Boathouse Row

By the end of the year, Boathouse Row on the Schuylkill should be fully aglow once again, the distinctive shapes of the 14 Victorian-era structures outlined in lights for all to enjoy. Thanks to a $147,500 grant from the city's William Penn Foundation, this delightful display will be restored and made permanent. The lighting exhibit, initially installed to provide temporary gaiety for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, has fallen into a sad state of disrepair. So many of its lights are missing that it is currently about as picturesque as a snaggle-toothed grin.

They're calling it "Ruby's Walk Across America," but for this morning, let's just call it a stroll along Kelly Drive. That's plenty for now for Ruby Gettinger, star of the Style Network's "Ruby," which is following her every step of a journey that began with her weighing nearly 500 pounds. She's kicking off a multicity set of one-hour walks at 9 this morning at No. 1 Boathouse Row, where she'll be walking and talking with fans of the Comcast-owned cable network's most-watched show in a free event that's scheduled to last until 2 p.m. Since the show premiered last November, she has heard from thousands of people, and some "have been taking road trips to Savannah [where she lives]

John A. Seitz figured that by June, given the current conditions, he would have been able to walk on the Schuylkill without wetting his Docksiders. That's how thick the silt by Boathouse Row is getting. Months ago, you could step in and get wet up to your calves. Now, said Seitz, you're lucky if the water licks your ankles in some places. For the commander of the Schuylkill Navy, the organization that oversees rowing on the river, that means sculls could get caught in the muck.

A speeding car careered off Kelly Drive and plunged into the Schuylkill River at the height of the rush hour this morning as rowers and runners looked on in horror. The car, a 2000 Buick LeSabre, sailed nearly 30 feet from the embankment before plummeting into the waters. "It was just like a Charles Bronson movie," said Bill Ban, a rower who was finishing up his morning routine at 8 a.m. just north of Boathouse Row. "I heard squealing tires, then boom! Saw the car flying off into the river," Ban said.

If you're jogging, rollerblading or walking the dog along Kelly Drive tomorrow, you'll see his familiar smiling face. You may even want to taste one of his familiar 50-cent pretzels, or $1 bottle of water. That's right, the Chief is officially back. Robert "Chief" Rasmussen will be back at Kelly Drive near Fountain Green Drive today, his victory over Big Business complete. After an outpouring of public support and a whirlwind week away from the Drive, Rasmussen, his dog Ski and his blue concession van will take their spot on Boathouse Row. Yesterday, the Chief and the new concessionaire, Fairmount Management, apparently reached a deal whereby Chief can peddle his pretzels, bottled water and water ice at his own prices - which are up to 50 percent less than the prices the new concessionaire was charging.

Five members of the Haverford School rowing team are getting a gift of a different kind this holiday season. They will be boarding a plane tonight bound for Egypt, where they will row in two international competitions in the next 12 days. "This is a great experience for the kids," assistant coach Craig Hoffman said. "The benefit of rowing in international competition is immeasurable. " Aside from trading the wintry weather of the Northeast for the summerlike climate of Egypt, Ben Yogel, James Delaney, Quentin Koffey, Matt Burkhardt and Darryl Brown will compete in two regattas: the Luxor International Regatta and the Nile International Regatta.

Fred Duling celebrated his 60th birthday by rowing 60 miles on the Christina River, in Delaware, a trek that started at dawn and concluded at dusk. This year, at age 66, he ran in the six-mile Schuylkill Navy Run on Thanksgiving - for the 51st consecutive year. Now, Duling has been forced to take on the toughest challenge of his life - recovering from serious spinal injuries suffered in a Dec. 6 fall at his beloved Malta Boat Club on Boathouse Row. No one is sure what exactly occurred, since Duling was working alone in the club, as he often does.

The William Penn Foundation has awarded a $147,500 grant to the Fairmount Park Commission for a permanent installation of the lights on Boathouse Row, ensuring that they will continue to be one of Philadelphia's most distinctive symbols. The lights went up 11 years ago for the Bicentennial, crudely nailed to the boathouses. They became popular immediately, offering motorists a nighttime outline of the boathouses visible from the Schuylkill Expressway and West River Drive. Temporary as they were, though, the lights started to burn out, and replacing them was difficult.

Boathouse Row would expand northward if Temple University gets city permission to build a new rowing facility on the east side of the Schuylkill near the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Philadelphia's Parks and Recreation Commission on Tuesday announced plans to review Temple's proposal, which calls for building a 23,000-square-foot boathouse and an adjacent dock on Fairmount Park land. Change comes slowly to Boathouse Row. If the plans are approved, Temple's facility would be the first new boathouse on the historic stretch of the river since 2002, when St. Joseph's University and St. Joseph's Prep put up a $3 million home for their rowing teams.

John Lloyd "grew up" on Boathouse Row. Started the day he climbed into a boat as a member of La Salle High School's freshman rowing team. He continued to grow, and row, through high school and on into college. Then came that weekend in May 1997 when everything came together - his graduation, his final race, and the realization of how the influence of the man in his life, his hero, helped him to achieve both. "As I shoved from the dock that Friday morning for my last race I looked back at the building," said Lloyd.

They couldn't row. One of them couldn't even speak. Jack Alden tried to stand up in front of schoolmates at a chapel service Friday morning to talk about one of his best friends on the Episcopal Academy rowing team and couldn't get past the first few words. "I just burst into tears," Alden said of the memorial service for Paul Pratt, a junior on the Episcopal Academy team who was killed in a one-car accident Thursday night. Alden and senior Pat Bernhardt, his partner on the Episcopal Academy boys' lightweight double, made up their minds: They weren't going to compete at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta.

AMID CONCERNS raised by open-land preservationists, Temple University has withdrawn a proposal to build a multimillion-dollar boathouse on the banks of the Schuylkill. The university initially announced plans in January to spend between $8 million and $12 million to erect a 23,000-square-foot boathouse on Fairmount Park land at the north end of Boathouse Row near the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. The plan was the first test of the Open Lands Protection ordinance, established in April 2011, which requires any institution using public land to provide or pay for an equivalent amount of green space to replace it. The city Parks and Recreation Commission raised questions about Temple's proposal at a public hearing in January after the university offered $1.5 million to help restore its former boathouse, the East Park Canoe House - which was condemned in 2008 - in lieu of providing new open space.

A 31-year-old North Philadelphia man was killed after he lost control of his 2000 Pontiac near the crew grandstands on Kelly Drive and plunged into the Schuylkill, police said. Police said Devon Womack of the 2600 block of North 29th Street was parked with a passenger in a lot near the finish line for crew races. Trying to leave, he put the car into drive instead of reverse and accelerated into the river. A high school crew team helped rescue the 30-year-old passenger. Police said the accident occurred at 5:01 p.m. Firefighters and a police marine rescue squad retrieved Womack from the water at 6:09.

A Philadelphia man was awarded the Carnegie Medal for heroism for saving the life of a man whose car plunged into the Schuylkill in 2011, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced Thursday. Christopher DeFelice, who was 32 at the time, was rowing nearby when a car spun out of control near Boathouse Row. The driver, Enderson Tejada, could not swim and submerged with the car. DeFelice dived into the water, which was about 45 degrees, and eventually rescued Tejada. The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission named 22 recipients on Thursday.

The lush, sinuous banks of the Schuylkill between Boathouse Row and the Falls Bridge are one of Philadelphia's glory spots, the landscape equivalent of a great architectural ensemble. It's a treasure that deserves kid-glove care, and yet over the last two decades, the precious parkland has been a victim of almost serial abuse. Historic boathouses have been left to crumble. Second-rate newcomers have been plopped onto the scenic riverfront as casually as fast-food joints on a highway strip.

As the first test of Philadelphia's new parkland preservation rules, Temple University's proposal to build a much-needed boathouse on the Schuylkill along Kelly Drive is proving to be a challenging one. The university's student rowers, having been turned out of the dilapidated East Park Canoe House several years ago, understandably are eager to see the plans move ahead. Temple envisions a 23,000-square-foot boathouse and an adjacent dock on a riverfront tract near Strawberry Mansion Bridge.

SHOULD TEMPLE University be allowed to build a boathouse on the Schuylkill without providing substitute land under the city's Open Lands Protection law? The city Parks and Recreation Commission wants to hear from residents about the issue at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lloyd Hall, 1 Boathouse Row, off Kelly Drive. Temple plans a 23,000-square-foot boathouse on Fairmount Park land under the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Temple's rowing crew had used the East Park Canoe House until 2008, when it was condemned as unsafe.

Boathouse Row would expand northward if Temple University gets city permission to build a new rowing facility on the east side of the Schuylkill near the Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Philadelphia's Parks and Recreation Commission on Tuesday announced plans to review Temple's proposal, which calls for building a 23,000-square-foot boathouse and an adjacent dock on Fairmount Park land. Change comes slowly to Boathouse Row. If the plans are approved, Temple's facility would be the first new boathouse on the historic stretch of the river since 2002, when St. Joseph's University and St. Joseph's Prep put up a $3 million home for their rowing teams.

Ruth A. Robinhold, 99, of Lafayette Hill, who cofounded the Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club in 1938, when rowing was a predominantly male sport, died Thursday, Dec. 13, of pneumonia at Chestnut Hill Hospital. The former Ruth Adams had placed an ad in a local newspaper seeking women to form a rowing club. Almost 100 women showed up at the first meeting; after a $5 monthly fee was levied, 17 stayed to form the club. The group, believed to be the oldest competitive women's rowing club in America, was fostered by Mrs. Robinhold, who continued to row on the Schuylkill until well into her 80s. "Ruth was up in years, but she was not old," said Sophie Socha, current club president.