| Without institutional funding during these early years, crew struggled to pay the enormous costs of the sport: racing shells, oars, launches, motors, transportation, and boathouse rent. Coaches were all volunteers as salaries were out of the question. The brunt of these expenses was borne by the rowers themselves and their parents. It was this hand-to-mouth existence that John and fellow teammates John Courtin, Erik Meyers and Larry Marantette sought to change in 1972 by establishing the Georgetown Rowing Alumni Association (GRAA). Joined by fellow oarsmen Mason, Carroll, Forster, Nihill, Bautz, Fosburgh, McDermott, Miossi and many others, they worked tirelessly to insure a secure future for the crew, ever mindful of one long-held dream, that today is close at hand: a Georgetown boathouse. At the center of these efforts was John Devlin, who served this alumni organization as its first and only treasurer until 1990. John began his coaching career in the fall of 1972 and coached the freshman/novice men for two years. After receiving his MBA from George Washington University, he assumed the reins of Georgetown's first women's crew in the fall of 1977. In that first year, there was but one used four-seat shell and eight oars. Equipment notwithstanding, John's varsity women's four appeared to be a 30-second favorite for the gold at the Vail that year, only to be disqualified by a steering error in a qualifying heat. In his second season, he recruited Jack Nihill C'73 to coach the freshman women. By his third year, the Devlin-Nihill combination was clicking as the varsity and freshman boats were winning medals and competing for the national championship. Georgetown crew benefited enormously as John gave selflessly of his time to the program, often sacrificing the advancement of his own professional career. The results were self-evident: after eight years of directing the women's program, the women's inventory had grown to four eight-oared shells, two endowed fours, and two endowed doubles. In 1983, both the varsity and the junior varsity boats took gold at the Dad Vail. Georgetown named John as Coach of the Year in 1987, following an undefeated varsity season and a gold medal victory at the Vail. In 1988, he coached a varsity four to a gold medal at the U.S. Collegiate Championships. The Hoya women's crew, in John's 13 years of coaching, earned a total of five Vail gold medals and seven trips to the national championships. John coached the men's varsity at George Washington for five years until retiring from coaching in 1997. He continues to work as a certified public accountant in northern Virginia. He and his wife Jo Ann, a former rower who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996, live in Arlington, VA with their two children, Jack and Caki.
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