Gevvie Stone ’03 Receives NEPSAC Martin William Souders Memorial Award
Last month, during the annual meeting of the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC), Olympian rower and physician Dr. Gevvie Stone ’03 received the organization’s Martin William Souders Memorial Award. The award is presented each year to a New England Independent School graduate with a distinguished athletic record who has gone on to distinction in life through “high ideals, leadership, and accomplishments,” according to NEPSAC. The presentation ceremony celebrated Gevvie’s multifaceted success and highlighted her journey through Winsor from a self-described non-athlete to an elite competitor.
Chief Operating Officer Karen Geromini, who served as director of athletics when Gevvie was a student, presented the award. “Gevvie is the embodiment of everything this award represents,” she said, “not only for her achievements on and off the water, but for the grace, humility, and integrity with which she has always carried herself.”
When Gevvie arrived at Winsor in fifth grade, she didn’t see herself as an athlete. She was an avowed bookworm. “Winsor, though, gave her the space to try—a place where she could step outside her comfort zone without judgment, pressure, or expectation,” said Ms. Geromini. Within that encouraging context, she branched out, exploring sports from soccer to swimming to lacrosse, until finally joining the Winsor rowing team as a novice in her sophomore year.
“Winsor made it fun to play sports, no matter your technical ability,” Gevvie recalled. “I developed into an athlete largely because of that environment.”
On the rowing team, Gevvie flourished under the leadership of her mother, Coach Lisa Stone, a former Olympic rower herself. She recalled the team atmosphere as both joyful and rigorous: “We were having dance parties at the boathouse every day,” she said. “Practice was so fun and the whole time we were pushing our physical limits on the water, while enjoying each other and what everyone brought to the team while we were off it.”
From Winsor, Gevvie’s academic and athletic careers advanced in tandem. She enrolled at Princeton University, where she pursued her pre-medical studies while also winning an NCAA Championship and gaining recognition as an Academic All-Ivy Student Athlete and a Collegiate All-American, among a long list of accolades. For nine years, Gevvie represented the U.S. National Rowing Team, competing in three Olympic games—London (2012); Rio De Janeiro (2016), where she took the silver medal in the women’s single scull; and Tokyo (2020). While training for the London and Rio games, she earned her M.D. from Tufts University School of Medicine, finishing in 2014.
After retiring from rowing following the Tokyo games, Gevvie completed her residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Utah. She now practices in emergency and sports medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance, and she serves on the US Rowing High Performance Committee and Athlete Council.
“When people gain the success that she has in all facets of life, you really hope that deep down they’re good, quality people,” Ms. Geromini said. “Good souls. Caring, empathetic, compassionate souls. And that is Gevvie, the complete package.”
