Oh, The Places You'll Row

139,742 miles.

That's 5.61 trips around the world and over halfway to the moon.

It's also how far the Oklahoma rowing team's boatman, Karl Mosley, has pulled the team's boats on a trailer across the United States.

Mosely has been a competitor for a good portion of his life. He began racing bicycles and also competed in triathlons, but about 15 years ago he transitioned to rowing, and although he doesn't compete in races anymore he's never left the sport.

“When I got involved in rowing they needed someone to drive the boats to regattas,” Mosley recalls. “They heard I had driven a truck before and asked if I would be interested in driving, and I said, 'Yeah, of course!' I had experience driving and I was a guy from Oklahoma who had a pickup and didn't mind pulling a trailer. I don't think I really knew what I was getting into before I actually saw the trailer, but it wasn't a big problem or anything. It was fun and they paid my way for everything.”

During spring season, Mosley transports a fleet of five racing shells for the Sooners.

Mosely began driving for the Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation, but when the University of Oklahoma program began nine years ago, new head coach Leeanne Crain knew she needed someone reliable to transport the OU fleet across the country.

“Karl is one of a kind,” Crain says. “He was one of the first people I met after taking the job at OU when he was working for the OKC Boathouse District, and he offered to help with trailering our equipment to races. Since we didn't have a full-time boatman position at the time I took him up on the offer. After a couple years of doing the job for a very small stipend and after recognizing the value he brought to the program, I spoke with Joe Castiglione and he agreed that we needed to make him full time.”

Since the beginning, Mosley has driven to 14 different states and through countless others, and he laughs about how times have changed out on the highway. In the mid-90s he would use an atlas to plan any trips he took, but now he uses GPS and has a calculated drive time before he ever leaves the parking lot of the OU boathouse. But even with the GPS, he sometimes relies on word of mouth to figure out the most efficient route.

“With the Clemson trip this past weekend my GPS gave me a driving time of about 16 hours, which takes about 19 with all the stops I make,” Mosley explains. “I picked the more scenic route because I had a little more time to burn, and I like to try different routes. All the boatmen like me from other schools always converse with each other about different highways and what's under construction and things like that. I actually tried a different route this time that was a little longer, but it went faster because of the construction in different areas along the way.”

Mosley spends the majority of his time on the road listening to his iPod, rock 'n roll specifically, and when the boredom really starts to take over, he flips on a CB radio to listen to highway chatter. Other entertainment comes from some of the people he meets along the way.

“I always have people coming up and asking me about boats,” Mosley remembers. “A lot of guys will come up and make jokes asking if they have live wells for fishing. I met a guy in East Arkansas one time who actually rowed for the University of Washington in the 1950s, and I had a great conversation with him about the boats and rowing in general because he knew what was going on. I didn't expect to meet someone out in the sticks who knew about rowing.”

"I've always worked on things and worked with my hands. I was a machinist forever. Hardware on the boat is pretty universal, but the girls don't know a lot about the equipment we rig boats with, so it's good that I'm taking care of it. I grew up working with things like that."
Karl Mosley

Although he's spent roughly 1,030 hours driving, transporting racing shells isn't his only job for the Sooners. Crain calls Mosley “A jack of all trades” as he is also responsible for repairing damaged equipment on the OU racing shells, preparing coaching launches for practice and any maintenance at both Oklahoma practice facilities.

“I've always worked on things and worked with my hands,” Mosley says. “I was a machinist forever. Hardware on the boat is pretty universal, but the girls don't know a lot about the equipment we rig boats with, so it's good that I'm taking care of it. I grew up working with things like that. If I can fix something on site here in Oklahoma that's best, so you always cross your fingers that nothing too bad happens on site at the race. It's usually just a nut or bolt here or there that's missing that I have to change.”

Mosley's work with the Sooner rowing team is entirely behind the scenes, but his role is essential to the progress and success of this relatively new program. From OU's back-to-back conference championships in 2013 and 2014 to entering the program's 10th year next season, he's been there for it all, and he's always been good for a laugh or a smile along the way.

“Karl works long hours but takes it all in stride and always has a smile on his face and a good joke to offer up,” Crain explains. “The two of us have been showing up at the boathouse at 5:30 in the morning for nine years now and in that time we've become good friends. It's a good feeling driving to work knowing the first person you're going to see to start off your day is going to put a smile on your face. Karl is that guy.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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