John Pescatore

John Pescatore was the stroke of the USA eight that won a gold medal at the 1987 World Championships and a bronze at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He also rowed a pair at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, placing sixth, and rowed in the eight at the 1990 Worlds, placing fifth. He rowed in college at the University of Pennsylvania, captaining the team as a senior, and helping them win the Eastern Sprints that year. He later earned a masters’ in teaching mathematics (MAT) from the University of San Francisco.

Pescatore started as a rowing coach even during his competitive career. He was freshman coach at Stanford from 1988-91, and then became head coach at St. Ignatius College Prep in San Francisco. He was assistant coach for the USA at the 2000 Olympics and then became assistant coach at Penn, also serving as head coach of the elite teams at the Vesper Boat Club during that time. In 2002 he became head coach at Yale.

Pescatore left that job in 2010 to be a stay-at-home dad for his two sons. Pescatore later became a serious cyclist and in 2014 started Kingfisher Cycling, which leads cycling tours in the Pyrenees. Pescatore is married to the former Anne Martin, a 1988 Olympic rower, and a 1986 World Champion in the lightweight four.