Fierce competitor, role model, brother of all, and scholar of the sport - those are all words to describe the roles that Michael Ban held on the North Allegheny Rowing Team.
Michael started rowing in 8th grade because of his brother Chris. He was already proficient in a single that first year and was always one of the top “boat movers” on the team! In rowing, there are athletes that have great scores on the ergometer and there are athletes that stand out for their size, then there are the stealth rowers that just make a boat go faster. That was Michael - his fluidity in a rowing shell was unmatched - when we would seat race no matter what combination he rowed with he always made them go faster. His form was clean, his conditioning was awesome, but his love of the sport was infectious for anyone he raced with!
Because Michael started rowing in 8th grade, he was probably the top recruiter of all time for NA Rowing! His freshman class was a big group of strong athletes. They were not the biggest guys, but they rowed very well together and formed a very competitive Freshman 8 that year. We had a great season with the boys placing high at every regatta they went to. We got to Scholastic Nationals at the end of that year and they qualified for the top final. Michael was the stroke of that boat and had watched every single boat and knew which teams were going to be the fastest. As the 8 rowed to the starting line, the entire regatta was cancelled due to bad weather coming in. It was scary and everyone was rushing to get their crews to safety. We kept watching and watching to see that boat come down the course, when finally we see two boats blatantly racing down the course alongside each other. Somehow in the midst of the chaos at the starting line, the NA crew had sought out the fastest team there and decided to race alongside them to the line. That was a classical example of Michael’s fearlessness and competitive spirit, and how he just pushed others to want to be that way as well.
That freshman year set the tone for 4 years of stellar performances on the water for NA Rowing. Whether it was a focus on a freshman 8+, a lightweight 4+, a junior 4X or a senior 4X - Michael was in every line up. He easily could have been highly competitive in a single or lightweight single, but it was the team boats that drove him. He called regatta weekends “business trips” because he was not there to hang out with the girls team and socialize - he was there to race and win.
Rowing is a sport of power and finesse - effort and ease. While a rower must be pushing as hard as they can to make a boat move forward, they also need to have the patience to let the rowing shell run beneath them. Michael approached rowing and life in that way - worked and pushed his hardest, but also knew when to let things flow on their own. In the heat of a very hard workout, Michael knew right when to crack a joke or give one of his teammates a hard time and lighten the tension. The team that he was a part of will forever be brothers, bonded by his giant heart and spirit.
--Melissa Titus Watts, North Allegheny Rowing Coach from 1996-2007