Marko Banovic has been elected to the Northeastern University Hall of Fame for excellence in the sport of crew.
Banovic, Class of '94, was the first international elite oarsman ever recruited by Northeastern. He transferred to NU from the University of Belgrade with only two years of eligibility left. His credentials were impeccable. He had been a member of the Yugoslavian junior national team and was a recognized pre-elite sculler. He immediately took over the all-important stroke seat.
The 1990 boat had its struggles despite finishing the regular regatta season with a 4-3 record. They lost to Harvard and Pennsylvania by seven seconds and finished eighth in the Eastern Sprints and ninth in the IRA Regatta. However, that boat would put forward five veterans for the next season's shell. When the awards were handed out for 1990, Banovic was the Most Valuable Oarsman.
The 1991 season started miserably with Boston University upsetting the Huskies by two-tenths of a second in the Arlett Cup. Next, NU finished third to Harvard and Brown in the Potomac Cup Regatta. Then Coach Buzz Congram rallied his forces and NU ran off three straight wins. Brown, who had beaten the Huskies by four seconds a week earlier, bowed to NU by over five seconds. The next week the Huskies easily dispatched Yale and Rutgers in a tri-regatta. Next came Harvard and the Smith Cup. The Crimson had beaten the Huskies in 10 of 11 meetings, but the Banovic-stroked NU-shell won by over a boat-length.
The Huskies entered the Eastern Sprints seeded second to Pennsylvania and that is how they finished with the Quakers ahead by 1.8 seconds. Six days later, NU reversed the decision, nosing Penn by two seconds on the Quakers' home course.
The 89th rowing of the IRA Regatta turned into a dual race between Penn and NU. After the first 1000 meters, Penn had a deck on NU with the rest of the field trailing badly. With 600 to go Banovic called for a series of power tens that surged NU into the lead and gave the Huskies their second-ever IRA Championship. Two weeks later, the boats would meet again in the Cincinnati Regatta and Penn won by two hundredths of a second. However, 1991 will always be one of the great seasons of Husky rowing.
Banovic then moved to the international rowing scene, competing for Croatia in the World Championship, the World Cup, and in the Olympiads of 1992 and '96. In 1995 he became the first Husky to row in the Oxford-Cambridge boat race.
