Steve Hargis competed in what he calls “all the sports” in high school.

It wasn't until he arrived at the Coast Guard Academy and rowed under legendary head coach Bill Stowe that he found something special.

“I found my sport when I got to the academy,” said Hargis, athletic director and boys' track coach at East Lyme High School, as well as a 1980 Coast Guard graduate.

“… (Stowe) was a guy that his personality filled every room, every space. His passion for the sport was something that was contagious.”

William A. Stowe, 75, a member of the Coast Guard Academy Athletic Hall of Fame who began the school's rowing program in 1971 — as well as an Olympic gold medalist at the 1964 Games in Tokyo — died suddenly Monday at his home in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Stowe and his wife Barbara were in attendance at Coast Guard last October as the program christened the eight-seat racing shell, the “Willam Stowe.”

“Motivationally, he was the best coach I've ever seen,” said Coast Guard coach Bill Randall, a 1982 graduate who also raced for Stowe and became the academy's director of rowing last August. “He knew what made cadets tick. I grew up in this area, I grew up in East Lyme, so I knew Bill Stowe in high school also.

“He's been a part of (the Coast Guard program) since it started. He's part of the reason I love rowing.”

Randall said Stowe's death is a blow not only to Coast Guard, but to the entire rowing community, many of whom have written memories of Stowe on Facebook. Randall called the christening of the “William Stowe” last fall “satisfying.”

“He was obviously very grateful,” Randall said. “It made him feel good and so it made us feel good.”

Stowe, a veteran of the U.S. Navy who served in Vietnam, graduated from of the Kent School and Cornell University.

He stroked Cornell to an IRA Championship (national championship) in 1962 and thereafter joined the Vesper Boat Club, which won the Olympic Trials at Orchard Bach Lagoon, N.Y., beating collegiate teams such as Harvard and Cal for the right to represent the U.S. in Tokyo.

It was the final time a club team would win the gold medal, prior to changes in the selection process, according to a 50th anniversary story about the 1964 team on usrowing.org. The team was feted on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Stowe coached at Columbia and later introduced the sport at Coast Guard, where he coached from 1971-85. He was a television commentator for ABC during the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and Stowe authored a book in 2005 titled “All Together: The Formidable Journey to the Gold with the 1964 Olympic Crew.”

He is a member of the National Rowing Hall of Fame.

Hargis said he learned a lesson from Stowe that Hargis carried with him when he was appointed women's Junior National Coach in 2004 and still applies today, even though he no longer coaches rowing.

Stowe, Hargis said, taught his teams that rowing is a special sport due to the humility involved in the exchange of jerseys after a race.

“You hand someone the shirt that you lost. That can sting,” Hargis said. “He taught us at that moment to say, 'That was the best race I ever rowed,' to not give them another reason to try to beat you. The key is that you act in a way that is honorable to the sport.

“… (Stowe) was a really, really special man.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday