only company of its kind at that time – one that provided rowers with everything they needed to compete at their optimal level. It took one innovative design to skyrocket Boathouse Sports from a local sportswear company to an establishment manufacturing the choice outerwear for rowers worldwide. [www.boathouse.com]

Being a competitive rower, Strotbeck was all too familiar with the restrictions most clothes put on the rower in terms of movement. Strotbeck perfected the design of a jacket to combat those limitations while still offering the rowing athlete the best protection possible as they trained – the Stevenson Jacket.

The original Stevenson Jacket introduced an inventive design that allowed rowers to train on the water regardless of the environmental elements. The jacket’s fabric was highly water repellent. The orbital shoulder gussets offered a two-fold benefit for the competitive rower; the first, allowing orbital motion of the arms and the other, pushing air through the jacket to allow for increased ventilation. The tail of the jacket protected the rower’s lower lumbar from the stress of rowing. The Stevenson Jacket’s purpose was to function for and protect the rower – it became the ideal performance jacket of the rower and was seen on the backs of many athletes, including those on US Olympic Teams.

After the success of the Stevenson Jacket, orders for all types of attire poured in. In 1986 Boathouse received two major orders for a new design in uniforms, (the unisuit); one from the US Naval Academy and the other from Harvard University. Although the board at Harvard deemed the uniforms too risqué to wear in competition, Harvard Crew wore them underneath the gear sanctioned by the University. They wore the uniforms because they were designed to aid the athletes in optimizing their performance – and they did just that. As much as rowers enjoyed the uniforms, the Stevenson Jacket was Boathouse’s initial claim to fame and the summit from which Boathouse took off.

While growing his company, Strotbeck competed in the World Championships, the Pan Am’s and the Goodwill Games from 1984 through 1987. After being elected Captain of the US Rowing team, he was voted to be the Captain of the Olympic Team during the 1988 games is Seoul. At the games Strotbeck rowed what he remembers as being the best race of his life.

After the 1988 games, Strotbeck decided to hang up his oars and pursue the next chapter of his life. He returned to Philadelphia with the intention of closing his factory and exploring a new career path.

After arriving in Philadelphia, the thought of letting go of a staff of 17 employees was difficult for Strotbeck to handle, so he opted, instead, to change direction and expand. Strotbeck used the success of the Stevenson Jacket as a foundation for evolving his rowing company into an outwear company.

Strotbeck attributes much of his personal and professional success to his being a contrarian. When told he would not make the cut to row in the Olympics, he proved his coaches wrong. When told by his peers that being a direct manufacturer of sports apparel with a home-base in the United States would never work, Strotbeck implemented a model that could and would work - and work well. After being chided for envisioning a company that would produce custom made apparel fast, Strotbeck implemented a system of manufacturing that other companies are trying to compete with 15 year later. Many of the innovations Boathouse is renowned for are based on Strotbeck’s desire to face adversity and not back down from a challenge.

Strotbeck’s competitive drive was not extinguished after he retired from competing in sport. He uses this drive and ambition to achieve his objective of being the best direct manufacturer of custom sports apparel in the industry. He focused his company values on 100% customization, utilizing the highest quality technical fabrics, offering unsurpassed speed of delivery and emphasizing customer service as being paramount to a consumer’s satisfaction. While those philosophies still hold strong, the focus of the company expanded in 2005 with the introduction of sublimation technology to provide uniforms to a team.

This sublimation technology presented Strotbeck and Boathouse with an advantage. After experimenting and perfecting the art of sublimating materials, Boathouse could now produce a uniform completely branded with a team’s logos and colors that utilized the most advanced quality construction and the best technical fabrics. Each sublimated piece is light weight and designed to aide in performance while never losing its original quality as sublimation fuses dye directly into the garment. Strotbeck’s company is currently in a period of expansion with emphasis being made on marketing efforts.

Award and honors

Boathouse Sports has received a number of awards ranging from entrepreneurial to technological. Former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell also observed Boathouse Day in the city of Philadelphia [http://www.governor.state.pa.us/] . Strotbeck has served on a number of committees including serving as Vice Chair of the Enterprise Center (a non profit whose mission is to develop minority entrepreneurs in Philadelphia) [ [http://www.theenterprisecenter.com/ The Enterprise Center ] ] and the USOC [ [http://www.usoc.org/ usolympicteam.com, official site of the U.S. Olympic Team ] ] where he was an Athlete Rep.

References