UB graduate sets sights on Paralympic gold in Paris

BUFFALO, NY — A University at Buffalo graduate faced some rough waters on the way to the Paris games. At 50, Todd Vogt is close to achieving his Olympic dream, seven years after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

He gained his love of rowing in Western New York.

“The flyer said something simple, like, make friends, get fit, you know,” Vogt said. “I was like, alright. That sounds interesting.”

Vogt’s Olympic journey began at UB’s Wilkeson Quad. A flyer in the hallway of his freshman dorm asked students to join the school’s rowing team. Todd went to a meeting where the coach showed a video, and he was hooked.

“If this is, if pushing yourself physically hard is what it takes to do well in the sport, like I could do that,” Todd said. “I felt like I could do that to myself, and then like, yeah, as soon as we got on the water, I was like, oh, this is exactly what I was looking for.”

Todd struck gold in college. He graduated from UB in 2000 with bachelor’s and graduate degrees in biochemistry. He met a woman from Kenmore his senior year by the name of Heather. She is now his wife.

And at school, Todd found his passion: rowing.

“I was like, pretty good, but I was never good enough to make the able-bodied Olympic team at that point,” Vogt said.

Todd worked in labs using his degree, but rowing was in his heart. He went on to coach rowing teams in Oregon and Wisconsin. He also competed in rowing races with friends.

However, in the fall of 2017, he said something didn’t feel right.

“I just felt like I was I was really struggling to get through the workouts,” he said. “I felt really tired. I felt like my rowing stroke, which requires a lot of like, technical skill, I just felt like I was rowing poorly.”

Just months later, doctors diagnosed Todd with Parkinson’s disease at age 43.

He was in great shape and continued to exercise. Todd said that once he came to grips with the diagnosis, a light bulb went off in his head.

“I started doing a little surfing on the internet to sort of look at the sort of speed on the rowing machine that a lot of the Paralympic rowers had,” he said. “And I looked and saw that, like the speed that those guys had, like some of the British guys and some of the American guys was slower, or it was the same or what I was doing, or even slower than I was doing, like two years before. So it gave me the idea, like, maybe I can make the US Paralympic national team.”

Todd reached out to USA Rowing’s performance director. He eventually got a tryout and then made a team.

Fast forward to 2024, when Todd and his rowing partner, Saige Harper, will go for gold in mixed doubles para rowing. Todd said he thinks they have a great chance to medal. He and Saige finished fourth in a World Cup race in Poland in mid-June.

He said his Olympic dream is now coming true.

“I was just reading the article in the New York Times today about, like, the Ralph Lauren outfits that we’ll be wearing at the opening ceremonies,” Todd said. “It’s like, kind of blowing my mind, like we’re so this is going to happen, you know?”

In Western New York, Todd said his favorite rowing spots to row are the Erie Canal in Lockport, Tonawanda Creek, and under the Peace Bridge.

The para rowing competition at the games in France begins on Aug. 30.