Fred Honebein

Fred Honebein rowed the eight at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In 1995 he had won two gold medals at the Pan American Games, in the pair and the eight. He also competed at three World Championships, always in the eight, winning a gold in 1994 and bronze medals in 1993 and 1995.

A graduate of U Cal Berkeley, Honebein became a rowing coach, starting as the novice coach at Berkeley. He was an assistant coach at the University of Washington from 1998-2004, and then was head coach at Oregon State University. Honebein married Anne Kakela, who rowed the women’s eight at the 1996 Olympics. Kakela was also the head women’s coach at Oregon State in 2004-06. In 2006 Honebein was named the head coach at the University of Pennsylvania.

Honebein and Kakela also started Empacher North America. Empacher makes high-end racing shells and is based out of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.