On Pescatore's plaque: Captain and stroke '86 Varsity, Eastern Sprints gold and Ivy champs, Penn's first Sprints and Ivy titles in 24 years; gold at '86 San Diego Crew Classic, course record still stands today. Stroked '84 Varsity, silver at Eastern Sprints & IRA. Stroked '87 U.S. heavyweight 8, gold at World Championships in Copenhagen and bronze '88 Olympics in Seoul; 6th in 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, men's coxless pair. Coach of silver medal coxless pair at 2000 Olympics in Sydney and US Rowing Coach of the Year. Second Penn rower to participate in at least three Olympiads. Head coach Yale Rowing '03 to '10, EARC Coach of the Year '07, silver medal & course record at Eastern Sprints & dramatic come from behind match race victory over Harvard. Coach of St. Ignatius College Prep, San Francisco, three State Championships and one National Championship.

by Marc Narducci
 
John Pescatore was never one who sought the spotlight, although he couldn't elude it either. The love of competition was enough of a reward for Pescatore during a sterling rowing career at Penn and well after his graduation in 1986.
 
The latest honor is his upcoming induction into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame, which will take place on Friday, Sept. 27 in a ceremony to be held at The Inn at Penn.
 
Yet it's fitting that with all the success he had, Pescatore's greatest memory at Penn came not at the winner's podium, but rather at a practice session when he was stroking the Varsity Eight during his sophomore year in 1984.
 
Among the nine team members in the boat were six seniors, a junior, and two sophomores—Pescatore and David Anderson.
 
This was a practice that occurred late in the season, in between Eastern Sprints and the IRA National Championship.
 
"We had an incredible practice session, and I remember talking to a couple of seniors about it and there was a realization that we had a team that was a real team, a respected competitive team, crew, and program," he said. "We knew and believed that we could win."
 
They weren't far off; Penn's Varsity Eight boat took silver at both Sprints and IRAs. As Pescatore recalls, that practice confirmed that the performance at Sprints was well earned.
 
"That moment was an indicator that something had really changed," he said. "I knew it and a couple of guys knew it, and it wasn't a fluke to have that great practice session together. It was an indication we built this thing and a signal we were kind of there, and I remembered thinking that over the next two years there would be tremendous confidence."
 
The confidence from that season would indeed stay with Pescatore and his teammates over his final two years at Penn.
 
"The next year, my junior year, we were a good team and competitive and it was because of what we accomplished in the prior year with that outgoing senior class," he said.
 
As a senior, Pescatore was captain and stroke of Penn's Varsity Eight that won gold at the Eastern Sprints, the Quakers' first win at the event in 24 years.
 
In addition, Penn's Varsity Eight also earned silver at the IRA National championship, won the San Diego Crew Classic while setting the course record that still stands today (5:35.1), and placed third at the Cincinnati Regatta (which at the time was one of the major events on the college rowing calendar).
 
What made Pescatore's success at Penn even more impressive is that he was a late bloomer to rowing. He did not participate in the sport until his junior year of high school, after his family had moved from Mount Laurel, N.J. to live permanently in their Ocean City summer home. That meant transferring to Holy Spirit High School, which offered crew.
 
Holy Spirit's crew coach at the time was Stan Bergman, who told Pescatore that he would be great for the sport. Through the years Bergman came to truly appreciate Pescatore's talent, along with his passion to compete.
 
"He was a great stroke, had great rhythm and toughness, which you need," Bergman said.
 
While Bergman introduced Pescatore to the sport in high school, the two would meet again just a few years later when Bergman became the head coach at Penn ahead of Pescatore's junior year. Now, the two are about to share a place in the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame. (Bergman was inducted with the previous class in 2022.)
 
Going back to his high school days, Pescatore said that Bergman's presence was a big reason that he was able to make such a relatively smooth transition into the sport.
 
"Thanks to Stan, I felt comfortable almost immediately," Pescatore said. "He was one of the coaches who just believed and understood positive reinforcement was the right approach, and he gave me so much of that immediately."
 
So, the comfort level came awfully quickly.
 
"Literally within days of being on the team, without having been in in a boat, I felt that this is where I wanted to be and it was the right fit," Pescatore recalls. "Joining a team with Stan Bergman in charge was the right place for me."
 
It also was good for Bergman, both in high school and when the two reunited at Penn.
 
"He had an outstanding career at Penn," Bergman said. "He was a great leader and captain in 1986. He had a work ethic and a commitment to the sport that carried along to his teammates."
 
The leadership was demonstrated early in Pescatore's Penn career.
 
"He was always the guy leading the charge, even with the older guys," said teammate Rick Wegryn, also a 1986 Penn graduate who rowed in the Varsity Eight with Pescatore their final two years. "As a sophomore he was already kind of a leader."
 
Wegryn, who has been New Jersey's deputy attorney general since 2014, marveled at Pescatore's mental approach to the sport.
 
"He had this incredible drive and focus, this laser focus on getting better and being the best he could be," Wegryn said. "We were all like that, but not as much as he was."
 
Pescatore continued to flourish in the sport after his 1986 graduation from Penn. In 1987, as part of the Heavyweight Eight, he stroked the United States to gold at the 1987 World Championships. The following year, Pescatore made his first Olympic team, once again stroking the U.S. Heavyweight Eight and earning a bronze medal at the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea.
 
For somebody who had such high standards, winning an Olympic bronze came with mixed emotions.
 
"All I can tell you is the truth," he said. "In 1987 we won the gold medal at the World Championships, and we were the favorites in the Olympics."
 
So, entering the 1988 games, he only had one thing on his mind: gold
 
"Ending with a bronze was a little bit of a letdown," he admitted. "We had high expectations to be more competitive and weren't as competitive as I thought we would be."
 
Over the years, though, he has come to appreciate what winning any Olympic medal truly means.
 
"Looking back on it, you realize that there are not too many crews that repeat one year to the next," he said. "In hindsight, I should be really glad to get to the medal stand because there were a lot of teams that were really good."
 
Pescatore would also compete as a stroke in the heavyweight pair without coxswain at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, finishing sixth. He would return to the Olympics as an assistant coach in 2000.
 
It was at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, in fact, that Pescatore had one of his most memorable moments in the sport. As an assistant coach for the U.S., Pescatore was assigned to guide the coxless pair, which consisted of Sebastian Bea and Ted Murphy, who would win the silver medal in the event.
 
"That was incredible," recalled Pescatore. "It was a greatly competitive event, and I felt privileged to be a part of it and work with two incredible oarsmen who were willing to believe despite not having been together before."
 
Bea and Murphy were a new pair and were not known quantities at that time.
 
"Despite not having been together before and not having high expectations, they were willing to believe they could be on the medal stand," Pescatore said.
 
Unlike the participants, Pescatore didn't receive a medal for the win.
 
"It doesn't matter," Pescatore said. "I have my bronze medal from '88. The memories of the people and the practices, those are the things I remember exactly."
 
He did receive a high honor. After guiding what was the top performing American crew in the 2000 Olympics, Pescatore was named the 2000 USRowing Coach of the Year.
 
Pescatore would later serve eight seasons as Yale's heavyweight crew coach, with his last coming in 2010.
 
Among his accomplishments was an undefeated dual racing season in 2006-07. That season, Yale also earned a silver medal at the Eastern Sprints Championship, a bronze medal at the Head of the Charles in the Championship Eight, and a gold medal at the Princeton Chase Regatta.
 
Now 60, Pescatore is married to former world champion rower Anne Martin. They are parents of twin 28-year-old sons and reside in New Haven, Conn., where Pescatore serves on a few boards, and also owns his own kayak business.
 
Always the team player, Pescatore sees his upcoming Hall of Fame induction at Penn as a way to thank those who were so instrumental in his success.
 
"I am not interested in recognition," he said. "A big moment at Penn was at practice, it wasn't winning awards, but this does give me the opportunity to show my gratitude to Penn and for the people who helped me set goals, then work hard to go after them."