Valerie McClain

Where were you raised? When were you born? 

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Born and raised in Berkeley. I went to school in Oakland, California and Berkeley, California. 

And how old were you when you first were taken down to a boathouse? When did rowing even enter your consciousness? 

Grammar school, when my sister, who was older than me by five years, started rowing in high school at Holy Names on Lake Merritt. 

And were you interested right from the get go? I mean, so you would have been a little kid. You would have about ten?

Yep. So. I wasn't really interested. My sister and I weren't close, so it was pretty much anything she did, I didn't want to do. But as the family kept going on trips and and sponsoring the crew team and fundraising for the crew team and, you know, I watched those girls have so much fun, then I thought, well, maybe, you know, maybe when I get to high school, maybe I might want to do it. 

And so what year was the first time? Do you remember the first time you ever stepped into a boat, and did you do it as a rower or a coxswain? 

As a coxswain, And yes, I do remember. It was in the summer of 1969. So just before I started high school, they were training for the Nationals. So at that time it was still the NWRA. So they were training for the Nationals and the coxswain got mononucleosis. And they were just looking for somebody little to steer the boat for workouts while she recovered because their intent was that she was going to cox at Nationals, but she just had to rest because she had mono. So that's what I remember. And I remember that the stroke was Sally McClellan, and she was really, really nice because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. And I'm surprised they would have sent somebody like me out there, in the middle of Lake Merritt. Didn't know how to steer, didn't know what to say, didn't know how to call anything. But I didn't break anything. I got the boat back in one piece, so I guess that was my big hurrah. 

Valerie McClain, Varsity 1978