Patrick F. Manning has been elected to the Northeastern Hall of Fame for his achievements in the sport of crew.
Manning, a native of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., rowed at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School and captained the crew his senior year before arriving at Northeastern.
After winning the Parker Memorial Award as the Outstanding Freshman Oarsman, Manning vaulted right into the varsity boat as a sophomore. However, the 1987 season produced a disappointing 1-5 record followed by a 10th-place finish at the Eastern Sprints and a ninth-place finish at the IRA.
In 1988, Manning and company rowed revenge upon the collegiate rowing world. They quickly downed Dartmouth, then recovered the Arlett Cup from Boston University. Next was Brown, the defending Sprint champion that had thrashed the Huskies four straight years. Manning, rowing 3 seat, and his mates not only upset Brown by two seconds, but charged over the finish line in 5:44.3, a personal best.
Next, the Huskies took it to Yale and Rutgers in a tri-regatta before losing their undefeated status to Harvard. The regular season climaxed with a solid length victory over powerful Penn. The '88 boat then placed third in the Eastern Sprints, which was NU's best finish since 1981. But, the one major race that had totally eluded the Huskies was the ancient and venerable IRA Regatta. In 22 tries the best they could muster was second in 1980. The crew encountered tragedy on the way to the regatta with the accidental death of popular boatman Charlie Smith, but turned it into a resolve. They christened their unnamed shell the Charlie and defeated the nation's best to win the 86th annual IRA.
In his senior season, Manning led the crew to a 6-2 record plus a third-place finish at the IRA. However, the highlight of that year was NU's defeat of Harvard for the first time ever on the Charles River. Manning was rewarded with the Most Valuable Oarsman Award that season. Manning graduated in 1990 with a degree in Business, summa cum laude. He had a 3.9 grade-point average and was Phi Beta Kappa.
He went on to join the national team, winning a World Championship silver medal in 1991 and an Olympic silver medal in 1992 as stroke of the US four without coxswain.
In 1994, Manning graduated from Harvard Business School.
