President DeGioia, Ladies and Gentlemen: Most Georgetown students sooner or later are told that the Georgetown colors of blue and gray were chosen to represent the union of the north and south following the Civil War.
Then, it is always a delight to learn that it was students who selected the colors. Not professors. Not administrators. Not the Jesuits. Students!
Then, we are further gladdened to discover that the students who chose the colors were actually Georgetown rowers who wanted to differentiate their racing shells from other schools during regattas.
All of this is true.
In the Georgetown College Journal published in 1876, there is a reported account of the newly formed boat club. It reads in part as follows:
"In a meeting of the boat club on Monday, May 15th, a Committee on colors was appointed, consisting of the chairman, Thomas Kernan, Clement Manly, John Agar, Eugene McCarthy, and Columbus O'Donnell. These gentlemen have decided on Blue and Gray as appropriate colors for the Club and expressive of the feeling of unity that exists between the Northern and Southern boys of the College."
Less well known is a story found in a subsequent entry in the College Journal. It relates how the "girls" of the Convent of the Visitation presented a boat flag as a gift to the Crew with a letter that read in part:
"Please accept this slight testimonial of our esteem and gratitude. May this little flag ever wave over true and noble hearts! May success ever attend you, and while old Potomac echoes back the shout of merry voices, may it carry your bark -- `swifter than the wind' -- down its rippling waters. With regards, THE YOUNG LADIES OF THE ACADEMY."
The Journal account goes on to describe the gift: "The flag is really very handsome. It is a silken pennon, the upper half blue, the lower gray. Above is painted the inscription `Ocior Euro' (Swifter than the wind.) Below, the letters G.U.B.C., Georgetown University Boat Club. The pole is of walnut, surmounted by an eagle."
The boat flag eventually found a permanent home with the University president where it decorated his office for many years. Sadly, there is no record of what became of this flag.
President DeGioia, on this occasion, we, the most recent in the long line of Hoya rowers, join with our predecessors here. On behalf of every Hoya who has ever pulled an oar on the Potomac, we are proud to present to you, a replica flag to replace the original lost to the past. Following our captains in our procession are three Hoya rowers, two current students and one alumna, all graduates of the Convent of the Visitation, to present to you our replacement flag.
As the young ladies of Visitation wrote to us 132 years ago: May success ever attend you. May this little flag ever wave over true and noble hearts!
We have not forgotten. Never Row!
