"Although work on the water did not begin until the Spring of 1951, a rowing program at the New York Institute for the Education of the Blind had been planned early in the Fall of 1950. Dr. M.E. Frampton, the Principal, and Paul Mitchell, the Assistant Principal, asked John Hordines, who had recently been appointed Director of Physical Education, to introduce a new and exciting sport for the blind. Mr. Hordines was an alumnus of Syracuse University which had once been famous for its rowing, so he suggested crew. Rowing is an ideal sport for the blind since it depends upon muscular memory rather than vision. The only adaptation necessary is the use of a sighted coxswain."<br><br> Excerpt from an essay by Seth Hoard
