Edward “Ted” F. Kakas II ’60

Football - Wrestling - Crew

Ted Kakas ’60 was a three-sport varsity athlete at Tabor Academy, earning seven varsity letters in football, wrestling, and crew. His keen athletic skills helped the 1959 Football Team win their last six games, outscoring the competition 144-6, and he was named Outstanding Lineman after playing both defense and offense that season. Ted went on to be awarded Honorable Mention on the Boston Globe All-New England Prep School Football Team. On the wrestling mat, Ted was an undefeated heavyweight champion in the regular season his junior and senior years. In 1960, he led the wrestling team as co-captain and won the New England Heavyweight Championship. Ted’s most impressive athletic accomplishments were realized in a crew shell. At Tabor, he captained the crew team both his junior and senior years and was 6 man on the 1960 Tabor Henley Crew. That same year, Ted led the team to victory in the Bedford Regatta in Bedford, England, setting a course record in the finals.

Following his years at Tabor, Ted rowed for the U.S. National Team and for Syracuse University, where he was a three-year letterman. He was captain of the 1964 team and a member of the 1961 freshman crew that won the Eastern Sprint Championship. Ted organized the 4+ crew that won the 1963 National Championship for Riverside BC, and went on to finish 2nd in the 1964 Olympic Trials. In 1966, Ted was a member of the National Team 8 that raced at the World Championship in Bled, Yugoslavia. In 1991, at the age of 50, Ted started competing at the FISA World Masters Regatta. From then through 2016, Ted has won 68 medals, racing in 17 different countries, and 11 gold medals at the Head of the Charles.

Ted has been an instrumental figure in the sport of rowing, from launching the National Learn to Row Day to establishing “static refereeing” at the Masters National Championships. This year marked Ted’s 26th year of competing at the highest level of masters rowing. He continues to live every day with the great motto: “Row Hard.”

Awards and Achievements:

• 1959 Tabor Outstanding Lineman Award
• 1960 Cy Carlson Wrestling Award
  • New England Heavyweight Wrestling Champion
• 1963 National Champion 4+, Rowing
• 1966 Union BC 8, Rowing – National Champions
  • U.S. National Team 8, Rowing – competed at World Championship in Bled, Yugoslavia
• 2000-2009 Chairman of the U.S. Rowing Masters Committee
• 2010 Letter Winner of Distinction, Syracuse University
• 2013 Inducted into the Syracuse Alumni Rowing Hall of Fame
• 2014 Awarded U.S. Rowing’s John Carlin Award for “Significant and Outstanding Contributions to the Sport of Rowing”