Donald Blessing

Donald F. Blessing (December 26, 1905 – July 4, 2000) was an American

coxswain The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boa ...

who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics, held in Amsterdam. Blessing was born in

Hollister, California Hollister is a city in and the county seat of San Benito County, located in the Central Coast region of California. With a 2020 United States census population of 41,678, Hollister is one of the largest cities in the Monterey Bay Area and a ...

and attended Visalia Union High School. In 1928, he was the

of the American boat, which won the gold medal in the eights. Don was the Most Valuable Man as voted by his teammates on the UC/USA crew. The USA eight was composed of men from the University of California and was the first of 3 Olympic eights that would come from Cal and win gold. The University sent gold medal-winning crews in 1932 (Los Angeles) and 1948 (London), as well. Don Blessing was a lifelong Californian, residing in Piedmont, CA and Belvedere, CA for most of his adult life. He also was a lifelong Bear Backer, a charter member of the San Francisco Grid Club and among the first group of inductees to the University California Hall of Fame. Blessing was one of eight minority owners in what originally was known as the Oakland Señores football club, and as such was indirectly a founding owner in the American Football League in 1960. Blessing, Chet Soda and five of the other six owners sold their stakes to fellow partner F. Wayne Valley before the start of the inaugural season, by which point the team was named the Oakland Raiders. He had two children - Sherrell Blessing and Don Blessing Jr. (deceased in 2003) and five grandchildren. He also had two great-grandchildren.
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1905 births 2000 deaths Coxswains (rowing) Rowers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in rowing University of California, Berkeley alumni American male rowers Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics {{US-rowing-Olympic-medalist-stub