Evening Star Newspaper, June 19, 1932, Page 71

IFTY-NINE years ago, on July 17, 1873, the first iniercolliegiate rowing associa- tion regat'a was held over a three-mile course on the Connecticut River at Springfield, Mass. Eleven six-oared varsily crews, Yale, Wesleyan, Harvard, Dartmouth, Amherst, Columbia, Bowdoin, Massachusetts Agricultural, Cornell, Trinity and Williams, finishing in the order named, took part in that great and colorful rowing carnival. The regatta was transferred to Saratoga Lake, N. Y., the following year, when Colum- bia was the winner. In 1875 Cornell oars flashed first acroes the finish line ahead of 12 other crews on the same course. By that time the Intercollegiate Rowing As- sociation w2s ccmnosed of 15 members, Hamil- ton, Union, Brown and Princeton having joined the group. Old-time oarsmen will tell you that the salubrious scventies saw the heyday of rowing. UT since th> World War, and particularly during the last two or three years, Ameri- cans have witnessed a great rowing revival. There is more iftverest in the sport among col- leges at the present time than there has been in more than 50 years. Nine crcws have been entered in the varsity race at the Pcuzikeepsie, N. Y., intercollegiates since 1930—Califoinia. Cornell, Columbia, Penn- sylvania, Massachu etts Institute of Technclogy, Syracuse, Urited States Naval Academy, Wash- ington and Wisconsin. Although Georgetown and Leland Stanford, Jr., Universities have sent boats to the Hudlson River regatta in various years since the Intercollegiate Rowing Associ- ation was revived in 1895, down through 1916, when the World War caused its abandenment for three yearc, six crews was -the largest num- ber tc encer the Dcughkeepsie races. Yale and Hatvard wind up their season every 3 a sce tacular race on the Thames es with four or five Eas‘ern Ty Soring. ns will have an opportunity to wit- necs during the next two months the greatest rowing carmv:ls held in the United States sin-e the national ond international events in the races cn the Schuvikill River in Philadelphia in 1875 in ccnnection with the Centennial Ex- hibi icn. Up the Huds n R.ver at Highland. N. Y., acrcss the riter from Poughkeepsie, will be h-ld this week tio greatert intercollegiate reg:tta of the year. IMin> prominent schools are to batile fcr rowing supromacy over the arduous four- mile course. A slizhtly smaller number of shells will be rerrecsented in the junior varsity and freshman ti'ts ovcr chorter distances. Four days later cnother great Harvard varsity. probably the seme crew with the exception of two men that wen over Yale a year ago, will again battle a fighting Eli eight in a long. grue!- ing grind cn the T mes. Ed Leader, a product of the Washirgton rowing system, has developed another frst crew which may upset the dope with a victory s in 1£29, Rowing atiention will be centered at Phil- adelphia on July 2 and 4, when the national regatta is heid on the Schuylkill River. On Saturday, July 2, trails will be held for four- oared skells with c xswain and double scul's without coxswsin. On Independence Day these trials to decide who will represent the United States in the O!mpics will be climaxed with the following races: Four-oared shells without cox- swain, pair-oarcd shel's without coxswain and the single szuls. Rowing clubs from all parts of the country will send represerntatives to the Schuylkill regatta. In-luded among the Philadelphia clubs which are now in training for these Olmpic trials are the Penn Athletic Club, Bachelors Barge and Urdine Barge Clubs. Even grester public interest will be manifes*ed in the cight-cared national trials at Quinsig- amond, at Worcester, Mass, on July 7, 8 and 9. It is expocted that eight or ten crews will be enterced in these elimination tryouts to de- cide who will represent the United States at the tenth Olympics. It would de difficlt to forecast the leading Olympic contenders frem the result of the Pcughkeepsie regatta, inas- much as the trials as well as the final races at the Olympi-s will be rowed over a 2,000- meter ccurse, approximately a mile and a Quarter, which is a two-and-three-quarter-mile THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 19, 1932 Rowing Comes to the Front in National § ports as College Regattas Get Under Way, to Be Followed by Olympic Trials and Finals During the Summer. Scene on Schuylkill River in 1879 when the four-oared crew of the University of Pennsylvania won its race with Columbia and Princeton Universities. shorter jaunt than the collegians take on the Hudson. The climax of the sp2-tacular rowing car- nivals in this country will come from August 9 to 13 at the Long Beach, Calif., Marinc Sta- dium, where grandstands have been built at the finish of the picturesque Alamitos Bay course to accommodate more than 17,000 spec- tators. An additional 100.000 people can find standing room along the cloping banks, which have been fenced off frcm the course. A boat house large enough to house 75 shells has been completed, and training quarters will be provided for at lecast 125 oarsmen from all parts of the world. The Olympic races will be rowed at 8 am. and 1 p.m. between boats representing, accord- ing to present plans, England, Canada, Italy, Germany, France. Switz>rland, Australia, the United States and one or two other countries. MERICAN colleges have won the last three world championships at Eurcpean Olym- pics and there is good reason to believe that America will retain the crown this year. A 1928 California crew that had broken the Poughkeepsie course record, held by Cornell since 1901, captured the race at Amsterdam in 1928. “California in the California Olym- pics” is the slogan adopted by the Golden Bedrs this season. A varsity crew must be good to defeat Washington by 18 lengths, like Coach Carroll M. (Ky.) Ebright's California eight did this last Spring in a three-mile race. But the Pacific Coast crews will again have formidable Eastern varsities to beat at Pough- keepsie. A great Yale eight won at Paris in 1924, and the United States Naval Academy was victori- ous at Brussels in 1£20. Since that latter Olympic event 12 years ago, three Eastern colleges have adopted rowing be- cause of its long-standing record of building character, health and sporismanship. A great amount of public interest in the last year or two has been attachad to the entrance of Marietta College, Ohio, into the ranke of in- tercollegiate rowing. There are 60 men turniny out for the crew in that little Ohio collcg> cut of 152 who are eligible for varsity competition. The total en- rollment at the college, including freshmen and special students, is only 205. Yet what these enthusiastic crew men—XkXnown as the “Little Davids” of rowing—have accomplished is an inspiration to thousands of young men around the country. For the spiri. cf the Mariettans, like that <f the boys from Tech, has bien un- dauntcd, despit= many handicaps at first, par- ticularly by lack of good equipment. It was in 1925 that the Marictta Kiwanis Club helped bring about the great revival of rowing on the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, at the confluence of which the city is located. From 1877 to 1837 there had been considerable inter- est in rowing in that district, but there, as else- where, it had died out. When the unprecedent- cod flcod ravaged Marietta in 1913, the last me- mento of pioneer rowing, the old boat house, was swept away. Coach J. Ellis MacDonald, formerly one of the Washington Huskies, had plenty of tribula- tions that first season seven years ago. After practicing three weeks in Old Nero, a barge, to give the landlubbers a chance to get their sense of equilibrium on the water, the coach picked two crews from the candidates and sent them up the river in the lighter and more un- stable shells. He followed them every afternoon in an old launch whcse engine groaned, roared and shook with the St. Vitus dance. MacDonald's voica was hoarse every night from trying to make himself heard above the noise of the motor. Eventually, catastrophe visited the launch. Trying to avoid a snag, the pilot threw the rudder sharply and the boat turned over, tcss- ing the coach and a few others into the river. But every one of them is alive today laughly to tell the story. The boys in the shells wcre called upon to tow the launch, bottom up, to the boat house. In a few weeks it was back in use again. Junc 9, 1931, was a big day at Marietta Col- lege. For that day Washington crews, on their way to the Poughkeepsie classic, rowed against Marietta in the first intercollegiate regatta to be held cn the Ohio River. More than 1,400 excited fans crowded on the first observation train to follow a race at Marietta. Thousands of people lined the banks of the river. Littlo Marictta College distinguished itself in the 2-mil> varsity race that afiernoon. For at the mile mark it was three lengths ahead of the powerful Washington Huskies, who later led three-quarters of the way in the Hudson River regatta to finish third. The Ohioans per- sistently fought off the Huskies until the last quarter mile, and the Westerners crossed the finish line to win by a scant few feet, in 8 min- utes 1-5 second. Marietta's time was a few seconds slower. The little Ohio college crew, as well as Washington, had established a world record fcr the 2-mile course! OWING has been inauguralted at Manhat- tan College in New York this Spring, and from the way the boys are demonstrating their interest in the sport, it may not b= long before that school will be having representation in intercollegiate regattas. John F. (Chick) Meehan, director of physical education at Manhattan, started the young men rowing in a tank during the last Winter on the U. S. S. Illincis, a naval reserve training vessel anchored in the Hudson River. The 50 rookie oarsmen displayed so much enthusiasm that one Harlem River boat club offered the use of its boat house, and another club a shell. Allen W. Walz, superintendent of the Iilinois, veciunteered as coach. “We have no delusions about going to Pough- keepsie this year,” said Chick Meehan the day the boys tock their first row on the river. “The main idea is to provide the boys with some fun, and since they all liked rowing so much, we are delighted to give them this apportunity.” Rowing is a picneer college sport, having been in existence in America for about a hundred years. It was inaugurated at Yale about 1833, and at Harvard gbout 1839. Intercollegiate rowing began in 1852 when Harvard won over Yale in a race at Like Winnepetaukee, N. H. A second contest between these two traditional rivals was held in 1855 at Springfield, Mass., and Harvard won again. The Civil War caused a halt in the rowing activities. Then Harvard won five of the seven six-ocar:d races staged with the Elis from 1864 to 1870. RAINING regulations were vasily difierent in the old days of rowing from those of to- day. Charles Boyd. the veteran Columbia oars- man, tells me that “it was considered quite proper in the 70s to have a pint or claret or ale once a dav at the midday meal, according to an old English custem.” I have heard of a ccllege coach who long before the days of prohibition provided his crew men with a keg of beer with which to celebrate follewing a victoricus race. In the early 70s it was not uncommon for crews to take long weorkouts in boats before breakfast. and an hour’s jaunt of walking and running in the midday sun, dressed in thick flannel shirts and sweaters. When the wilted oarsmen had returned to the crew house, they were put to bcd for ha2lf an hour under heavy covers and later were given a rubdown. Drink- ing of water was forbidden before a race, and strong purgatives were given. The idea was to decrease the oarsmen’s weights. But it wag socn found that this we!ght-shrinking idea wa® all wrong. There is great sentiment, tradition and rivalry connected with American rowing. This. com=- bined with its chearacter, spcrtsmanstip and health-building qualitics, will give the sport increascd perularity as the years go by through the great rowing revival. (Copyright. 1932)) Dodo Really Extinct 1t A S extinct as the dodo” is not only a come mon expression, but a true picture of a fact, for there cnce was a bird known as the dodo, and it is extinct and has been since the beginning of the eighteenth century. The bird was found only on the islands of Bourbon, Mauritius and Rodrigues. It was a large, clumsy bird, weighing 40 pounds or more, but because of the under- developed nature cf its wings it was unable to fly. Because of its inability to escape it was killed in large quantities by sailors, who found its flesh to be good food. It had a round fa% body, a huge head and an cnormous bill, its appearance being incongrucus, an effect height encd by a few curly feathers that sorved as a tail. About the middle of t < 1 contury dogs and hogs were introIco2d [ * Islands, and they preyed upon the youn- oI th: dodo and has{gned its extinction.