At Dad Vail, Drexel faithful - and one loud cowbell - came to be heard

On the banks of the Schuylkill, by the Drexel Dragons' tent at Saturday's Dad Vail Regatta, there were cheers and shouts of support as a group of racing boats passed by, slicing through the water.

There also were cowbells.

And ringing the mother of them all was Gerry Gartland.

"Go, Drexel! Go, Drexel!" screamed Gartland, who works in quality assurance for the State of New Jersey. Clang! Clang! Clang! went his bell.

"The other teams don't like that cowbell," his daughter Emily Gartland, a Drexel senior, said quietly. As captain of the women's rowing team, her second-place medal from the women's varsity heavyweight eight race hung around her neck.

"Go, Drexel!" hollered her father again, looking as if he were about to wade in after the boats. Clang! Clang!

That one of his own kids wasn't on the water at the moment didn't matter.

"I can't say enough about Drexel," Gerry Gartland said.

He was not alone.

Drexel, like the three years before, was the overall champion of the prestigious and historic Dad Vail.

Enthusiastic parents like Gartland, as well as supportive siblings, alumni, and grandparents, were on hand to savor the victories of individual races as well as the accomplishment of the whole.

Especially sweet, said generations of enthusiasts, was the way Drexel crew has grown as a program in the last several years. At the heart of it, they said, is teamwork.

"I always liked the camaraderie," said Drew Hill of Devon, a rower in his youth whose son Dean was on the water for the Dragons on Saturday. "You're only as good as everyone else in the boat."

Five of Hill's seven kids are rowers. A wing at St. Joseph Prep's Boathouse is named after him and his wife, Loretta, both longtime supporters. It is where Hill, now a real estate developer, started rowing. But what he finds even more enjoyable now is watching his kids compete, he said.

"I think it's much more rewarding as a parent to see them win than to win myself," Hill said.

Prevalent among the spectators were crew fans converted to the sport through their children's participation.

Growing up in Levittown, N.Y., on Long Island, John Ryan had no experience with crew.

"The only boat I ever rowed was a surf boat," said the attorney, who now lives in Reading.

But a daughter and son both got into crew. On Saturday, Ryan was in Philadelphia to support the next generation, granddaughter Sofia, a Drexel freshman.

Carey Compton, a scientist, and her husband, Harry, an environmental engineer, from Pennington, N.J., are also among the crew passionate - thanks to daughter Emma, a Drexel junior.

"Two weeks ago, I was on a bridge in Massachusetts, yelling at these guys in the water," Carey said. "It makes you do crazy things."

Like ringing a cowbell so loud, people could probably hear you the next county over.

"Go, Drexel!" shouted Gerry Gartland, who would be hoarse by day's end.

rgiordano@phillynews.com 215-854-2391 @ritagiordano