Rowing 113-174

113ROWING AT PRINCETON

Nearly 200 Oarsmen Engage Regularly in Work-outs – Scullers Compete for TrophyBy Dr. J. Duncan Spaeth

Now that football has made its farewell bow for the year, and while the winter sports are getting ready to oc-cupy the front of the athletic stage, it has been suggested that readers of the Weekly might be interested in a brief review of rowing activities during the fall and a look forward to the spring season.

Rowing is an all-year-round sport here with three distinct seasonal periods, each with its own emphasis: (1) the fall season from the opening of college to the middle of November on the lake; (2) the winter season from the opening of college after the Christmas recess to the break-up of the ice in March, in the rowing machines in the outdoor gym; and (3) the spring season closing at Princeton with the American Rowing Association’s regatta at the end of May.

In the fall the emphasis is put on coaching the enter-ing Freshmen, and in races between crews chosen from the varsity and 150-pound squads, respectively. The fall season is the most enjoyable from the point of view of recreation, as the weather conditions are generally ideal, and smooth water is the rule rather than the exception. The winter season in the rowing machines is a long but necessary grind that tests out the mettle of those who re-ally have the ambition to represent their college in a rac-ing shell in the spring. And while no one who will report regularly is cut from the squad, the emphasis in the spring is naturally in the selection and training of racing crews.

Sculling Cup in CompetitionThe fall season opened this year with three varsity

crews, four 150-pound crews, and 110 Freshmen. An interesting innovation was introduced by having the 24 varsity candidates row in single sculls for the first two weeks. At the end of this period a series of elimination races were held, and the Coaches’ Cup, presented by Prof. Chalfant Robinson, was won by C.A. Hardy 1932. At a dinner given to the competitors at the Nassau Club by Professor Robinson the cup was formally presented to the winner. As a further encouragement to sculling an “octopede” scull, giving eight men a chance to scull in the same boat, was converted from an old eight by John Schultz, who was largely responsible for the revival of interest in sculling. The boat was formally christened Princeton II, was coxed by Gordon Sikes ’16, and occu-

pied by the eight highest ranking scullers as determined by the previous races. An anonymous donor gave a set of sculls and the other necessary equipment.

It will be interesting to watch the effect of this prac-tice in sculling in the watermanship of our racing crews. Two distinct results may already be noted: (1) it gave Coach Logg an opportunity to devote himself entirely to the difficult task of breaking in his 110 green Freshmen during the first two weeks; (2) it gave the varsity men a taste of the pleasures of sculling which they can pursue long after their racing days are over. The development of single sculling in Lake Carnegie will make available opportunities for healthful exercise to many men whose schedules will not permit them to come out at the regular crew-practice periods, and there is no reason why we should not eventually develop here some first-class rac-ing scullers.

I rowed the last time in a racing shell on the Willa-mette River in Oregon in 1926 behind Stevens of Cornell (then Harvard coach), and with a Harvard and Princeton oarsman making up the four, but I still keep up my spins on Lake Carnegie in my single and enjoy watching the crews work out and taking the swells from the coach-ing launch in which I used to exercise my voice. If the capacity of any form of athletic sport to give zest to life and to keep up one’s working efficiency long years after graduation is one of the chief reasons for indulging in it, rowing certainly deserves encouragement, and I think we should welcome the addition of sculling and the equip-ment necessary for it to our rowing facilities at Princeton.

Princeton Alumni WeeklyJanuary 10, 1930

Busy Fall on Lake Carnegie

114 ROWING AT PRINCETON

1930 HEAVYWEIGHT CREWS

VARSITYH.M.Jones ’30, C.A.Hardy ’32, J.G.Shennan ’32, J.L.J.Bauer ’30, J.P. Rutherfurd ’32, C.Schieffelin ’32, J.O.Pease ’31 (Capt.), H.Hawkey ’32, R.L.Colmore ’31 (Cox)

FRESHMEN– Class of 1933

P.H.Cumming, G.M.Williams, R.E.Pflaumer, B.W.Smith, W.Speer, W.Pell, J.W.Dayton, A.L.Strang, M.Kennedy (Cox)

PAIR WITH COXGeorge Merrill ’31, Hugo Rutherfurd ’34, John Rutherfurd ’32 (Cox)

(Photo taken in 1931)


With injuries and ineligibility claiming several prom-ising candidates, the 1930 crew outlook was none too bright. Coach Logg kept his men hard at work in prepa-ration for their first meet, but in spite of his efforts the Varsity was defeated rather easily by M.I.T. over the mile and three-quarter Carnegie course on May 3. The Junior Varsity was likewise unsuccessful while the 150-Pound Crew atoned partially by winning its race. A week later this same crew was not so fortunate as it trailed both Yale and Harvard in the Derby race on the Housatonic the Elis crossing the finish line first.

In the Carnegie Cup Regatta with Cornell and Yale held May 17 at Princeton, the Varsity and Jayvees bowed their heads to the Blue in both events, the Nassau Junior Varsity managing to place second ahead of Cornell. On May 31 at Philadelphia the Childs Cup Regatta took place with Princeton, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, and Penn con-tending crews. The Columbia Varsity took first honors, Penn second and the Orange and Black a good third. The Tiger lightweights pulled a surprise and avenged their former defeat at the hands of Yale and Harvard by con-

quering them along with Penn and winning the Joseph Wright challenge trophy. On the same day the Third Var-sity placed fourth with Yale, Penn, and Harvard leading in the order named.

The final Varsity race of the season was held on Carnegie on June 14. Princeton once again brought up the rear as Navy, by dint of superior oarmanship, outsprinted California in a thrilling battle. However, in spite of the Varsity’s unsuccessful season, Princeton crew prestige was given a good boost when Gordon Sykes’ 150-Pound-ers journeyed to England to compete for the Thames Cup over the Henley course with some of the world’s best crews. Rowing two beautiful races, Nassau’s entry was victorious in its first two heats, but in the quarter-finals round it was nosed out by the Kent School boat in a won-derful exhibition of rowing.

1932 BRIC-A-BRAC

Review of the 1930 Crew Season


1930 LIGHTWEIGHT CREWS

AMERICAN HENLEY REGATTA – 150 LB.VARSITY

Philadelphia, May 31, 1930

Princeton, Pennsylvania, Harvard, Yale

VARSITYF.G.Frost ’30, T.F.Wimberly ’30 (Capt.), L.M.Forster ’32, J.L.Pool ’30, W.H.Drewry ’32, C.H.Moore ’31, L.F.Hallett ’31, G.C.Voorhees ’30 (Stroke), F.Mayer ’30 (Cox), S.Kimball ’31 (Mgr.)

150 LB. CREW EN ROUTE TO

HENLEY ROYAL REGATTA ABOARD R.M.S.AQUITANIA

Top Row: M.F.West ’32, W.W.Drewry ’32, C.H.Moore ’31, L.F.Hallett ’31, L.M.Forster ’32, H.R.Hawkey ’32Middle Row: J.Pool ’30, G.Voorhees ’30, G.G.Sikes ’16, T.F.Wimberly ’30, F.G.Frost ’30Front Row: Dr. Spaeth, F.Mayer ’30, M.Baird ’24

First Princeton crew to row at


Some reminiscences of a Glorious Experience in and out of TrainingBy a Member of the Crew

The idea of a trip to Henley first gathered impetus on the train returning from the “American Henley” in Philadelphia. Prior to that we had discussed the possibility among ourselves for weeks but had said nothing openly.

Having wound up our season in a joint celebration with the Harvard “Fifties,” however, we felt constrained to broach the subject and accordingly sent a delegation of three to see Gordon Sikes, our coach. Sikes referred the trio to Dr. J. Duncan Spaeth, chairman of the Rowing Committee, who was immediately enthusiastic. After that things happened fast. Members of the Executive Commit-tee of the Board of Athletic Control were consulted and a lengthy cablegram was dispatched to the Honorable Secretary of the Henley Royal Regatta.

Would that cable be accepted? The time for official entries and entrance fees closed that day. If the cable-gram could not be accepted by the English Stewards, the dream was ended. During the next two days Sikes pled with the men to work on their examinations — to try to forget rowing – but inquiring faces persistently appeared. Wednesday morning the answer came – Favorable! Sev-eral minutes later one of the ringleaders appeared. “I’m in the midst of an exam, Gordon, but has any news come?” Upon hearing the word, his face lighted. He rushed away to spread the news (and we trust to finish his examination).

The Ball RollsThat started things. Commencement in less than a

fortnight, final exams to be taken, passports to be secured (not to mention the difficulty of obtaining fourteen pas-sages for the middle of June on a ship capable of handling a sixty-foot shell which would land at Southampton). Things had to move. Sikes’s office became so chaotic that the telephone company requested permission to install a special wire. Secretary V. Lansing Collins assumed ad-ditional burdens so that Sikes could talk and live Henley. Dr. Spaeth communicated with various persons who made the trip possible. Asa Bushnell and the Athletic As-sociation arranged for transportation. Matthew Baird, III, Captain of the “Fifties” in 1924, a graduate of Balliol, was fortunately available as manager and started the wheels moving in England. Sikes started work on passports and with families scattered all over the United States, birth certificates and parents’ permission to leave the country

were difficult to obtain. Jim Briner and the University Store worked nights preparing outfits. And the rowing! One week of examinations had ruined the boat. Four men were sick, all below weight. Somehow, between rows, John Schultz, the rigger, took the shell apart and put it together, resplendent in new varnish and paint, every lock and bolt checked and double-checked.

Tuesday afternoon five members of the crew were to be graduated. Tuesday night all were to be on board the R.M.S. Aquitania. In the meantime the Juniors and Sophomores on the crew had unrigged the shell, loaded it, and gone to Jersey City. The Pennsylvania Railroad, like everyone else connected with the trip, cooperated. Our car was sent to a slip, a large tugboat was brought nearby and the shell started across the river. With the enthusiastic but slightly dubious assistance of the Cunard stevedores the shell came aboard easily and safely. The Juniors helped deliver it to the promenade deck. Now it was the Company’s responsibility and most of the Cunard Line, from dock men to the chief officer went into a huddle. The shell was finally suspended from the boat deck against the “ceiling” of the promenade deck.

The details of the crossing call for elaboration. We travelled second cabin, but we were given the ship from the swimming pool, reserved for us before breakfast, to the long first class promenade deck for exercise. However, Frank Mayer, the cox, probably knows the boat best. Every night he toured from steerage to boat-deck reminding us it was ten o’clock and time to turn in.

Tonnage IncreasesThanks to “Pop” Foster’s exercises practised faith-

fully every afternoon, and to the excellent training table afforded by Baird and the chief steward, we soon began to regain some of our weight and to lose most of the colds. To celebrate our faithful training we decided to give a party the last night. Each man invited a girl. When we sat down it developed that our guests came from First Class, Second Class, Tourist Third, and Steerage. The boat had been carefully combed. It was a grand party. Each girl, in lieu of a cocktail, was served a pint of ale, and Dr. Spaeth, just recovering from mixing double his usual number of bowls of salad, made one of the best speeches of his career. The “Doc” sat at one end with the Juniors to his right and Sophomores to his left, while Captain Wimberly and the Seniors sat at the other end. We dissipated to the extent of staying up until eleven o’clock. (continued)

Enough cannot be said of arrangements in England. Baird, it developed, had been at one time Admiral of the

The 150-Pound Crew Visits Henley


1930 LIGHTWEIGHT CREW AT HENLEY

150 LB. CREW AT HENLEY

Twickenham Rowing Club,

July 2, 1930

Princeton, Far Boat


Clare College, Cambridge,

July 3, 1930

Princeton, Near Boat, Won by 6 Feet


Kent School, USA, July 4, 1930

Kent Won by 12 Feet


“Gorduli,” a strange sect of oarsmen at Balliol. It goes without saying that the Gorduli had been notified of our arrival. In a small village packed for its big week of the year we found accommodations reserved for us in the center of things. A bus met our boat and a lorry with a shell-carrying attachment was on hand for the luggage. Baird probably doesn’t like to recall that drive to Henley, slow driving, no springs, balanced on a crate of riggers with a shell overhead. The rest of us stopped to inspect Winchester Cathedral, but the lorry had to be routed around as the shell was too long to make the turns in the city streets.

Henley is more than a place. It is an experience; and the word means everything to an oarsman who has been there preparing for Race Week. It is a quaint old village on a beautiful reach of the Thames, flanked by hills on all sides. Rowing was the sole topic. Every hotel, every house seemingly for miles around, had a banner and held at least one crew. All oarsmen wore their college or club blazers; every older man wore at least a cap or tie to show his for-mer crew. That small village held nine hundred oarsmen in training and double the number of coaches, boatmen, and assistants. Don’t think a Britisher doesn’t take his sport seriously! The village after lunch was silent—time for oarsmen to take naps –and at ten p.m. artificial lights (but not the daylight) went out and quiet again was re-stored. Picture that gay river dotted with punts and canoes with from ten to fifty eights in addition to single-sculls, doubles and fours, all in a stretch less than one mile and a half in length, the towing path crowded with “experts,” and always more lorries rolling up bringing more shells to the tents, and cars discharging still more oarsmen into the stewards’ enclosure, these to meet old friends and rivals, to start asking about time-trials and weather before undressing to go out themselves.

Trials an Open TopicIncluding all classes of boats, some ninety-nine

entries were made in the Henley Regatta of 1930. From morning till dusk, except early afternoon, someone was going “over the course,” “doing a Barrier,” “doing a Fawley” (arbitrary marks used for years at Henley in place of our “half mile” or “mile” time trials). And the impressive thing to us, as visitors, was to hear all time trials openly discussed and trials between rival crews the accepted order of the day. No secrets there except those of the “Barrier Crew” that mysterious organization of old men which for years has timed every boat in every

The 150-Pound Crew Visits Henley (continued)

trial at every appearance. No one sees their records, and they know more about a contending crew than the coach himself. And to be a coach at Henley is to be something active, for hundreds of people walk along the towing path, all of them intent on a stop watch. Through the crowds coaches, yelling through megaphones, canter on horseback or more remarkable still, pedal frantically on bicycles. It’s quite a feat to see a high British bicycle on a loose gravel amidst many people, holding a megaphone and a stop-watch, ringing the bell, managing the hand brake, and all the time watching and exhorting a crew. Matt did it for us while Dr. Spaeth walked the towing path and discussed every visiting crew with his many friends. Gordon Sikes was rowed by the two panting substitutes in the “royal barge,” a pair-oared training gig borrowed from a friendly rival.

Kent School welcomed us, and Dr. Sill generously loaned his coaching boat to Sikes every day. No launch is allowed on the course, but they agreed for the short stretch available up and then through a lock. After that they can accompany the crew for miles up stream. Robert Colmore, Princeton captain-elect, coached from a bicycle. Father Sill as Matt Baird did for us.

After ten days of this we excitement came Race Week itself which compares with living in the atmosphere of noon of the Yale football game. Thousands of people, circuses, bands, hundreds of boats, were handled effi-ciently by the superb organization of the Henley Stewards. Telegrams and cables of encouragement arrived hourly, families appeared, and friends unexpectedly showed up. John Collyer, captain and stroke of Cornell in Sikes’s day, almost adopted the squad. Joseph Wright, Senior, on hand to watch Joe Junior compete in the Diamond Sculls, called at our headquarters. He it was who instituted 150 lb. Row-ing as a separate sport when he coached at Pennsylvania.

Princeton Alumni Weekly

Fall 1931



HEAVYWEIGHT VARSITY

April 15: Princeton, NavyApril 29: Princeton, Harvard, MITMay 13: Yale, Princeton, CornellMay 20: Princeton, Penn, ColumbiaR.L.Colmore ’31 (Cox, Capt.), G.G.Merrill ’31 (Stroke), B.H.Hereford ’31, B.W.Smith ’33, T.J.Skillman ’31, C.Schieffelin ’32, J.G.Shennan ’32, G.M.Williams ’33, W.H.Miller ’31

JUNIOR VARSITYStanding: M.deK.Kennedy ’33 (Cox), P.H.B.Cumming ’33, ?, ?, A.L.Strang ’33, R.E.Pflaumer ’33Seated: G.G.Sikes ’16 (Coach), B.W.Smith ’33, J.G.Shennan ’32 (Capt.) G.G.Merrill ’31, ?

FRESHMEN–Class of 1934

W.H.Turner (Cox), C.C.Alden, H.Smith, E.H.Kellogg, A.H.Howell, J.T.Hamilton (Capt.), W.H.Pflaumer, R.Wood, J.D.Wilsey (Stroke)


With injuries claiming several promising candidates, the 1931 crew outlook was not exceptionally bright. Coach Logg kept his men hard at work in preparation for their first meet, but in spite of his efforts the Varsity was easily defeated by Harvard, although it pulled up second ahead of M.I.T. The race was run over the mile and three-quarter course at Cambridge on May 2. The Junior Varisty likewise was beaten by Harvard, although finishing ahead of M.I.T., and the 150 Pound Crew partially atoned by winning its race.

In the Carnegie Cup Regatta with Cornell and Yale, held May 16 at Derby, the Varsity and Junior Varsity bowed their heads to both Cornell and Yale, Cornell win-ning both races. The lightweights, in a race with Harvard and Yale, took second honors, trailing the Blue.

Review of the 1931 Crew SeasonOn May 30 at Princeton the Childs Cup Regatta took

place with Princeton, Penn and Columbia, the contend-ing crews. The Columbia Varsity took first honors, Penn second and the Orange and Black third. At Philadelphia the Princeton Jayvees nosed out Penn, although they trailed the Penn A.C. The 150 Pound Crew was defeated by both Yale and Penn, while the Third Varsity finished behind Harvard.

1933 BRIC-A-BRAC



VARSITYM.Kennedy ’33 (Cox), A.Strang ’33, W.Drewry ’32, B.Smith ’33, J.Shennan ’32, G.Merrill ’31, R. Pflaumer ’33, M.West ’32, P.Cumming ’33

FRESHMEN–Class of 1935

R.S.Firestone (Cox), J.H.Symington (Capt.), Stroke), S.F.Ketcham, W.F.Hewitt, R.M.Finder, A.Gawthrop, R.R.Zundel, J.Garrett, S.Stephens

CLASS OF 1932 25TH REUNION

June 14, 1957J.W.Ely, H.T.Tasker, H.R.Hawkey, F.B.Kellogg, M.F.West, W.W.Drewry, T.P.Cook, J.G.Shennan, A.M.Alvord (Cox), D.Thompson (Mgr.), G.G.Sikes ’16 (Coach)


Under the tutelage of Coach Gordon Sikes, ’16, the Varsity oarsmen opened the 1932 season by trailing the Navy by a length in an exciting race over a wind-swept mile and three-quarter course on Lake Carnegie, on April 16, while over the same course on May 7, the Princeton Varsity, Junior Varsity and 150-Pound Crews registered a clean sweep over the corresponding M.I.T. crews.

The Varsity lost to the Yale and Cornell eights in the Carnegie Cup Regatta, and the Jayvees finished behind Cornell and Yale on May 21 at Lake Cayuga, Ithaca, N.Y. On the same day the “fifties” took second honors in the Goldthwaite Cup Regatta on the Charles River at Cambridge, in a Harvard-Yale-Princeton race which was won by Yale. The Third Varsity finished in a dead heat with Kent School on Lake Carnegie.

On May 28 the Penn Varsity showed the way to the

Review of the 1932 Crew SeasonColumbia and Princeton crews in the Childs Cup Regatta on the Harlem River in New York City, and the Princeton Junior Varsity defeated Columbia. The American Henley distance on the Schuylkill in Philadelphia was won by the Columbia 150-Pound Crew, with Penn second, Princeton third, and Harvard fourth. The Princeton-Penn Third Var-sity race was a victory for the Tigers. Despite the team’s poor records, much improvement in rowing ability over the last two seasons was noticed, which promises well for next year.

1934 BRIC-A-BRAC



VARSITYChilds Cup

Compton CupNavy Trophy

M.T.Kennedy ’33 (Cox), A.Armstrong ’34, R.E.Pflaumer ’33, B.W.Smith ’33 (Capt.), H.Rutherfurd ’34, A.L.Strang ’33, J.W.Dayton ’33, W.H.Pflaumer ’34, P.H.B.Cumming ‘33

CLASS OF 193325th REUNION DOWNHILL

REGATTA25 Stroke ‘Race’ June 1958Heavies: G.White, P.Cumming, P.Campbell, L.Williams, B.W.Smith (Capt.), J.Dayton, A.Strang, B.Pflaumer (Stroke), G.Sikes ’16 (Cox)Lights: C.Davis, A.Keasbey, A.Whitlock, Summer-feldt’s son, G.Summerfeldt, R.Reybine, H.A.Smith, S.Backus, A.Brooks (Cox)

JUNIOR VARSITYW.B.Morrow ’33 (Cox), G.M.Williams ’33, J.T.Hamilton ’34, A.H.Howell ’34, H.Rutherfurd ’34, W.Speer ’33, E.H.Kellogg ’34, R.Wood ’34, R.P.Habgood ’34


P.Preston (Cox), L.Fenninger (Stroke), A.C.Smith, R. Kauffmann, G.F.Keppel, H.P.Dicke, J.F.Kelly, L.W.Wister (Capt.), J.T.Pierce


Princeton’s Varsity oarsmen, with victories over Navy, Harvard, M.I.T., Cornell, Penn and Columbia to their credit, completed a highly successful 1933 season, marred only by a single defeat at the hands of the power-ful Yale crew. Both Head Coach Gordon Sikes ’16, in his second year of Varsity coaching, and the oarsmen themselves, led by Captain B. W. Smith ’33, deserve much credit for having placed Princeton back among the leading colleges in the rowing world.

In the opening contest at Annapolis the Varsity fought off Navy’s desperate final half-mile sprint to win by a deck-length over the Henley distance, the first Tiger vic-tory over the Middies since 1921. In the second race, on the Charles River Basin at Cambridge, the Tigers defeated the highly rated Harvard eight and the M.I.T. varsity by two and a half lengths and eight lengths, respectively over the mile-and-three quarters course, the victory giving Princeton the first leg on the newly donated Karl Taylor Compton Cup presented by the president of M.I.T. In Princeton’s third race, for the Carnegie Cup here against Yale and Cornell, the Tiger oarsmen were unable to settle down or space as well as in their previous contest and lost by a length and a half over the mile-and-three-quarters distance to a smooth, powerful Yale eight at the peak of its sprint form; Cornell, however, trailed the Tigers by two lengths. In its final race of the season, the Orange and Black Varsity won the historic Childs Cup on the Schuylkill Henley course by decisive margins, defeating both the favored Penn crew and the strong Columbia varsity.

The Princeton Jayvees, stroked by G.M. Williams ’33 in all but the first contest, lost their opening race to Navy by not quite half a length, but won with ease at Cambridge, finishing ahead of both Harvard and M.I.T. On Lake Carnegie the Jayvees lost to Yale by two and three quarters lengths while defeating Cornell; and in the final race at Philadelphia the Junior Varsity overtook Penn near the finish to win by a quarter-length and lead the Lions by five lengths. The third Varsity shell, stroked by J.H. Symington ’35 and containing a majority of Sophomores, completed an undefeated season, scoring a twelve-length victory over the Manhattan varsity, and defeating the Penn thirds by over eight lengths.

The 1933 lightweights, coached by Wilhelmus B. Bryan Jr. ’20 and led by Captain Standish Backus Jr. ’33, compiled one of the most successful 150-Pound records in recent years, winning from Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Navy and Penn, and losing only by an eyelash decision in the opening contest of the season to an underrated M.I.T. crew.

In that race against M.I.T. both shells were virtually even during the last ten strokes, each boat gaining when its oars were submerged. In this manner, when almost on the line, the Tech oars dipped while the Princeton oars-men were recovering, and the Engineers jumped ahead to finish two feet in the lead, both boats breaking the existing course record. On Lake Carnegie in the next race Princeton forged ahead on the highly rated Yale fifties in the last half of the course to defeat the Elis by five-eights of a length, Harvard trailing the Tigers by four and a half lengths. This victory broke Yale’s winning streak of three consecutive years and gave Princeton possession for a year of the perpetual Goldthwait Cup. In the final scheduled race of the season at the American Henleys on the Schuylkill, Princeton won the Joseph Wright Challenge Cup, emblematic of Eastern 150 Pound row-ing supremacy, by defeating Columbia, Navy, Penn and Harvard in that order, the margin over the Lions being one length. The Tigers jumped into an early lead and had the race well in hand throughout the distance.

With such a successful season behind them, the 150’s financed their own way to England during the summer to compete at Henley for the Thames Challenge Cup, but were eliminated in the first heat by the Quintin Boat Club after a plucky fight against their heavier opponents.

1935 BRIC-A-BRAC



LIGHTWEIGHT VARSITYGoldthwait Cup

RUTHERFURDS IN DOUBLE

Winthrop Rutherfurd ’28 and Hugo Rutherfurd ’34

1933 CREWS

Synopsis of Rowing StyleGordon G. Sikes, October 1926

Boat races are won while the oars are in the air. The run between strokes is measured by the spacing—the distance from No. Two’s puddle to the spot where Stroke’s oar enters water. Keep it long.Think—all the time.Use your legs—greater leg drive means greater success.Balance on the stretchers, then—DRIVE!Watch the “time”—combination wins!Science will defeat brute strength—row Form.Be in condition.Blame yourself for error—not the other fellow.Keep your eyes in the boat.Finish right home to the ribs.Your legs are your strongest muscles—use them.


COACH GORDON G. SIKES ’16

Volunteer Coach 1916-47

Assistant Varsity Coach 1916, 1917, 1919

Lightweight Coach 1920-31, 1946, 1947

Heavyweight Coach 1931-37, 1943, 1945

Gordon Gowans Sikes made an indelible mark on the rowing scene in the first part of the twentieth century, not only at his beloved Princeton University, but throughout the collegiate world. He touched the lives of many and was respected and loved as a competitor, an innovator, and a coach.

Gordon joined the Class of 1916 at Princeton in the fall of 1912, having lost the use of his legs to polio as a small boy, he had developed the upper body of an athlete through swimming and canoeing. Getting about on crutches, he waited for no one to wait on him. Gordon’s first mentor was the legendary Dr. J. Duncan Spaeth, Rowing Coach at Princeton and a professor of classics and literature. After Dr. Spaeth had witnessed Gordon’s plunge into the lake to prove that he could indeed swim, it was agreed that he could try out for the position of coxswain.

The first race in which Gordon Sikes is mentioned as a cox was a race between the varsity crews of Princeton and Yale held on Lake Carnegie on October 25, 1913. Princeton was victorious. In 1914 Gordon coxed two wins over Yale again and in 1915 and 1916 Gordon shared the varsity coxing job with two team-mates. After graduation in 1916, with America at war, Gordon enlisted in the US Marine Corps. He served as commissioned officer in the personnel division in Paris and returned to study at Princeton’s Graduate College in 1919. It was here that Gordon began his long and illustrious coaching career.

A group of undergraduates who wanted to row but were a notch smaller than the standard heavyweight size asked Dr. Spaeth to form a crew for the smaller oarsmen and to be their coach. Dr. Spaeth was already over-committed to his crews and his classes but immediately thought of Gordon Sikes who accepted the challenge eagerly. The newly formed 150 pound crew of Princeton won over a similar boat from Yale in 1920. From that date on a series of races was created and crews of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton raced over the Henley distance, 1 5/16 mile. This was the beginning of lightweight university crew, and Gordon Sikes can certainly be looked upon as one of the Founding Fathers. Navy, M.I.T., and Columbia joined the ranks in the mid-twenties, and Princeton was always a contender for top honors under Gordon’s guidance. In 1930 Gordon took the 150s to Henley Royal Regatta becoming Princeton’s first crew to enter. They enjoyed two days of victories and then

bowed to a larger Kent School crew. In 1932 Gordon took the coaching reins of both the heavyweight and lightweight programs.

In 1933 the Heavies led Navy, Harvard, M.I.T, Cornell, Penn and Columbia to the finish line while losing only to Yale. The JV Heavies and the Third Varsity Heavies also had winning rounds, and the 150s posted five wins and a deck length loss to M.I.T. Again, this crew went to England. The ’34 Heavyweight Varsity was Princeton’s first entry for the Grand Challenge Cup. The final that year saw Princeton and Leander in a titanic battle. Leander came out on top by one second, but both crews broke the course record.

Success continued to be a trademark of Gordon’s crews and, in 1937, the first regatta exclusively for 150 lb crews was held on Lake Carnegie with seven universities competing. In 1938 Princ-eton’s first professional coach, Fred Spuhn, a former University of Washington oarsman, succeeded Gordon, who remained in an active role until after World War II.

Shells have been named for Gordon Sikes at Princeton, and now a beautiful room in the boathouse bears his name in recognition of his endless contributions. The Princeton yearbook for 1933 perhaps sums it up best: “Unfailing loyalty crowned with distin-guished success has characterized Gordon Sikes long connection with Princeton Rowing, cox of the Varsity in 1916, coach of the 150s from 1920 through 1931, Head Coach from 1932.” It is fitting that Gordon Sikes be named as the first Honoree in the National Rowing Foundation’s Book of Honor.

Sponsor: Princeton University Rowing Association December 1993

COACHES


Gordon Sikes on RowingWhat do you look for when a crowd of crew candidates reports in the fall? In other words, what physical and psy-chological factors determine your choice?Well, ninety or a hundred freshmen reported last fall for crew, and I turned them over to two ex-varsity men who’ve been doing a fine job as amateur coaches. They registered them, sent them through the physical examinations, got their histories or previous experience, and dumped them in gigs. Then the weeding out process began. And the best I can tell you as to how that’s done is that the boys earn their places in established crews using real shells entirely on the basis of how they handle themselves. That, of course, takes time. Some of them come from prep schools where they have had previous experience with crew. That, of course, is a big help. Others of them seem to have a natural feel for the sweep. It’s hard to catalogue exactly the factors that make or fail to make a good crew man.

What do you look for when you’re choosing a man for stroke?We usually pick a smooth oarsman, and we always look for a keen sense of rhythm. I’ve known of many good strokes who were musicians or who at least studied music and had that sense of beat and timing. Then, too, the stroke oar has to be capable of fighting through. He has to be able to keep cool when he sees the crew behind going into a sprint and cutting down a hard-earned lead. He has to be capable of taking his time to figure just what that other crew is doing, sense their timing, balance it with known capabilities of his own crew and the distance they have already travelled, and then definitely act on that basis. And in addition to all that, he has got to be a man who has the heart and the guts to speed up the stroke when you and he and everybody else is quite sure that it just can’t be done.

And how do a coxswain’s duties differ from those of the stroke, and what do you look for when you’re picking a man for that job?When a boat is ahead of its competitors, the stroke handles the situation. If the boat is behind its competitors, then the coxswain reports what’s going on. It would be a very remark-able stroke who could turn his head to see what the other fellow is doing and, at the same time, keep track of what his own boat is doing. So the coxswain takes over the duties of being the eyes and senses of the right men who are rowing the boat that trails. He reports to the stroke, and the stroke determines the action. The coxswain should be light weight, of course, cool-headed, and have a definite feel for a boat in the water. If you’ve sailed at all, you know that you just can’t turn a corner on the water as you do on land. A shell

has a tendency to drift and skid. A coxswain must know how to gauge water distances and how to use his rudder with as much accuracy and neatness as you do the steering wheel on your car.

How do crew men train? What are their hours? What do they eat?The best training for any crew man is absolute regularity to the minute in his daily routine. If he is in the habit of going to bed at 10:30, he must go to bed at 10:30, not at 9 one night and 11 the next. If he’s in the habit of eating lunch at 12:30, he should eat at 12:30 – not at 12:20 or 12:40, but 12:30 to the minute. You know, when you’re sick and are put in the hospital’s care, one of the first things they do is to establish a definite regime that does not vary in its regularity over a period of days, weeks or months. That is the kind of regime under which a crew man comes along best. Of course, there is no smoking and no liquor at all allowed while a man is in training. What a man eats is, within certain limits, a matter of his own digestive ability, and a man quickly learns what types of food cause discomfort or cut down on his ability on the lake.

How many men does it take to turn out a good eight?I’d say about twelve good men. Of course, that twelve may be recruited from any number of possible candidates.

Would you mind describing mentally and physically your idea of the ideal crew man?That’s a tough one. After all, all sorts of men have rowed, and rowed successfully. I think the one thing that sets suc-cessful crew men apart is the vital spark – the heart, guts, courage, or whatever it is that gives a man the ability to row with everything there is in him and, then, when he’s seeing black spots in front of his eyes and his heart and lungs are crying for rest and his back aches and he’d just as soon lie down and die, take it up a bit and row even harder than he has before. What are the chief advantages a crew man gets from his training that will be of use in after life? And, since there are two sides to every question, what are the disadvantages?The timing of any sport is worthwhile. If you’ve ever seen Tilden or Helen Wills on the courts you’ll know what I mean. Every move they make is in perfect coordination, instinc-tively almost. Their feet and hands meet in a fine balance to changing requirements of every play. Trip an athlete and, if he stumbles at all, he recovers quickly on his toes. Trip an untrained man and he staggers around flat-footed for five minutes trying to get his balance.Then there’s the subordination of self for the good of the

“Nine Men in a Boat”

(continued)


boat. A man wouldn’t be human if he didn’t glance out of the corner of his eye once in a while to see how the other fellows were rowing. But, if he sees the other crowd creeping ahead and begins to strain, he’ll throw his own boat out. He must have the ability to follow the stroke, keep his eyes on the boat and mind his own business. Then, of course, there’s the ability to fight through that I’ve mentioned before. All of these things give a man something that, to my mind, is definitely worthwhile.Now, as to the disadvantages, crew is a more deliberate sport. There isn’t the quick thinking of a double play in baseball,

nor the individual training to quickness of thought and ac-tion. There’s less springiness, resiliency, or whatever you want to call it, than is found on the basketball court or out on the football field. But somehow crew makes up for these disadvantages. After months of hard work in the raw chill of autumn and down in the gym winter afternoons, there comes a spring day when suddenly the boat begins to “slip.” It may be for only a few strokes, but something has happened. Then for more days or weeks you’ll fight along until suddenly that same heart-stirring sensation comes back again. That’s why every spring the boys who have been graduated come back and beg for a chance to get out in a boat again.

GMAC News, June 1934

THE KARL TAYLOR COMPTON CUP

The Gift of

The Student Body of M.I.T.To The

(Varsity Heavyweight) CrewsHarvard, Princeton, M.I.T.

1933

1933 Princeton1934 Princeton1935 Princeton1936 Princeton1937 Harvard1938 Harvard1939 Harvard1940 Harvard1941 Harvard1942 Harvard1948 Harvard1949 Harvard1950 Harvard1951 Princeton1952 Harvard1953 Princeton1954 Harvard1955 Harvard1956 Princeton1957 Princeton1958 Harvard

1959 Harvard1960 Harvard1961 Harvard1962 MIT1963 Harvard1964 Harvard1965 Harvard1966 Harvard1967 Harvard1968 Harvard1969 Harvard1970 Harvard1971 Harvard1972 Harvard1973 Harvard1974 Harvard1975 Harvard1976 Harvard1977 Harvard1978 Harvard1979 Harvard1980 Harvard

COMPTON CUP

1981 Harvard1982 Harvard1983 Princeton1984 Harvard1985 Harvard1986 Harvard1987 Harvard1988 Harvard1989 Harvard1990 Harvard1991 Harvard1992 Harvard1993 Harvard1994 Harvard1995 Princeton1996 Harvard1997 Princeton1998 Harvard1999 Princeton2000 Harvard

Nine Men in a Boat (continued)



VARSITYNavy TrophyChilds Cup

Compton CupR.S.Firestone ’35 (Cox), A.Armstrong ’34 (Capt., Stroke), W.H.Pflaumer ’34, A.H.Howell ’34, R.M.Cooley ’34, H.P.Dicke ’36, H.Rutherfurd ’34, A.Gawthrop ’35, R.C.Hallett ’35

April 14: Princeton, NavyMay 3: Princeton, Harvard, MITMay 12: Princeton, Penn,ColumbiaMay 19: Yale, Princeton, Cornell

JUNIOR VARSITYP.Preston ’36 (Cox), L.Fenninger ’36 (Stroke), G.F.Keppel ’36, J.H.Symington ’35, A.C.Smith ’36, H.G.Bugbee ’36, R.R.Zundel ’35, R.Wood ’34, J.T.Pierce ’36


B.Stoddard, C.B.Simonton, J.A.Howell, H.J.Swift, L.V.Hauxhurst, B.B.Sloan, J.M.Hoyt, T.A.Potter, H.B.Rockwell (Cox)

9346B

9372B


With a record of six wins and one loss to its credit in its regular intercollegiate schedule and of reaching the finals of the Grand Challenge Cup race in the Henley Royal Regatta, the Nassau Varsity crew completed one of the most successful rowing seasons in many years. Although at the beginning of the season the prospects for a successful year were not considered good, Coach Sikes made the most of the material at his disposal and developed a crew which stands out in the memory as one of the best in Princeton’s history.

Captain Aikman Armstrong, Jr. and Wally Pflaumer were the only two returning letter-men; and the result was that behind this combination at stroke and No. 7 respec-tively the boat was filled with inexperienced men, from the Jayvee, Third Varsity and Freshman boats of the year before. Ice kept the rowers off the Lake until the middle of March, but from then on drills were held both on Lake Carnegie and on the Delaware River, the men using the Yapewy Boat Club’s building at Bordentown.

Despite the green material and the late spring, the opening race of the season with Navy at Annapolis found the Tiger crewmen prepared. The Varsity set what was at first thought to be a new course record when they defeated the Middies in 8:54:1, finishing nearly half a length ahead of its game but tiring opponents. Neither shell could gain any appreciable advantage during the first quarter-mile, but at this point the Orange and Black eight began to pull away, showing beautiful spacing. At the Henley mark, the Tigers were leading by a little more than a length and a quarter, when Captain Vic Krulac, Navy coxswain, called on his men for a sprint which closed up the open water, but could do little more. The Tigers kept understroking the Blue and Gold shell, and were timing and spacing well at the finish, half a length ahead.

The next Nassau encounter came two weeks later on Lake Carnegie when the Tigers conquered the Harvard and M.I.T. varsities to win the Compton Cup for the sec-ond successive time. In this race the Princeton oarsmen displayed a powerful leg drive and retained their length in the water throughout the race, but showed faulty timing in spots. After a fast initial spurt by the Engineers the Tigers took the lead, keeping their stroke below that of the other two boats and rowing more smoothly than their opponents. From the quarter-mile mark to the last quarter Princeton fought off all Crimson threats and gradually lengthened its lead. During the final quarter Harvard cut down the Nassau lead to a length and three quarters. M.I.T showed better timing than the Crimson oarsmen, but lacked the

power to stay in the race after the first mile.In the third race of the season the Tigers added two

more scalps to their string by defeating Pennsylvania and Columbia in the Childs Cup event on Lake Carnegie. Here the Princeton boat started slowly, and Columbia jumped into an early lead, followed closely by Penn with the home crew third. At the quarter-mile marker the Lions had found that they could not stand the pace and dropped to third, the Philadelphians taking the lead with the Orange and Black crew a deck-length behind. Captain Armstrong raised the Princeton beat at this point and the Tigers took the lead with a powerful drive, never to be headed. The Quakers threatened throughout the race but finished three-quarters of a length behind. Columbia was four lengths behind the winners who crossed the line in 9:09.4.

Going into the final race on the schedule, the Princ-eton heavyweight crews had perfect records, the Varsity, Jayvee and Freshman boats all being undefeated. It was the first time in the history of Princeton crew that this had happened. Hopes ran high for a championship season, but they were rudely shattered by the powerful low-stroking Yale varsity, which captured the Carnegie Cup for the third year in succession with Princeton second and Cornell third over the two mile course at Derby. Yale started fast and then dropped the stroke to the low thirties, with Princeton maintaining a smooth 36 in an effort to gain. Cornell kept up for a while but gradually dropped behind and trailed by a length. At the beginning of the final quarter of the race Jackson raised the Yale stroke to 40. Princeton attempted courageously to meet this challenge, but the Blue oarsmen still kept gaining to win by a scant length.

A week after the close of the regular season it was an-nounced by the Athletic Association that the Tiger Varsity would go to England to participate in the Henley Royal Regatta and attempt to bring back with them to the United States the Grand Challenge Cup, emblematic of amateur rowing supremacy. On June 18 the men set sail for Eng-land on the Europa under the charge of Win Rutherfurd ’27, who took over the coaching duties until Coach Sikes could leave Princeton. After reaching the finals through a first-round bye and a victory over Pembroke, the Nassau rowers pushed the Leander Rowing Club eight to 6:46 for the Henley course, one second less than the new record set the day before by the British crew. Princeton itself bettered the old record.

(continued)The lightweight season was not so successful as

the Varsity one, as the fifties failed to win a single race though they managed to defeat three of the eight crews



1934 CREWS

150-POUND VARSITY

R.C.Brooks ’34 (Cox), D.Echeverria ’35, H.C.Mial ’34, E.Harris ’35, G.H.McClure ’35, T.Fletcher ’34, E.Glassmeyer ’36, A.D.Sieminski ’34, H.B.Roberts ’36

THE FINAL DAY AT HENLEY 1934

“The finish of the Grand Challenge Cup during the Henley Royal Regatta finals at Henley-on-Thames, England, July 7, won by the Leander Club (on right) from Princeton University, by three quarters of a length: on the prevous day the Princeton eight won a great race against Pembroke College.”

HEAVYWEIGHT VARSITY

J.T.Pierce ’36, A.Gawthorp ’35, R.C.Hallett ’35, H.P.Dicke ’36, C.C.Cole ’34, A.H.Howell ’34, W.H.Pflaumer ’34, A.Armstrong ’34 (Capt.), R.S.Firestone ’35 (Cox)

Defeated:Navy Defeated by: MIT Yale Harvard Leander Columbia Penn Cornell Pembroke

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opposing them. The first contest of the season came when the M.I.T. lightweight shell invaded Lake Carnegie and departed shortly afterward with a decisive victory over the local oarsmen. The loss may be explained in part by the fact that Chevy Echeverria, the regular Nassau stroke, was sent to the Infirmary the morning of the race, neces-sitating a change in boating.

A week later against Penn and Columbia, Captain Mial’s men made a much better showing, taking the lead at the start and finishing third by only three-quarters of a length when Penn came from last in the final 100 yards to win by a very narrow margin from the Light Blue.

Defending the Goldthwait Cup at Derby the Tigers again led for most of the distance. Harvard stayed in the running for the first half of the race and then faltered badly and dropped way behind the Tiger and Bulldog shells. Throughout the final half mile the two leaders raced neck and neck, but a powerful Eli sprint at the finish gave the home crew the decision by a deck-length.

The best showing of the year turned in by the light-weights was in the Joseph Wright Challenge Cup race at Philadelphia. In this event on the Schuylkill River the Nassau fifties came in second to Pennsylvania and ahead of Columbia, Navy and Cornell in that order. Here again the Tiger lightweights suffered from changes in the boat-ing, for Al Sieminski, who had been the regular stroke, had just been forced to go to the Infirmary.

The Jayvee season was an exact repetition of the Var-sity’s record except that in the race with Yale and Cornell it was the Red crew which defeated the Tiger oarsmen, and the Elis who came in third. Despite the fact that Pete Schwartz, who had gone to Annapolis as alternate, was suddenly substituted for Larry Fenninger at stroke, the Jayvees won their initial contest by length and a half, never really being seriously threatened by Navy.

Continuing to show great power and better execution of the handshoot than the Princeton Varsity, the Juniors captured their second race from Harvard and M.I.T. by four lengths and five lengths respectively. The Tigers forged into the lead after an even start and immediately established a one-length margin. From then on they gained steadily and had the race all their own way.

The next contest was as close as a crew race can be and not to be a dead heat. Princeton and Penn fought it out all the way, first one boat gaining and then the other, with Columbia always behind. Although the Quakers had a length lead at one time, the shells were practically even for the last hundred yards, the Tigers gaining first by a

matter of inches.The final contest of the year, that with Cornell and

Yale, was almost as close, but here the excitement was not so intense, for it was Cornell which had the big margin, Yale and Princeton fighting it out for second place. After the first hundred yards the Ithacans gained their lead, which they increased from half a length at the half-mile mark to nearly a length at the finish, Princeton just manag-ing to nose out the Blue eight for second place.

1936 BRIC-A-BRAC

1933 Fall RowingWith the fifth annual Coaches’ Cup race featuring

the season, fall rowing practice for an exceptionally large squad was held during the a five-week period in the fall of 1933 on Lake Carnegie until continued ice forced the abandonment of regular drills. Head Coach Sikes was in charge of the Varsity shells, Bryan coached the light-weights, Newbold and Rutherfurd aided the freshmen, while Schultz took care of single-sculling.

Until the Coaches’ Cup race on October 21, emphasis was placed on the single sculls with 54 original entrants for that event being extensively coached. Surviving the preliminary eliminations and heats, seven oarsmen went to the starting line in the finals of the event. Wally Pflaumer, bucking a strong head wind, soon spurted into the lead and increased his advantage throughout the mile course. His time of 6:27.6, exceptionally fast considering racing conditions, bettered Howell, who was second, by about five and a half seconds. Howell, in turn, nosed out Aikie Armstrong, Captain of the 1934 Varsity Crew, by less than half a length. Bugbee, Sinkler, Rutherfurd and Fenninger followed the leaders in that order.

Six days after Pflaumer and Howell engaged in an informal intercollegiate match with two scullers from Penn. The Princeton men slid across the finish line to win first and second places with Pflaumer leading by five lengths in 6:24. In the only other non-intramural race, a tentative Freshman eight whipped a strong Lawrenceville boat by three lengths, while the second and third Fresh-man crews finished eight and four lengths ahead of a Hun School eight. Inexperience necessarily contributed to the comparatively slow time made in this race. (continued)

Early ice caused the scheduled annual Fall Regatta to be postponed and finally cancelled. The last contest of the

Review of the 1934 Crew Season (continued)


1935 CREWS

HEAVYWEIGHT VARSITY

Compton CupR.S.Firestone ’35 (Cox), L.Fenninger ’36, G.F.Keppell ’36 (Capt.), A.Gawthrop ’35, J.F.P.Kelly ’36, H.J.Swift ’37, R.C.Hallett ’35, H.G.Bugbee ’36, B.Stoddard ’37

LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

VARSITYwith Wright Cup & Goldthwait CupApril 27: Princeton, MITMay 11: Princeton, Columbia, PennsylvaniaMay 18: Princeton, Yale, HarvardMay 25: Princeton, Pennsylvania, ColumbiaTop Row: R.M.Wood ’36 (Mgr.), H.B.Roberts ’36, P.G.Cook ’37, H.H.Schwartz ’37, R.S.Rauch ’36, D.Roberts ’36, Bottom Row: A.H.Edwards ’37, G.R.Cooke ’36, D.Echererria ’35, G.D.MacRae ’37, B.W.Warner ’37

HEAVYWEIGHT FRESHMEN

—Class of 1938F.S.Kinney (Capt.), O.H.Perry, G.G.Rutherfurd, T.R.McMillen, F.L.Taeusch, P.LeBoutillier, H.B.Cox, J.Evans, T.H.Norris (Cox)


year was held over a course one and three quarters miles long by the first and second heavyweight eights with the first boat winning by a quarter of a length in 9:44 in spite of the second eight’s handicap.

The season was terminated with an official banquet after Thanksgiving, at which time the Coaches’ Cup, do-nated in 1929 by Chalfant Robinson, Curator of Medieval History, was formally presented to Pflaumer. Small gold oars were awarded to Bugbee, Cook, Fenninger, Kelly and Sinkler for their work in single sculls, and Preston received a prize for all around interest. In a speech at this banquet, Head Coach Sikes expressed the purpose of fall rowing and crew work in general as being “for good row-ing, a good time and to get something out of it.”

COACHES’ CUP WINNERS1929 C.A. Hardy ‘32 1930 A.L. Strang ‘33 1931 A.L. Strang ‘33 1932 B.W. Smith ‘33 1933 W.H. Pflaumer ‘34

1935 BRIC-A-BRAC

1933 Fall Rowing (continued)


Deprived of an opportunity to vindicate its only loss by the stormy water of Lake Cayuga on the day of the Carnegie Cup race with Yale, Navy, and Cornell, Princ-eton’s Varsity crew had to be contented with a record of four victories and one defeat for 1935.

Only to Penn’s Eastern sprint champions did Gordon Sykes’ 1935 edition bow, and on that day the Tigers gave their poorest exhibition of the season. Lacking coordina-tion from the start of the Childs Cup race, in which Co-lumbia also engaged, the Orange and Black eight, which up to then had been undefeated, was headed all the way by the light but speedy Quaker crew, and Rusty Callow’s men finally won out by a margin of a length and a quarter.

A few days before the opening of the season, the men in the Varsity boat and the returning lettermen elected Gordon Keppel ’36 captain for 1935. Keppel, who was on the Jayvee boat the year before, pulled No.7 oar throughout the season.

Before the first race with the Penn A.C. eight, na-tional sprint champion in 1934, Coach Sikes decided that on the strength of performances in time trials, his Jayvee boat stood a better chance of winning than his Varsity, and in went the “Juniors” against the Pennacs. The erstwhile Jayvees, with Larry Fenninger at stroke, rowed a smooth, steady race and after leading all the way upset the favored club oarsmen with over a length to spare.

The following week on the Charles, this same “Jayvee” combination with Kelly and Bugbee in place of Smith and Armstrong retained the Compton Cup, de-feating Harvard by a length margin as M.I.T.’s light boat followed far behind the Crimson.

At the beginning of the year, Princeton oarsmen had been inclined to look past the Childs Cup encounter to the Carnegie Cup duel with Yale and Cornell. When Navy was added to the list of Ithacan starters, this tendency was increased. But when Penn pulled the surprise of the eastern crew season by beating Yale’s highly-touted eight for the Blackwell Cup on the Schuylkill the day Princeton won at Cambridge, the Tigers realized that Penn was a real hurdle in their march.

The same Varsity boat of Fenninger, Captain Keppel, Gawthrop, Kelley, Swift, Hallett, Bugbee, and Stoddard with Rog Firestone at the tiller ropes, was slated to start the Childs Cup race, but at the last minute Firestone was taken ill and Jack Hudson was commissioned to cox this crew as well as the Jayvees.

Penn pulled away at the quarter-mile post, and row-ing steadily, widened the gap as the race went on. Fen-ninger made his bid at the mile post when he called for a rise in the Princeton beat. Penn, however, had plenty of reserve and capably resisted it. Never again were the Quakers challenged and they crossed the line a length and a quarter before the Nassau boat, with Columbia, never an important factor, some six lengths further behind.

The Princeton eight, eager to avenge this defeat by Penn, was in fine shape for the Carnegie Cup contest, and in trials during the week preceding made its best season record. To the Nassau crewmen, thus, the cancellation of the race on Lake Cuyaga after waiting four hours for the water to calm down, was the biggest blow of their cam-paign. The other contestants had races yet to come, but for Princeton the anti-climax at Ithaca was the season’s finis.

The real ability of the 1935 Princeton crew remains one of the mysteries of Tiger sport annals; it certainly is not truly represented on the record books. The poorly-

(continued)


With a record turnout of over one hundred Freshmen, in ad-dition to the Sophomore and upperclass representatives, fall rowing was held on Lake Car negie until the 26th of November, 1935. Head Coach Gor don Sikes was in charge of the heavy crews with Bill Bryan coaching the lightweights.

During the early weeks of the season much empha sis was placed on singles sculling under the direction of Coach John Schultz in preparation for the Coaches Cup races which were held from Oc-tober 14 to 19. These races were opened by twenty-two Sophomores competing for the John Schultz Trophy, which was won by Jack Kraemer ’38, a lightweight, who thus became eligible to compete in the semi-finals of the Coaches’ Cup races. The upperclass lightweight race was won by Chris Goldsbury ’37 who also had the opportunity to race in the Coaches’ Cup.

With a perfect start the final heat of the Coaches’ Cup seemed even for two-hundred yards when Jack Kelly ’36 gradually forged ahead, closely followed by Goldsbury and Fred Osborn ’37. Coming into the final quar ter Osborn, who had shaken off Goldsbury, began to gain on Kelly, who hung on and finished to win by a length and a quarter in the time of 6. 19.

In an informal intercollegiate sculling regatta held on Lake Carnegie between representatives from Yale, Pennsylvania, and Princ-eton on the 26th of October. Chris Goldsbury in the lightweight class and Jack Kelly, heavyweight, won first honors. Kelly’s time for the mile was 6.40 and Goldsbury’s 7.05.

Rowing was concluded for the Varsity squad with a race on the 14th of November, won by Laurence Fenninger’s ’36 boat. Four boats of Freshmen and one Sophomore crew stayed on another week when rowing was con cluded with a Freshman mile race won by William Whyte’s ’39 crew.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Andrew Carn-egie, Prof. J. Duncan Spaeth, crew coach from 1910-25, addressed all the Tiger Crew men on the 26th of November in an informal cere-mony. The lake was built through the generosity of Mr. Carnegie and is considered the finest course of its kind in the country.

COACHES’ CUPJohn Schultz Trophy

(Fall Rowing 1935)

1929 Charles Ashley Hardy ’321930 Arthur Lugueer Strang’331931 Arthur Lugueer Strang ’331932 Brewster Weed Smith ’331933 Walter Hermann Pflaumer ’341934 Henry G. Bugbee ’361935 John Francis Patrick Kelly ’36 (discontinued)

COACHES’ CUP


conditioned Penn A.C. boat which the Orange and Black Varsity defeated in April was not the same boat which beat Penn in mid-May. Harvard, M.I.T., and Columbia were the three most defeated sprint crews in the East, so the Princetonians’ record was little enhanced by outrowing them. Then again, Princeton did not row at its best against Penn. Not to detract from the Quakers’ well-earned vic-tory, the Tigers in top form might not have beaten them, but at least they would have offered them a stiffer race.

An interesting feature of the crew season was the establishment of a new course on Lake Cayuga, leading from the bend in the Lake toward the dam. Chiefly to provide better facilities for viewing the finishes, the new arrangement proved a distinct success at the Childs Cup Regatta, the only time when there was occasion to use it, when paying spectators flooded the stands and parking spaces.

The first championship lightweight season in Princ-eton crew history was recorded by Captain Echeverria’s 150-pound boat which placed itself in an Eastern class by itself, winning the Wright Cup at the American Henleys on the Schuylkill over crews from Columbia, Penn, Harvard, and Navy after defeating the first three of this quartet in addition to M.I.T. and Yale previous to this race.

Opening the season, Coach Bryan’s eight displayed its power by beating its nemesis of the other years, M.I.T., on the Charles River. In the Childs Cup Regatta the fif-ties clearly demonstrated their superiority by widening a quarter-length margin over Columbia to two lengths and half in the last quarter mile. Penn was third in this contest. In the Goldthwait Cup encounter with Yale and Harvard on the Charles, the victors held off a closing Eli spurt to win by a deck-length. The finishing touch to the unbeaten season was in the tilt for the Wright Cup where the Nas-sau boat won a smashing length triumph over Penn as the other three entries finished bunched together close behind.

The Faculty Committee turned down a request by the lightweights to be allowed to compete at Henley since they would be forced to row out of their weight division. In recognition of the year’s record, major “P”s were awarded the 150-pound first boat.

The Jayvees went to Cambridge for the first race of the year favored to beat Harvard and M.I.T. Harvard’s Junior Varsity, however, which became the Crimson’s first boat two weeks later, proved too powerful for the Tigers. Following this eight by two lengths, the Nassau shell managed to defeat M.I.T. without any trouble. Coach Sykes shifted his Jayvee boat before the Childs Regatta

and the revamped boating which included four men moved up from the third shell, showed up splendidly to conquer a favored Penn eight by two and a half lengths. Since Columbia did not have a boat entered in this race and the contest at Ithaca was “blown out,” the Jayvees had to be satisfied at two wins opposed to a single defeat.

1937 BRIC-A-BRAC

1934 Fall Rowing Featured by the Coaches’ Cup race and the Fall

Regatta held on the Raritan River, fall rowing practice was conducted on Lake Carnegie this year until weather conditions forced the squad to discontinue outdoor work. Head Coach Gordon Sikes was again in charge of the Varsity shells, Bill Bryan coached the Varsity and Fresh-men lightweight boats. Wally Pflaumer, in the absence of Newbold and Rutherford, worked with the Freshmen heavies, while single-sculling was carried on under the direction of Coach John Schultz.

Until the final heat of the Coaches’ Cup race was held on October 22, emphasis was placed on single-sculling. The sixty-three entrants were divided into four groups: upperclass light and heavyweight men and Sophomore light and heavyweight rowers, and were given extensive instruction under Coach Schultz. The Sophomores com-peted among themselves for the Schultz trophy, which was won by Johnson in the time of 6:45.6, who later entered into competition with the more experienced upperclass oarsmen for the Coaches’ Cup trophy.

In the final heat of the Coaches’ Cup race Bugbee, in number one lane, pulled ahead to an early lead, followed by Cooke in number two lane. After the first quarter mile Keppel and Kelly pulled ahead of Cooke, and the four of them continued to the finish in that order, with Bugbee winning in the fast time of 6:09.8. Keppel put up a strong fight to the finish and also bettered the former record for the mile with the time of 6:15.4.

BRIC-A-BRAC 1936

Review of the 1935 Crew Season (continued)


COACHES

COACH JOHN SCHULTZ“As far as particular pupils go, Johnny didn’t have much to say. ‘Of

course Win Rutherfurd ’28 is one of my best; he’s national champion so he has to be,’ he told us. ‘But shucks, I’ve had kids three and a half years old and old men to teach. I’m not interested in building individual champions; what I want to do is to get eight individual champions into one boat and then make them into one man and have a real championship boat.’

But we could see that he had one pupil of whom he was pretty fond. One time, in New York, he had a girl’s crew to coach. ‘Seven of the eight were sisters,’ he informed us. ‘Very interesting,’ we replied, not quite knowing what he was driving at. ‘Yeah, and I married the stroke,’ said John.

He has some mighty sound theories of rowing. ‘The basis of rowing is the sculling,’ is his motto. ‘If I can get together a group of real scullers,’ he said, ‘I’ll give the coaches a real crew. I’ve never seen a good oarsman yet who couldn’t handle a single, and it has been my aim in Princeton to build up each man who comes down to the boat house in a single, then when I turn him over to the eights, he knows what it is all about. You see, I’m not trying to make individual champions,’ he reiterated, ‘I’m working for Princeton, and I know that what does the most good for the greatest number will do the most good for Princeton.’ ”

Trenton Sunday TimesJuly 41, 1935

Demonstrating Technique in Havana

His was the kind of love that understood; that could look into a person to discern the real and often hidden worth. How many of us are what we are today in large part because he believed in us. His was a love that deeply cared; that gave unstintingly and without discrimination. Who you were did not matter to him; what you were did. It was his interest to help us to be true men, hard workers, good sportsmen, fighters for an ideal, but above all to be men.

From his Memorial ServicePrinceton University ChapelFebruary 11, 1936


THE CENTIPEDE — Built by John Schultz

“The Centipede” was created by John Schultz, the boathouse rigger in the early 1930s. This boat was a brilliant way to create interest in sculls.

Schultz passed on his sculling experiences 8 boys at a time. Because he was confined to the dock, without the normal coach’s boat, he bellowed from a huge mega-phone as the boat moved from the dock to the bridge.

I rowed at bow on several occasions.”

Maurice deK. Kennedy ’33

THE CENTIPEDE (An Octopede)

COACH WILHELMUS B. BRYAN ’20

Lightweight Varsity Coach 1931-38



VARSITYCompton Cup

B.Stoddard ’37, G.E.Armstrong ’37, F.H.Osborn ’37, H.P.Dicke ’36, J.F.P.Kelly ’36, R.Kauffmann ’36, G.F.Keppel ’36 (Capt.), F.T.Warner ’37, H.K.Hudson ’36 (Cox)

JUNIOR VARSITYW.J.Wright ’36, L.W.Wister ’36, T.R.McMillen ’38, H.J.Swift ’37, A.C.Smith ’36, H.G.Bugbee ’36, J.T.Pierce ’36, L.Fenninger ’36, W.R.Hopkin ’37 (Cox)

FRESHMEN — Class of 1939

R.T.Stotler (Stroke), L.W.Baldwin, H.Aplington, R.G.King, D.W.Sidford, A.H.Silvers, A.C.Rogers, B.W.Wright, G.M.Hornblower (Cox)


The 1936 campaign on Lake Carnegie and neighbor-ing waters appeared quite disappointing at first glance, but actually Coach Gordon Sikes and Captain Gordon Keppel, along with the rest of the Varsity boat, have every right to be proud of the record that they have achieved.

Although it won but one of its four races, the Varsity shell finished second in the other three encounters, defeat-ing five of its eight opponents. And by defeating Harvard in the Compton Cup Race and Yale in the Carnegie Cup clash two weeks later, the Orange and Black annexed the mythical Big Three championship.

Various members of the Nassau fleet engaged in twenty-four contests throughout the spring, collecting eleven victories and another tie for first place. They triumphed over twenty-three opponents and bowed to fourteen, thus amassing an average of .622 for the season.

The outstanding thrill of the Varsity season was the night race at Cambridge for the Compton Cup, which resulted in the sole Princeton victory of the year. With this race, in which Harvard, M.I.T., and Princeton are the traditional rivals, delayed for three hours because of the high winds that were churning up the Charles River Basin, the boats did not leave the line until well after nightfall.

The intelligent stroking of Fred Warner and the bril-liant piloting of Jack Hudson, however, sufficiently offset the unfamiliarity with the course and the confusion cre-ated by the lights on the shore and the bridges to put the Nassau boat across the finish line a length and a quarter ahead of the Crimson.

The Varsity made its debut on the Harlem River on April 26, when Penn’s championship crew repeated its performance of last year in snatching the Childs Cup away from the Lions of Columbia and the Tigers of Princeton. The smooth stroking Quakers assumed the lead at the half-mile buoy and were never thereafter in any danger of losing it. The Princeton boat finished a length and a half in the rear, easily outdistancing the widely-acclaimed Morningsiders.

In the Navy-Syracuse engagement on Lake Carnegie the Midshipmen continued the powerful drive which they had initiated the week before with their smashing upset of the Cornell eight. Employing a new short, choppy stroke and the stratagem of getting an early lead and then defending it against the following boats, the Blue and Gold flashed across the finish line half a length ahead of Princeton, with Jim Ten Eyck’s Orange well in the rear.

A week later Coach Jim Wray brought a wealth of power and endurance down from Ithaca and swept the

Carnegie Cup Regatta, as the Cornell varsity led Princeton home by three-quarters of a length and clipped eleven seconds off the record for the new “reverse” course on Lake Caregie, bringing it down to 9:01.6. The Tigers’ consolation was the consummation of the long-awaited “Beat Yale” movement.

The 1936 showing of the 150-pound crew did not come up to expectations, in view of the fact that it was composed of six veterans of the previous year’s cham-pionship boat and three members of the excellent 1938 Freshman outfit. The lightweights won only one of their three contests.

All hopes for another championship season were rudely shattered at the first race of the season, when the Columbia boat was the first to cross the finish line. This reverse was followed by a decisive defeat of M.I.T. on the Charles the next week. Since neither Syracuse nor Navy brought 150-pound crews to Lake Carnegie, the Princeton lightweights had two weeks of practice for the Goldthwait Cup Race against Harvard and Yale, and, dur-ing that period, important shifts were made in the lineup. But, as in the case of the varsity oarsmen who were that day tackling Cornell, the favorite fell before two powerful crews who were violently on the upgrade.

The Junior Varsity crew’s claim to fame is that throughout the season it never finished indisputably first and never last. In their first race against Penn and Columbia, the Jayvees provided the biggest thrill of the spring by tying the Lions for first place — a very rare event in the crew world — with the Quakers trailing behind. The Princeton boat finished second out of three in all of the three remaining clashes of the season, bow-ing to Harvard, Navy, and Cornell and defeating M.I.T., Syracuse, and Yale.

1938 BRIC-A-BRAC



1936–1937 LIGHTWEIGHT CREWS

1936VARSITY

G.R.Cooke ’36, B.W.Warner ’37, J.A.Saalfield ’38, B.J.Stebbins ’38, A.H.Edwards ’37, H.B.Rockwell ’37, J.F.Kraemer ’38, H.B.Roberts ’36

1937VARSITY

H.B.Rockwell ’37, C.D.Goldsbury ’37, E.C.Hall ’39, H.R.Saalfield ’37, S.J.Stebbins ’38, R.T.Stotler ’39, B.W.Warner ’37, J.F.Kraemer ’38, J.W.Chapman ’38

COACH WALTER H.

PFLAUMER ’34Volunteer Assistant Freshman Coach

1933-34


1935 Fall RowingWith a record turnout of over one hundred Freshmen,

in addition to the Sophomore and upperclass representa-tives, fall rowing was held on Lake Carnegie until the 26th of November. Head Coach Gordon Sikes was in charge of the heavy crews with Bill Bryan coaching the lightweights.

During the early weeks of the season much emphasis was placed on single sculling under the direction of Coach John Schultz in preparation for the Coaches’ Cup races which were held from October 14 to 19. These races were opened by twenty-two Sophomores competing for the John Schultz Trophy, which was won by Jack Kraemer, a lightweight, who thus became eligible to compete in the semi-finals of the Coaches’ Cup races. The upperclass lightweight race was won by Chris Goldsbury who also had the opportunity to race in the Coaches’ Cup.

With a perfect start the final heat of the Coaches’ Cup seemed even for two-hundred yards when Jack Kelly gradually forged ahead, closely followed by Goldsbury and Osborn. Coming into the final quarter Osborn, who had shaken off Goldsbury, began to gain on Kelly, who hung on and finished to win by a length and a quarter in the time of 6.19.

In an informal intercollegiate sculling regatta held on Lake Carnegie between representatives from Yale,

Pennsylvania and Princeton on the 26th of October Chris Goldsbury in the lightweight class and Jack Kelly, heavy-weight, won first honors. Kelly’s time for the mile was 6.40 and Goldsbury’s 7.05.

Rowing was concluded for the Varsity squad with a race on the 14th of November, won by Fenninger’s boat. Four boats of Freshmen and one Sophomore crew stayed on another week when rowing was concluded with a Freshman mile race won by Whyte’s crew.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of An-drew Carnegie, Prof. J. Duncan Spaeth, crew coach from 1910-25, addressed all the Tiger Crewmen on the 26th of November in an informal ceremony. The lake was built through the generosity of Mr. Carnegie and is considered the finest course of its kind in the country.

1937 BRIC-A-BRAC



VARSITYChilds Cup

G.Sikes ’16 (Coach), F.T.Warner ’37, W.K.Coors ’38, F.S.Kinney ’38, T.R.McMillen ’38, H.J.Swift ’37 (Capt.), L.V.Hauxhurst ’37, G.E.Armstrong ’37, B.Stoddard ’37, W.R.Hopkin ’37 (Cox)

JUNIOR VARSITYJ.D.Baker ’38, P.LeBoutillier ’38, J.W.Pitney ’39, R.G.King ’39, R.Middlebrook ’37, B.W.Wright ’39, B.B.Sloan ’37, H.B.Saalfield ’37, G.M.Hornblower ’39 (Cox)

FRESHMEN—Class of 1940

L.S.Kafer (Cox), R.S.Davies, J.B.Irwin, J.H.Herbert, L.A.CArton, S.A.Wood-Cahusac, V.S.Merle-Smith, H.M.West, A.D.Keys


Gordon G. Sikes, ’16 concluded his coaching career at Princeton in the spring of 1937{sic), when his Varsity oarsmen turned in a record of one victory and three sec-onds in four starts. The sweepswingers bowed to strong Harvard, Navy and Yale eights, but defeated Penn, M.I.T., Syracuse, Columbia and Cornell.

Inclement weather necessitated a late start for the crew season, and Coach Sikes experienced a great deal of difficulty in finding an eight which would work well to-gether. Meanwhile, powerful boats were being assembled under Tom Bolles at Harvard, Buck Walsh at the Naval Academy and Ed Leader at Yale.

After much juggling Sikes entered the following boat in the Compton Cup regatta here: bow, Stoddard; 2, Arm-strong; 3, Hauxhurst; 4, Swift; 5, McMillen; 6, Kinney; 7, Coors; stroke, Warner and cox, Hopkin. The Cantab first boat, composed entirely of veterans, entered as a favorite, having rowed as a unit since the winter tank season. M.I.T. started with six veterans, while Old Nassau’s lettermen were Brooke Stoddard, Grant Armstrong, Captain Harlan Swift and Fred Warner. Fair Harvard achieved what no other Crimson eight has ever achieved — the winning of the Compton Cup. In an epic race the Crimson oarsmen cut down a sizeable Nassau lead and emerged victorious by half a length. M.I.T. trailed by four lengths. The win-ning time was 9:07.

A full-size tilt followed a week later with Syracuse and the Navy dreadnaught. A sailor eight “worthy of the nation’s best” was pushed by Princeton, which yielded in the final quarter by a length before a gala Houseparty audience. Syracuse made a gallant effort but emerged third. The time of the Annapolis boat was 9:24.6.

The Varsity journeyed to Philadelphia on May 15 to do battle with Rusty Callow’s Penn shell and a fair Co-lumbia outfit for the classic Childs Cup. In outdistancing the rival boats the Tigers set up a new Henley record for the course: 6:09.2. It was the only major Bengal victory of the season.

On May 22 at New Haven, Princeton went up against a hard-driving Yale crew and a fast-improving Cornell eight in competition for the Carnegie Cup. The Housatonic reverberated to Derby Day cheers as the Eli eight rowed its heart out over the two-mile course to finish first in 10:13. In crossing the line half a length behind the sturdy Yale eight, the Nassau oarsmen wrote finis to the inspired coaching career of Mr. Sikes. Philip LeBoutillier, Jr., ’38 rose from the second boat in mid-season to take a seat in the Varsity bow, was named captain for 1938.

The Jayvees had a fair season, losing to Harvard, Navy, Penn and Yale, but defeating M.I.T., Syracuse, Rutgers and Manhattan Varsities, Columbia and Cornell. The 150’s coached by Wilhelmus B. Bryan, Jr., ’20 had a suicide schedule and did not turn in a major win. How-ever, the first intercollegiate regatta devoted exclusively to lightweight crews was held here on May 13, with seven boats participating.

1939 BRIC-A-BRAC


1936 Fall RowingWith a good turnout and several additions to the

coaching staff, a great deal was accomplished during the 1936 Fall Rowing season on Lake Carnegie. Head Coach Gordon Sikes supervised crew activities, assisted by James Ten Eyck, an expert on sculling; Bill Bryan, coach of the lightweights.

The annual Fall Regatta, held on the 7th of Novem-ber, was most successful. Sixty-six men entered and an excellent brand of oarsmanship was shown. The Schultz Trophy for Sophomores was won by John Osborn, and Jack Kraemer emerged victorious in the 150-pound race for upperclassmen. Eight men, those who placed first and second in these two races and the winners of the four upperclass heats, became eligible to compete in the semi-final for the Coaches’ Cup. The final was comprised of the men who took the first six places in the semi-final.

The participants in the final heat of the Coaches’ Cup were hampered by a bitter Northeast wind, but this did not prevent the finish from being the closest ever seen on Lake Carnegie. Allen took an early lead, but relinquished it to Kraemer, who seemed destined to win the race. However, Osborn, coming from behind with a burst of speed in the last quarter, overtook him and won by less than half a length in the time of 6:29.4. Kraemer’s time was 6:30 and Tom McMillen, who placed third, covered the course in 6:32.6.

The first annual Intercollegiate Sculling Regatta, held in memory of John Schultz on the Saturday after the Fall Regatta, took place on November 14th. One entrant, Thomas Darcy, of Harvard, was defeated by Jack Kraemer in the 150-pound class. An informal race between the Yale and Princeton Varsities was also held. The Princeton boat won by two lengths over a half mile course.

(continued)



VARSITYJ.W.Coffee ’39, W.R.Coors ’38, L.A.Carton ’40, C.P.Dennison ’39, T.R.McMillen ’38, J.W.Pitney ’39, H.R.Fischer ’39, P.LeBoutillier ’38, F.Spuhn (Coach), K.W.Dalzell ’39 (Cox)

PHILIP LeBOUTILLIER ’38

IN SINGLE SCULL


H.A.Laughlin (Cox), M.C.Huston, O.A.Vietor, L.Drake, L.R.Page, W.A.Mahlow, W.H.Phipps, R.B.Fenninger, G.Forbes


An informal intracollegiate handicap race on No-vember 23rd was won by the varsity boat. This closed the varsity season. The lightweight season ended on Novem-ber 16th, but the Freshmen remained on the lake, during periods of favorable weather, until the 15th of December.

The annual Fall Crew banquet was held at the Nas-sau Inn on Friday, December 11th. The cups and trophies for the regattas were presented by B.W. Smith ’33, toast-master, and T.T. Hutcheson ’37, President of the Intracol-legiate Athletic Association.

1938 BRIC-A-BRAC

1936 Fall Rowing (continued)

Review of the 1938 Crew Year

Never in the memory of the proverbially oldest in-habitant, which reaches back beyond the Spring of 1911 when Princeton returned to intercollegiate competition after a lapse of 27 years, has Nassau rowing experienced such a disastrous season as it did this year. The Varsity Heavies made their annual round of the Ivy League cir-cuit, meeting all but the young Dartmouth crew, and their best effort was good only for a second behind Penn and in front of Columbia.

Fred Spuhn, former Washington oar and then 150 pound mentor at Yale, became the first professional coach in Princeton rowing history. In the Fall he took over the launch, megaphone, and headaches of Gordon G. Sikes, ’16 head coach of Nassau crews since 1931 and light-weight tutor for a dozen seasons prior to that date.

The Varsity Heavy shell hit the waves in five regattas, including three cup races, matching blades with a total of nine other eights. It hung up three wins and six losses for a percentage average of .333. When one considers that two of these three wins were over Rutgers and M.I.T., the former having rowed but for two years and the latter not having beaten the Tiger in over eight years, one can rank only the triumph over the weak Columbia outfit as a major victory.

Ice melted on Lake Carnegie earlier than usual this spring, but the first race of the year sneaked up on the unwary sweepswingers and the Varsity went to Annapolis to race Navy on the Severn. This was on April 16. Three veterans were in the Princeton crew that pried the lid off the 1938 season. Tom McMillen was pulling the number

5 blade, Bill Coors was on the number 7 slide, right be-hind Captain and stroke, Phil Le Boutillier. The trio held these posts throughout the season with the exception of the Carnegie Cup Regatta when Coors changed places with Charley Dennison at number 2.

The rest of the boat included John Coffey, bow; Charley Dennison, No. 2; Jo-Jo Fischer, No. 3; Guy Ruth-erfurd, No. 4; Jack Pitney, No. 6; and Ken Dalzell, cox. The Tiger slashed out at a 42 in search of an early lead, but the Navy stuck at 38 and by the first dozen strokes had pulled out in front and were never to be headed. Rowing at a consistently lower beat the Middies sloughed to the finish through the heavy seas against a head wind two and a half lengths in front of the Bengal boat. Times for the mile and three quarters were 10:25.5 and 10:34.7.

Sandwiched between the Navy Race and the Comp-ton Cup Regatta was the encounter with the Rutgers which resulted in the first of Princeton’s three victories of the year. The Scarlet rowed valiantly and comparatively well considering that this was the second year of crew at the New Brunswick school. But she bowed to her traditional New Jersey rival and over a Henley course.

THREE CUP RACESHouse party week-end on May 7 saw the Orange

and Black host to Harvard and M.I.T. in the sixth annual rowing of the Compton Cup, with Syracuse entered for good measure. Harvard took the cup for the second suc-cessive year, trailed by Syracuse, Princeton and M.I.T., in that order.

Harvard turned in a near record performance of 9:04.2, less than three seconds off the mark set by Cornell in ’36, and gave further indication that it was the sprint crew of the East. The colorful crowd that reached from Desultory Point to Kingston was not too much disturbed by the fact that Princeton finished back in the ruck behind the Crimson and Syracuse eights, ahead only of M.I.T., for the average Princetonian and his guest found that they had other things to occupy their attention that weekend.

The Cantabs, using the Bolles adaptation of the Washington stroke, let the Orange crew from upstate New York take over the lead during the first eight furlongs of the course, but at the mile post the Cambridge boat started to pick up on the field leader and soon passed Syracuse as the Crimson blades reached for the water in the stretch drive. One and a half lengths separated the two crews as Harvard crossed the line a 38 stroke clip, with Princeton (continued)


1938 – 1940 LIGHTWEIGHT CREWS1938

VARSITY CREWG.B.Chapman ’39 (Cox), W.Gilroy ’40, E.Hall ’39, C.Froeb ’40, S.J.Stebbins ’38, E.Holloway ’40, J.Platt ’40, J.Kraemer ’38 (Capt.), Ligget

1939VARSITY CREW

J.O.Platt ’40, R.L.Brightman ’41, P.M.Dean ’41, F.G.MacMurray ’40, G.H.Hart ’40, E.F.Stearns ’40, F.Green ’40, E.C.Hall ’39, J.H.Moss ’41 (Cox)

1940VARSITY CREW

J.H.Moss ‘41 (Cox), A.E.Mittnacht ’42 (Stroke), E.W.Mason ’42, J.K.Williams ’42, A.I.C.DeFriez ’40, P.O.Stearns ’40 (Capt.), P.M.Dean ’41, B.W.Horner ’42, J.W.Brewer ’42

1938 FRESHMEN—Class of 1941

D.D.Dayton, A.M.Joost, H.B.Keep, T.C.J.Whedbee, R.C.Edwards, A.Ely, P.M.Dean, A.D.Duke, W.Elfers (Cox)


three lengths behind the Syracuse rudder. The Bengal boating for the run was identical with that of the Navy race except for the bow slide where the Sophomore Larry Carton replaced Coffey.

A week later Princeton again entertained on home waters with Penn and Columbia as the two principals of a half way successful crew weekend. The home sweeep-swingers lost the Childs Cup that they won last year in Philadelphia as the Quakers took possession of the mug for the thirteenth time. Penn finished two and a half lengths ahead of the Nassau contingent, which registered its third and last triumph of the Spring by leading the Light Blue from Morningside Heights by a length.

Two more of the outstanding crews of the sector of the country proved their prowess over the Orange and Black oars on the following Saturday, May 21. Yale swept to victory over Cornell’s Big Red with a length of open water between the two shells. Princeton finished way out of the running some four lengths behind Cornell. The first two crews broke the Carnegie Cup record and Eli retained possession of the trophy. So ended the Varsity Heavyweight campaign.

JUNIOR VARSITY CREWThe Junior Varsity met a total of eight boats and

defeated only the M.I.T. eight. Navy, Harvard, Syracuse, Penn, Columbia, Yale, and Cornell all led the Jayvee oarsmen across the line. Rowing in the Junior boat were three seniors; Johnny Armitage, No. 5; Bill Marr, No. 7; and Leonard Fenninger, stroke. The two juniors were John Coffey, bow, and Sam Clay in the fourth slide. The remaining posts were filled by sophomores with Bill Pugh at No. 2; Lex Bayard at No. 3; Herb West at No. 6; and Les Kafer at the rudder.

150-POUND CREWThe best percentage record of the year was turned

by the 150’s who competed against nine boats and beat four of them for .444. A victory over the M.I.T. boat in the first race on May 7 was followed the next week by a

record breaking run in the heats of the American Row-ing Association Regatta on Carnegie. Princeton defeated lightweights from M.I.T., Cornell, and Manhattan and was caught for a course mark of 6:54.9 over Henley distance of one and five-sixteenth miles.

The greatest disappointment and surprise of Nassau rowing bloods came in the afternoon finals. Princeton trailed three other boats and drew up in last place with Yale, Harvard, and M.I.T. crossing the finish in that order. This potentially powerful lightweight crew, stroked by Bill Gilroy, who had shoved Captain John Kraemer back to number 2 spot, lost to the other two members of the Big Three on the following Saturday on the Charles. But the order of the first two boats was reversed, and Harvard took the Goldthwait Cup.

This was the last Princeton crew coached by Big Bill Bryan and despite a mediocre record has the nucleus for a championship boat. Outstanding was the work of Captain-elect Eben Hall and the five sophomores led by Gilroy.

Princeton received two new shells this Spring. In ceremonies on the dock of the Class of ’87 Boathouse Mrs. Harold W. Dodds christened the pair of George Po-cock crafts as a squad of seventy looked on. The Varsity shell, whose purchase was made possible by popular subscription, was named the J. Duncan Spaeth in honor of the founder of Princeton rowing. The lightweight’s boat was the gift of Bayard Read ’26 and is now officially known as the G. G. S. after Gordon G. Sikes ’16. Specially designed oars came with the boats.

1940 BRIC-A-BRAC

Review of 1938 Crew Year (continued)


By Malcolm Roy

Coincident with the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary at Princeton yesterday of the first Intercollegiate boat race on Lake Carnegie comes the explana-tion of why Princeton alone among all the rowing colleges has crews that are stroked from the starboard side. The orthodox rig provides for the stroke oar on the port side, a custom dat-ing back, it is said, to the early days of rowing on the English Thames when it was found easier for a port-stroked crew to negotiate the twists and bends than one stroked from starboard.

Why Princeton should have

PRINCETON BOAT STAYS TRUE TO OLD PRECEDENT — Starboard Stroke

adopted the unorthodox starboard stroke has been something of a mystery. It has remained for Constance S. Titus, national sculling champion back at the turn of the century, to furnish the explanation. Titus volunteered to help Princeton establish rowing as a sport when Lake Carnegie was constructed back in 1906, and he labored for a number of years as a volunteer coach, giv-ing generously of his time and knowledge in cooperation with Dr. J. Duncan Spaeth, who later became Princeton’s official row-ing coach.

When the first crews were

being organized—and this was several years before Princeton rowed the now historic race with Yale and Cornell to dedicate the lake to intercollegiate competi-tion—it was found, according to Titus, that the most skillful oars-man and the most likely to be a good stroke oar was a natural starboard man.Tradition Likely to Stand.

Accordingly the shell was rigged for the starboard side stroke and Princeton has stuck to it consistently ever since. Once or twice the Tigers have

boated a port-stroked combi-nation, but Dr. Spaeth, who coached from 1910 through 1925, Charley (Chuck) Logg, who was in charge for six years, and Gordon Sikes, the present head coach, have unfailingly boated crews stroked from the starboard side, and the tradition is likely to go on uninterrupted.

Carnegie Cup Race in 1938by Charles P. Dennison ’39

If Princeton crew reminiscences are all expected to be recitals of wide-margin victories and close, glorious upsets that massage the Tiger ego, the counter-heroic hilarity of our 1938 trip to Ithaca offers a healthy antidote. The heavyweight varsity’s signal distinction was in being the only crew to reach the starting line; from there it was all down-wind.

A squad visit to Cornell in those days started with a swel-tering half-night bunked in Penn Station on Track One (where today’s commuter trains to and from Princeton start and end, respectively—up against the south wall of the station), until in the wee hours, the sleeper was crash-hitched to a Lackawanna train for a bruising, sleepless ride whose only compensation (in this instance) was the knowledge that the adjacent Pullman bearing our New Haven adversaries was experiencing every bump that we were.

When a stiff north-northwest breeze sweeps down Lake Cayuga, the waves at the south-southeast (Ithaca) end have had some 30 miles to build up. And build up they did, as we pointed directly into the wind, awaiting the arrival of our competition and officialdom at the starting line.

By the time the race was called off, the Big Red’s shell had broken up and sunk, and individual versions vary as to the precise scenario from that point. In the words of Bill Coors ’38, our No. 7:

“I recall both Cornell and Yale swamping as we worked our respective ways to the starting line—Cornell going under first, then Yale, while we actually reached the starting line. At that time all of the official launches devoted their attention to rescuing...and then headed for home leaving us to fend for ourselves and make our own way home.We began rowing slowly and carefully, hugging the east shore of the lake to minimize the impact of wind and waves upon us. Regardless we began to ship more water than we could bail and soon foundered. We swam our shell to shore, about 200 feet as I recall, pulled it up on the bank, set it down on some spare railroad ties, secured our oars and then, soaking wet and freezing cold, we set off down the railroad

track for town.”This writer would insert here an additional recollection. The

shore that we reached was a mere thin strip of ground against the bottom of that cliff that soars “high above Cayuga’s waters.” Except for the single railroad track, there was no space at that point to accommodate an eight-oared shell. Accordingly, having stowed the oars, we took our shell (the John Schultz) through a gap in the poison ivy that otherwise lined the slender corridor, onto the railroad track and thereupon marched it southward in search of a more commodious resting place.

Presently the raison d’ etre of the track asserted itself in the form of a steam-powered freight train bearing down from behind, whistling authoritatively—but also decelerating, as its engineer humanely perceived our trapped predicament. And thus continued for a time the bizarre procession of ambulatory shell/crew and train until we came to a break in the poison ivy leading to a few feet of pebbly beach and, providentially, some discarded railroad ties, as in Bill Coors’ account above, on which to set down the John Schultz.

The genial engineer, apparently in no particular hurry, waited out our parking exercise and then, welcoming us aboard the locomotive, continued the journey.

This romantic upgrading in our mode of transportation was profoundly exciting, and spirits reached the level of exhilaration as our iron horse whistled past nine hitch-hikers with blue Y’s on their white T-shirts. The petty triumph of one-up-man-ship, however, was short-lived, for the engineer left our rivals behind us by just the length of the train, then stopped until they had clambered aboard the caboose.

Bill Coors further recalls our arrival at the rail yard:“Our coaches and support people had no idea where we were, and we had considerable trouble contacting them for a ride back to the Cornell campus. I learned later to my disgust that they hadn’t even gone looking for us.”

The fun part of the story ends here. The Carnegie Cup race was indeed held, a day late, Cornell participating in their regular shell, rehabilitated by the all-night efforts of Dick Pocock, Yale’s rigger at the time. The order of the finish was Yale, Cornell, Princeton; and, as Captain-Stroke Phil LeBoutillier ’38 observes, “judges did not give first place for seamanship.”

Princeton Rowing Notes

Contemporary Newspaper, June 1936


(continued)

Fred Spuhn’s Varsity Oarsmen met with no better than average success in this year’s attempt to increase Princeton prestige on the water.

Only in the Childs Cup Regatta, held on the Harlem with Old Nassau, Columbia and Penn competing, did the Bengals hit their stride.

As the ice dissolved long before usual this year, the oarsmen were churning up Lake Carnegie at an early date. The first encounter came with Navy on April 22. The boating included Koenig at bow, Charley Dennison at number 2, Pat Merle-Smith at number 3, Herrick Allen at 4, Carton at 5, Captain Jack Pitney at 6, Bennett at 7, and stroke Randy Fenninger, Sophomore find and third member of his family to stroke a Princeton crew. Despite the fact that the midshipmen won the race, if only by one length, Tiger fans were cheered considerably by the performance, as Navy was considered an excellent crew.

On May 6, Harvard, Princeton, Syracuse and M.I.T. raced for the coveted Compton Cup. Harvard won easily in 9:34.6, displaying the same superb form which it ex-hibited in England last summer when it won the Henley Trophy. Syracuse followed in 9:39.4, while Princeton took third place in 9:43.8, thrashing a vastly inferior eight from M.I.T. who finished a terrible last in 10:13. The Tigers were only three lengths behind the Crimson, a fact which bode well for the coming Childs Cup on the Harlem River the following week.

The Childs Cup was the high point in the season. The Tiger eight was this day a team that would not and could not be beaten. Racing against Columbia and Penn, the Bengals staved off repeated attempts by the New Yorkers to demolish their lead by raising and maintaining the stroke at a higher pitch than had been tried with any success previously in the season. Princeton covered the distance in 8:01 minutes, with Columbia a photographic 8:01.8 second and Penn a close third but never a serious threat to Tiger supremacy.

On May 26, Yale, Cornell and Princeton swung oars in competition for the Carnegie Cup. Yale, considered this year a very material threat to Cantab supremacy, managed to sweep its opponents to one side and win the race in 8:55.2. Cornell, however, was not to be trifled with, and there were just nine feet separating the Big Red from a victory. Old Nassau, never seriously in the running took a rather poor third in 9:13.6. Despite the big difference in times, Princeton was actually only four lengths astern of the victorious Elis.

Junior Varsity CrewIn considering the success of a season’s rowing, the

performance of the Jayvee crews must be taken into ac-count for it is the constant pressure exerted by the men in the second and third boats which keeps those in the first on their toes. It is a rowing axiom, that the better the Jayvees, the better the Varsity. The Jayvee seating, while subject to periodic change, was generally about as follows: Pulling the bow oar was Archie Rogers; at number 2, Steward Robinson; at number 3, Jo-Jo Fischer, a veteran of the preceding season; at number 4, Ernie Dale; at number 5, Lawrence Carton; at number 6, Herb West; at number 7 , Lanky Hugh Petersen, and Bob Davis pulled the stroke oar. Lester Kafer rapped out the stroke. The Jayvee season was hardly auspicious. Starting out on the wrong foot, the mariners from Annapolis administered the Bengals a sound drubbing. At the Compton Cup Regatta the Jayvees, setting the style for the varsity took a substantial third behind Harvard and Syracuse, vanquishing a mediocre eight from M.I.T.

On May 12, the Bengal Jayvees shellacked their op-ponents representing Columbia and Penn who finished in that order in the wake of an inspired Tiger Junior Varsity.

On May 26, this same outfit finished third behind Yale and Cornell. It was uncanny how through the whole season the Jayvees turned in performances identical on a comparative scale with those recorded by varsity.

150-Pound CrewUnder the tutelage of a new Tiger mentor, Delos

Schoch, substitute on the University of Washington’s 1936 Olympic crew, the Varsity 150-lb. Crew experi-enced a none too successful season. Lack of material, and experimenting with definitely superior but none the less different stroke can account for this. Coach Schoch was almost insuperably handicapped by the fact that only four lettermen reported for the sport, and the remaining four positions had to be filled with green material.

On April 22, the season unofficially opened as the first Freshman heavies defeated the varsity one-fifties and the Kent School Varsity. The following week a superior Penn outfit won by two lengths over the Henley course on the Schuylkill River.




VARSITYChilds Cup

L.D.Fenninger ’38 (Stroke), Bennett, J.W.Pitney ’39 (Capt.), A.I.Bayard ’40, H.K.Allen ’39, V.Merle-Smith ’40, C.P.Dennison ’39, C.F.Koenig ’40, S.Lawton ’40 (Cox)

JUNIOR VARSITY

FRESHMEN— Class of 1942


The nadir was reached while in competition for the Goldthwait Cup where the Bengals secured a bad third against Harvard and Yale. Even with a fine individual work by Captain Eben Hall at stroke, and Bill Gilroy at number 4, a hard-fighting but none too polished Tiger eight proved no match for its competitors. On May 20, journeying to Boston for the Joe Wright Challenge Cup, the Princeton lightweights showed considerable improve-ment in form as they placed fifth in a seven boat race which was won with relatively little trouble by Harvard’s potent oarsmen.

The regular seating included Pete Dean at bow; Lanahan at number 2, Platt, a veteran, at 3; Bill Gilroy, part time stroke from last year, at 4; Miller at 5; Stearns at 6; Green at number 7; and capable Captain Eben Hall at stroke. John Moss was cox in the first boat.

1942 Freshman CrewThe 1942 Freshman Crew met with moderate success

in its 1939 campaign on the water. In the first race between Harvard, Princeton and M.I.T. the three crews finished in that order, Princeton being nine seconds astern of the victorious Cantabs, while M.I.T. finished far behind both other boats. In the second regatta of the season, the Orange and Black eight was victorious over a strong Columbia boat, with a noticeably inferior Penn outfit bringing up the rear by a substantial margin. The Tigers finished in 7:48.2, while Columbia was clocked at 7:48.4, a mere two-tenths of a second behind. Pennsylvania’s time was 7:58.6.

The concluding race of the season was held between Cornell, Princeton, and Yale Freshman eights. Cornell

Review of the 1939 Crew Year (continued)

won by a considerable margin, being clocked in 9:07.8, as against the Bengals who were stopped at 9:20.8 and the Elis who finished in 9.22.

The Old Nassau first boat was outstanding at only one point in the season, namely in the Childs Cup Regatta between Princeton, Columbia and Penn, but none the less it contained some fine potential material. Not quite half the boat was recruited from the sensational 1938 Kent crew, which swept the river at Henley Regatta in England.

Just why the first Freshman crew failed to do better than it did is not certain. As with the other crews, the new stroke probably had a great deal to do with it. High point of the season was unquestionably the Childs Cup Regatta, where for the first time in their short season the yearlings showed just what they were really capable of doing.

Of the men in the first boat several should see ac-tion this spring on the varsity. Stroke Henry Drinker, Jim Hooper, and Jim Crudgington are certainly among the most likely prospects.

1941 BRIC-A-BRAC



VARSITYNavy Trophy

W.A.Mahlow ’41 (Stroke), I.W.Pettengill ’42, H.M.Drinker ’42, A.I.Bayard ’40 (Capt.), E.W.Thomas ’42 (Cox), C.M.Barringer ’42, G.D.Smith ’42, J.E.Hooper ’42, C.F.Koenig ’40


J.B.Tweedy, J.H.Blake, T.J.Hilliard, H.G.Allyn, R.B.Robbins, J.R.Gardner, J.A.Wilsey, T.Leas (Stroke), C.E.Dodge (Cox)

2ND FRESHMEN—Class of 1943

J.D.Pitney, S.D.Whittaker, H.E.Jones, K.B.Myer, S.C.Voorhees, J.H.LaDage, J.W.Henderson, J.A.Parker, Brauer (Cox)


On March 20 the Varsity oarsmen began warming up for what proved to be a valuable eventful season if not an altogether successful one from the standpoint of races won. Fred Spuhn, coaching here for his fourth year, was wanting experienced oars: Captain Lex Bayard and Fred Koenig were the only men in the boat who had won varsity letters the year before. Various men were tried at stroke, Bill Mahlow being chosen for the position ten days before the first race.

The first test, the race with Navy on April 20, sent Princeton hopes sky high. Navy had real strength aboard. At Poughkeepsie the year before the Midshipmen, trailing California and Washington had beaten out every partici-pating Eastern crew. From this crack eight six men were still on hand. But Princeton gave Navy a good beating. Getting away at thirty-seven strokes to the minute Princ-eton quickly assumed a half-length lead. This the Tigers maintained and even increased, scoring an even thirty-two through rough water, a beat or so higher than Navy. Com-ing down the home stretch, Mahlow quickened the stroke to thirty-seven and his shell crossed the line a length and a half ahead of Navy. The winning time was 10:47 2/5. Princeton had clearly dominated the race throughout, a good sign for Poughkeepsie when the two teams would meet again.

If the Navy showing was encouraging, the Comp-ton Regatta, held on Carnegie Lake May 4, was equally discouraging. So far as Princeton was concerned, it was definitely an off day. Of course the masterful Harvard eight was expected to win the race but that unheralded M.I.T. should finish ahead of Princeton was something of a slap in the face. Tech got the jump and moved slightly into the lead while Princeton, off to a good start, was content to keep on even terms with Harvard. After the mile Harvard, though rowing a lower beat than the other crews, pulled smoothly into the lead and finished two lengths ahead of M.I.T. The remarkable slide-control of the Engineers enabled them to outdistance Princeton by three lengths. The Princeton boat showed strength and spurts of speed but it lacked the poise and self-assurance of its opponents.

The Childs Cup, rowed on the Schuylkill May 11, was a much closer affair though again Princeton came in last of three boats. Leading at the half-way mark the Tigers yielded their advantage to the Columbia powerhouse as the shells came under the trolley bridge. The race then resolved into a dogfight between Penn and Princeton for second place, which Penn won by a shade. The trouble in this race seemed to be that Princeton rowed a little too

high a stroke in slow weather conditions and so cooked itself before the final drive.

Except for possibly the Navy race, Princeton turned in the best account of itself at the Carnegie Cup Regatta on May 18. Although the Orange and Black shell could not engineer victory against Yale and Cornell it finished under the course record of 10:10 and came closer to beat-ing Yale than any Princeton crew in the last five years. There had been one important change in the lineup: Hank Drinker, who was found to give the crew more length and drive, had supplanted Mahlow at stroke. Behind him the Princeton eight fought all the way down the course, holding the lead for a mile and a quarter till it could no longer withstand the bids of Yale and Cornell.

Two years ago some sixty-nine undergraduate oars-men submitted a petition to the university council of athletics asking that Princeton be entered in the Pough-keepsie Regatta. Last April a special committee approved participation and former oarsmen and friends of Princeton rowing contributed the necessary funds. So, on June 20, Princeton’s varsity crew lined up at Poughkeepsie with seven of the best combinations in the country. The crews-Washington, Cornell, Syracuse, Navy, California, Colum-bia, Wisconsin, Princeton- completed the four-mile course in that order. Washington’s time was 22:42, the second slowest time on record for this event, but good enough considering the inclement weather. Princeton rowed a poor race. The wind and rough waters were demoralizing to a crew unaccustomed to these conditions. However, the time was profitably spent. The oarsmen enjoyed the experience thoroughly and being pitted against the big league crews that way on “big” water certainly matured them in their rowing.

Varsity 150 Pound CrewThe rapid development of the Varsity 150-pound

crew under the guidance of “Dutch” Schoch enabled it to take third place in the American Rowing Association Regatta, and so in a sense cancelled its earlier losses to Yale and Penn. Small in size, it had to rely on short power and smoothness. It was a young crew and inexperienced. There was constant shuffling of the line-up during the preliminary weeks of practice and on the eve of the Penn race five Sophomores held down seats in the varsity boat. Penn steadily pulled away from the Tigers and won by crossing the finish line four lengths in the lead. In the next engagement the short stroke of the ‘fifties proved


(continued)


1940 LIGHTWEIGHT CREW


E.H.Kloman, R.A.Hord, J.L.Heffron, H.G.Wellington, T.W.Bakewell, A.Orr, W.S.Avery, S.E.Slaymaker, L.H.Rogers (Cox)

COACH FRED W. SPUHN

Washington ’24

Varsity Coach

1938-42

LIGHTWEIGHT VARSITY

A.E.Mittnacht ’42, E.W.Mason ’42, J.B.Mosese ’42, A.I.C.DeFrie’40, F.J.Schaettler ’42, P.M.Dean ’41, B.W.Horner ’42, J.K.VanOveren ’42, J.H.Moss ’41 (Cox)


Review of 1940 Crew Year (continued)disastrous against the head wind, and the longer oarsmen from M.I.T. won by a length and three-quarters. However, the Princeton time, 7:53 1/5, was a distinct improvement over the Penn race, and it appeared that the lightweights were beginning to find themselves.

Next the Tigers lost the Goldthwait Cup to a high-class outfit from Harvard, with Yale taking second place, but the time, 7:16, was the best yet for Princeton. Going into the American Rowing Association Regatta, presum-ably without a chance in the world, the Princeton shell flashed its finest form of the year and placed third, los-ing to Harvard and M.I.T. but overcoming Yale, Penn, Columbia, and Cornell.

1943 Freshman CrewIf wins alone are considered, then the season of 1943

Freshman crew cannot be called a success; but if improve-ment is used as a gauge of success, then there is a different story. Starting slow the yearling heavies improved con-tinually, climaxing their training at Poughkeepsie. Many changes in the boating in an attempt to find a winning combination also had its detrimental effect as no one crew was ever able to reach the peak of coordination.

Opening against M.I.T. the Freshman boat was de-

feated as Princeton trailed the Engineers by one length at the finish of the mile and one-sixteenth course. In the Childs Cup Regatta the Bengal cubs crossed the finish line behind Columbia, barely nosing out Penn in a photograph-ic finish. Cornell and Yale Freshmen both took Princeton in the next race for the Tigers had to satisfy themselves with a third as they trailed the leader by eleven seconds at the end. Cornell held the lead throughout the race, but the Yale and Princeton eights fought a bitter struggle for second place, with Yale finally pulling ahead to win by the exasperating distance of two feet.

Concluding their season at Poughkeepsie, Princeton rowed brilliantly against stiff competition trailing Cor-nell’s shell, but beating those of Syracuse and Columbia. It was generally conceded that the Princeton eight, if it had rowed higher than a twenty-eight stroke for the first mile while the rest of the boats were rowing thirty-two and thirty-six, would have won the race, for when they raised the stroke to thirty-six, they passed Syracuse and Columbia, and were rapidly gaining of Cornell. The times of this race were Cornell 10:55 1/5, Princeton 11:02 3/5, Syracuse 11:07 3/5, and Columbia 11:29 3/5. Coaches Spuhn and Schoch agree that this was a fine cub crew, and the training and experience gained on the Hudson make prospects for next year’s varsity appear quite promising.

1942 BRIC-A-BRAC

90,000 Rowing Fans Expected To Convene For Annual RegattaPrinceton’s Entry Helps Increase Fever This Year As Eight Crews Make Ready For Varsity RaceAnother classic struggle for intercollegiate rowing supremacy is on the immediate horizon and fair weather or foul the 42nd

regatta of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Tuesday evening over the famous Poughkeepsie-Highland four mile course as one of the hardest fights for all time.

U.S. destroyers, coast guard cutters, river launches and river steamers, day liners and pleasure craft of all shapes and sizes will be on the scene. Hotels and boarding houses are gradually filling up and 90,000 followers of the sport are expected to line both banks of the Hudson to watch the battle of oars.

Pre-battle discussions among coaches and oarsmen have all ended in the same way, with every one predict-ing an open fight with six of the eight

crews entered having a chance to win the Varsity Challenge Cup, presented in 1898 by Dr. Louis L. Seaman of Cornell.

The east pins its hope on Cornell, Syracuse and Columbia to turn back the western invasion of Washington and Cali-fornia crews. California is the defending champion, having gone over the course last year in a record time of 18 minutes 12 3/5 seconds.

New to the race this year is Princeton. Already the followers of the Tigers are crowding into the city to see their boat-load compete in the first Intercollegiate in its history.

Tuesday’s event is America’s No. 1 rowing event. For the last six months the members of the eight varsity crews which will compete at Poughkeepsie have

been training for about 19 minutes of back-breaking effort next Tuesday afternoon.

Figuring on an average of 33 strokes per minute, each oarsman will dip his 12-foot sweep into the water and pull with all his might and in perfect rhythm with the rest of his crew 622 times.

Poughkeepsie Sunday CourierJune 16, 1940



VARSITYChilds Cup

Navy TrophyT.J.Hilliard ’43, J.H.Blake ’43, R.B.Robbins ’43, J.E.Hooper ’42, H.M.Drinker ’42, C.M.Barringer ’42, H.E.Jones ’43, J.D.Pitney ’43, E.W.Thomas ’42 (Cox, Capt.)

JUNIOR VARSITY


K.E.Hofammann (Stroke), H.W.Waller, R.J.Wiese, G.F.Odland, R.H.Pratt, J.H.Bragg, A.B.Jones, J.S.Meserole, P.F.Wells (Cox), Dutch Schoch (Coach)

FRESHMAN BRAVADO

—Class of 1944K.E.Hofammann, J.S.Meserole, H.E.Waller, A.B.Jones, J.H.Bragg, C.A.P. vonHemert, R.J.Wiese, ?, T.C.Bolton (Cox)


Although this was not a championship year for the varsity crew it was certainly the most successful season in some time. The squad was able to lead the way to the line in all but three races. Two of these defeats were chalked up by Harvard, whose highly-touted oarsmen proved more than the boys from Tigertown could handle. The third of Princeton’s losses came in the Poughkeepsie regatta where the Nassau shell faced the best eights in the country.

Hopes for a banner season were heightened by the first race against Rutgers, for the varsity won in the good time of 9:05.8. This was just a few seconds over the course record -very good time for early April racing. The first race saw Tom Hilliard in the bow followed by Budge Blake, Bart Robbins, Jim Hooper, H.M. Drinker, Minor Barringer, and Herb Jones. The boat was stroked by Dunc Pitney and Captain Evan Thomas took care of the tiller. Of these men five were sophomores with very little experience in the tricks of navigating a shell, but the training they got was laying the foundation for Princeton crews for the next three years.

Despite exceedingly rough weather at Annapolis which greatly upset the Princeton men who were used to the unruffled calm of lake Carnegie, the heavies defeated a battling Navy boat. Princeton’s superior weight began to tell at the half-way mark as the octet pulled ahead to a lead which they never relinquished. Pitney kept the crew at a long 32, allowing the Navy shell to set the initial pace. But the Nassau squad outdistanced the sailors in the stretch.

After these two highly successful races the Princeton shellmen started the Compton Cup race at Cambridge with a chance of winning. Their hopes faded as they found themselves unable to overtake a flawless Harvard crew which won the race by a length. M.I.T. trailed the Orange and Black boat by two lengths and never really threatened the leaders.

Before a cheering House party crowd, Fred Spuhn’s crew regained possession of the historic Childs Cup by de-cisively beating a favored Columbia crew, leading M.I.T. by three lengths and Penn by five. The varsity displayed more power and form than they had shown all season and won the race easily. It was Princeton and Columbia all the way with the Tigers turning on the pressure in the last quarter. This race, won by a length and a half, classed the heavies as one of the strongest crews in the East and turned all eyes to the forthcoming Harvard race. Harvard jumped to the lead at the stake boat and kept this advantage all the way, finishing two lengths ahead of the Tigers. Princeton again found in this race that, although they matched the

Harvard pace most of the way, the Crimson seemed to get more run from each stroke.

Immediately after exams the crew entrained for Poughkeepsie to start training for the regatta on the 25th of June. This was the second year that Princeton had entered a boat in the classic and the Nassau oarsmen rightfully expected to considerably better their previous record. The race was rather disappointing to the Tigers for they finished fifth, and both Cornell and Syracuse, previously defeated by Princeton, were ahead of them.

Future prospects for Princeton rowing are brighter than they have ever been before. With the entire first boat returning, the oarsmen will have the advantage of having rowed together for an entire season. And since experience is one of the major factors in team competition in any sport, this season may have laid the basis for a series of expert Princeton crews for several years to come.

150 Pound Crew1941 marked the most successful season for the

150 pound crew since 1935. It was the first year that Jim Rathschmidt, former Hun School coach, had handled the Princeton ‘50’s and with Captain Pete Dean and Coxswain Johnny Moss as the guiding lights, they swept through all opposition save the perennially near perfect Harvard crew.

The season opened at Columbia on April 19 against Columbia and Rutgers and the race was Princeton all the way. The next week a little more difficulty was experi-enced against Penn but the Tigers took hold and pulled up even in the last half-mile, finishing out in front by three-quarters of a length in 6:50.2.

All eyes were now focused on the Goldthwait Cup race against Harvard and Yale in the Charles River Basin. For the first mile it looked like the year’s hard work would be rewarded but, after jockeying for the lead in the last quarter, Harvard crossed the line first by two feet, the Tigers beating the Elis for second.

On May 17 the American Rowing Association Re-gatta took place at Cambridge and the Tigers were fuming for revenge. Once again it looked like a Princeton day as the lightweights led under the quarter-mile bridge, but the Charles proved too tough to handle and the Varsity placed second behind Harvard.

One consolation was the fact that Harvard had to set a new course record to win - 6:40. The Tigers shaved one


(continued)


1941 LIGHTWEIGHT CREWS

VARSITYWood-Hammond Trophy

A.E.Mittnacht ’42, P.M.Dean ’41 (Capt.), R.E.Simons ’42, J.K.VanOveren ’42, J.K.Williams ’42, F.J.Rue ’43, W.R.Kesler ’41, R.W.Carton ’42, J.H.Moss ’41 (Cox)

JUNIOR VARSITYE.J.Burrough ’42, R.W.Carton ’42, J.K.Williams ’42, P.L.Miller ’41, P.O.Stearns ’40 (Capt.), E.V.Connett ’42, W.R.Kesler ’41, J.W.Brewer ’42, A.Pearre ’40 (Cox)


P.Randall, S.Mittnacht, T.M.Rauch, R.Cresswell, J.P.Ware, P.V.Wiese, H.G.Marchant, J.D.Zinc (Stroke), A.C.Van Horne (Cox)


second off the old record to place at 6:45.With a lot of good material coming up from the

Jayvees and the freshmen, Coach Rathschmidt is already laying plans for Harvard next year. He was very careful to keep the varsity boat intact this year and his patience was rewarded.

Freshmen CrewCoach Dutch Schoch’s freshman rowing aggregation

scored wins in its first two races of the season but then be-came a consistent also-ran. However, the talent evidenced throughout the season helped several of last year’s frosh get seats on the Varsity crews in the fall.

The season opened against Rutgers on April 12th. Rowing on Lake Carnegie, Princeton breezed in ahead by three easy lengths. Karl Hofammann was in the stroke-seat and Doug Dimond did the piloting.

A week later the Tigers took Kent School in their stride and rowed the mile in 5:25. Pete Wells was cox. In a three-way race on May 3rd the Nassau oarsmen suc-cumbed to M.I.T. and Harvard in the Compton Cup race on the Charles River. Returning home for the Childs Cup the next week, the Tigers raced against M.I.T., Penn-sylvania, and Columbia. Princeton finished third in this

mile-and-three-quarter race, trailing M.I.T. and Penn. A race at Cornell between Princeton, Cornell, and Yale was scheduled for the 17th but rough water on Lake Cayuga forced its cancellation.

On May twenty-fourth the freshmen made the long journey up to Cambridge again and were rewarded for their pains by taking last place in a four crew race. Syra-cuse took the pay spot and Harvard, Cornell, and Princeton finished in that order. The most satisfying race of the year, as far as Princeton rooters were concerned, was the run off just a month later. The Nassau shell was entered in the Poughkeepsie Classic and managed to squeek across the line in fourth place. Since the opponents of the frosh were among the best crews in the country, this was no mean ac-complishment. And since Princeton succeeded in beating M.I.T. for the first time all season they had little reason to regret crossing behind Cornell, Wisconsin, and Syracuse.

1943 BRIC-A-BRAC

Review of 1941 Crew Year (continued)

1941 I.R.A.VARSITY HEAVYWEIGHT

RACE AT POUGHKEEPSIE

Last Regatta Before World War II



B.K.Graves, D.D.Dodge, L.F.Israel, J.Northrop, R.P.Dilks, W.N.Seymour, M.G.Mayo, J.BAshmun, H.M.Wells (Cox)

HEAVYWEIGHT VARSITY

Carnegie CupStanding: C.E.Dodge ’43 (Cox), F.D.Graham ’44, R.H.Pratt ’44, G.F.Odland ’44, J.V.McKee ’42 (Mgr.)Seated: W.Drorbaugh ’43, J.A.Wright ’45, H.E.Jones ’43, T.Leas ’43, J.B.Tweedy ’43

1942 CREWS

LIGHTWEIGHT VARSITY

Joseph Wright CupR.W.Carton ’42, J.R.McCormick ’43, F.J.Rue ’43, J.D.Zink ’44, W.S.Avery ’43, J.K.VanOveren ’42, E.W.Mason ’42, S.E.Slaymaker ’43 (Stroke), L.H.Rogers ’43 (Cox)

150s WITH TROPHIES

Back Row: J.Rathschmidt (Coach), L.H.Rogers ’43 (Cox), W.S.Avery ’43, J.D.Zink ’44, J.R.McCornick ’43, J.H. Bullock ’42 (Mgr.)Front Row: S.E.Slaymaker ’43, R.W.Carton ’42, E.W.Mason ’42 (Capt.), J.K.VanOveren ’42, F.J.Rue ’43

Shirts won from Penn, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, MIT


What may well have been the last season of intercol-legiate rowing at Princeton for the duration ended in a surprise victory for the Varsity crew in the Carnegie Cup race on May 16. In the annual Princeton-Cornell-Yale classic, the men of Nassau swept down the choppy Housa-tonic on the two-mile course, defeating the Big Red by three-quarters of a length and Yale by a length and a half.

With a crew of veterans on hand such as Dunc Pitney, Tom Leas, Herb Jones, Bart Robbins, Jim Reppert, Budge Blake, Tom Hilliard, Jim Wright, and Jack Tweedy, Coach Fred Spuhn was able to put together a smooth-swinging eight which, although it only won one race, finished up the season with a bang.

Princeton’s first win of the season in the last race was the result of Coach Spuhn’s constant work with the men and shifting of line-ups all spring. Rutgers moved in on April 11 to try to avenge the defeat hung on them by the Tigers in 1941. In this early season race, stormy wind and choppy water made the going a bit slow and Rutgers pulled across the winner in 9:31.3, 4 seconds ahead of Princeton.

Rough water and a fair wind told the story a week later as Navy beat out the Orange and Black by a length for the Navy’s first defeat of Princeton in three years. Af-ter an exciting start, the Tigers settled down behind their adversaries, as was the case the previous week. Princeton put on a late sprint, but it was not quite enough and the boys from Annapolis ran off with the newly inaugurated Princeton-Navy Cup.

May 2nd witnessed Lake Carnegie’s first real regatta of the spring, and a gay Houseparty crowd saw Princeton come in a length and a quarter behind Harvard as four crews raced for the Compton Cup. Coach Spuhn had given the boat another shake-up, including a new cox, Cleve Dodge, in the hopes of giving a little more push to the shell. But Harvard proved its strength by nosing out the Princeton oarsmen, while M.I.T and Syracuse trailed along behind.

A photo finish ended the 38th race for the Childs Cup-oldest intercollegiate racing trophy on May 9th, and Pennsylvania was the victor. The Red and Blue beat off another of Princeton’s last-second sprints to cross the line 4 feet and 4/10 of a second in front of the Tigers, while Columbia finished far to the rear. The course was the 1 3/4 mile stretch on the treacherous Harlem in a light rain. Princeton passed Columbia, and for the last one-quarter of a mile the Tigers and Penn were matching stroke for stroke. With Penn a little ahead, Dunc Pitney took it up to 39, but the finish came too soon and Penn was over the

line in 7:55.8. Princeton’s time was 7:56.2.So went the 1942 season. The victory over Cornell

and Yale on May 16th may have been due to several causes. Perhaps the new personnel inserted in the stern in the form of Tom Leas at stroke and Jim Wright and Wells Drorbaugh at 7 and 6 respectively had something to do with it. Perhaps it was Jack Tweedy in the bow slot. Most likely it was the last drive for the last race of the season. At any rate, it made May 16th, 1942, a banner day in Princeton rowing.

Several informal races were held during the past fall in order to prolong the life of rowing as long as possible at Princeton before it should be definitely stopped for the duration.

Lightweight CrewClimaxing their season on May 16th, the Tiger

150-Pound crew avenged earlier defeats inflicted by Har-vard and Penn in annexing the Wright Cup and with it the National Championship. By May 16th, Princeton had lost by a length, had beaten M.I.T. decisively, and had rowed second to Harvard, according to custom, in the Goldthwait Cup race with the Crimson and Yale.

In their last race for Coach Jim Rathschmidt, the oarsmen of Nassau rose to long wished-for heights and covered the Henley distance for a new course record, nos-ing out Penn and Harvard in that order. Cornell, Columbia, and M.I.T. brought up the rear.

Freshman CrewUnder “Dutch” Schoch, the 1945 crew opened their

season against Rutgers on April 11, and the frosh won decisively by three lengths. Outstroked on May 2 by Har-vard, Princeton took second by three lengths over M.I.T. and by eight lengths over Syracuse. The Tigers put their best foot forward a week later, however, beating Penn and Columbia by 56 seconds on the tricky Harlem. On May 16 in the final race of the season, Cornell defeated the Freshman rowers by four lengths.

1944 BRIC-A-BRAC



1943 – 1944 CREWS

1943HEAVYWEIGHT

VARSITYChilds Cup

G.G.Sikes ’16 (Coach), E.C.Paul ’46, B.Hall ’44, H.E.Waller ’44, F.D.Graham ’44, R.P.Dilks ’45, J.Northrup ’45, L.Israel ’45, W.N.Seymour ’45, W.H.Wells ’45 (Cox)

LON F. ISRAEL ’45Captain of 1943 Varsity

1944CORNELL VARSITY

Princetonians in Navy V12E.C.Paul ’46 (2), L.Israel ’45 (4), Charles von Wrangell (7–later Princeton coach), W.H.Wells ’45 (Cox)


WOOD – HAMMOND TROPHY

forAnnual Competition Between The Varsity 150 lb. Crews of Princeton,

Pennsylvania1941 Princeton1942 Penn1943-5 (No Race)1946 Penn1947 Princeton1948 Princeton1949 Princeton1950 Penn1951 Penn1952 Penn1953 Princeton1954 Princeton1955 Princeton1956 Princeton1957 Princeton1958 Princeton1959 Princeton1960 Princeton1961 Princeton1962 Penn

1963 Princeton1964 Princeton1965 Princeton1966 Princeton1967 Princeton1968 Princeton1969 Penn1970 Princeton1971 Princeton1972 Princeton1973 Princeton1974 Princeton1975 Penn1976 Penn1977 Penn1978 Penn1979 Princeton1980 Princeton1981 Princeton1982 Princeton

WOOD – HAMMOND TROPHY

1983 Princeton1984 Princeton1985 Princeton1986 Princeton1987 Princeton1988 Princeton1989 Princeton1990 Princeton1991 Princeton1992 Princeton1993 Princeton1994 Princeton1995 Princeton1996 Princeton1997 Princeton1998 Princeton1999 Princeton2000 Princeton

CREW TROPHY CASEGIFT FROM

MRS. GEORGE H. (BERT) McCLUREIN MEMORY OF HER HUSBAND, CLASS OF

1935AND FROM THE FOLLOWING ALUMNI OARSMEN

R. Gamble Baldwin ’45Lon F. Israel ’45

William G. Keller ’45Anthony V. Lynch, III ’45Carlton N. McKenney ’45J.Rodman Moulinier ’45

S.E. Palmer, Jr. ’45Whitney North Seymour, Jr. ’45

(This Crew Trophy Case was retired in 2000 because



VARSITYJ.D.Zink ’44, G.H.Dexter ’45, J.Northrop ’45, L.U.Park ’44, R.Peters ’46 (Capt.), J.B.Ashmun ’45, D.D.Dodge ’43, A.B.Jones ’44, F.F.Rosenbaum ’48 (Cox)

CROCKER NEVIN ’46 Contemplating His Oar

JUNIOR VARSITYEARC Champions

P.R.Brock ’49, H.N.Feist ’48, T.Seymour ’49, H.MacRae ’46, J.P.Groton ’48 (Cox), C.P.Hunter ’48, ?, A.P.Morgan ’44, C.Nevin ’46


The 1946 rowing season was conducted on a very informal basis. None of the trophies were up for competi-tion. The classic Childs Cup, oldest intercollegiate trophy, was destroyed when Dillon Gym burned. Fortunately the base, on which the past winners are recorded, was saved. The Nassau oarsmen found themselves on the heavy side of the score throughout the season.

In the opening race, it was Penn all the way on Lake Carnegie. The Childs Cup regatta (sans Childs Cup) saw Rutgers taking the place traditionally held by Columbia. It was a big disappointment to see an older, more experi-enced Tiger boat drop behind. A game Scarlet and Black crew took a close second place about a length behind Penn. The winning time was lower than the trials held during the previous week.

Up at Cambridge a greatly improved Princeton crew made a good showing against the stiffest competition in the East. Old Nassau jumped to an early lead and settled down to a 36 beat. Rowing at a lower stroke with a rare combination of smoothness and power, Cornell was able to pull ahead and win. The Tigers lost second place to Harvard by 4/5 of a second.

Down at Annapolis at the E.A.R.C. Regatta, the varsity turned in a very creditable performance. Although they took only seventh place they threatened all the way. The Tigers were able to pull ahead of M.I.T. and Harvard but fell behind Wisconsin, Navy, Columbia, Rutgers, Cornell and Penn.

The second clash with Rutgers saw the varsity lose a hard fought race. The Scarlet crew made up in fire and kick what it lacked in experience and smoothness. Rutgers rowed at a higher stroke all the way. They drove the last quarter mile at a sizzling 40 beat. Princeton looked good in the early part of the race but Rutgers had a slight lead which they increased to open water.

150 Pound Crew

Following the lead of their heavier mates, the 150 pound crew failed to garner the laurels in any of its four races. This was the first season of inter collegiate row-ing for most of the oarsmen. Usually leading in the last quarter, this scrappy boat just didn’t have the weight to make those last strokes strike “pay-dirt.”

In their first race on April 27 with Penn, the bantams lost. The Tigers raised the stroke but were never able to pull ahead of the Red and Blue. The race at Cambridge the next weekend was heart breaking. The 50’s made a magnificent recovery after dropping behind at the 3/4 mile, but tired in the last quarter of a tight finish. John S. Ralston ’48 was elected captain for this race and the remainder of the season.

After being licked by the Big Red before, the Nassau oarsmen defeated Cornell on the Cayuga only to lose to Penn by six tenths of a second.

1946 BRIC-A-BRAC

Informal Crew in 1945Gordon Sikes ’16 could not be restrained from coach-

ing crew, even by a World War. As academic advisor to the Marine V-12 Detachment from the fall of 1944 to June 1946, he just happened to suggest the idea of crew to his charges.

By August of 1945 Princeton held two races with Columbia on the Harlem River and on Lake Carnegie. Columbia won both races leading the Princeton JV fol-lowed by the Varsity. The boats as recorded in the New York Times were:

Junior VarsityBow. Gregory Nowakoski; 2. Tom Eddy: 3.Robert Phil-lips; 4, Ed Wright; 5. Converse Hunter; 6. David Reyn-olds; 7. James Stewart Jr.; stroke, Oscar Dahms; coxswain, David Rowan.

VarsityBow, John Cook; 2. Michael de Camp; 3. John Ralston; 4. Chester McFarland; 5. William Porter; 6. Edward Matchus; 7. George Seichter; stroke, David Lennihan; coxswain, James Groton.



COACH DELOS C. ‘DUTCH’ SCHOCH

Washington ’37

Freshman Heavyweight Crew 1937-42

Varsity Lightweight Crews 1939-40

Varsity Heavyweight Crews 1946-65

“Move the old blade with the legs; get that catch, and you’ll get ‘em all. . .”

Traditionally, honeymooning bridegrooms have little room for outside interests. But when Delos Clifton Schoch, head coach of Princeton crew, hit Havana in the summer of ’39, Jane had to share her man with the crew of the Biltmore Yacht and Country Club. For two months Dutch coached the Cuban eight, one of the crews which competes annually in the government-sponsored National Regatta, racking up the undefeated season which was to become a tra dition and gain him the title of El Majo de los Remos (“The Magician of the Oars”).

“. . . work those arms and legs; relax on that recovery . . . “In high school at Everett, Wash., Dutch captained the football team, but

the combination of a twice-injured ankle and an unfortunate taping job in his freshman year at the University of Washington finished his gridiron career. In an attempt to find a sport where a tackle with one sound ankle could compete, he went down to the boathouse late in the fall to get introduced to crew. Four months later he was hold-ing down number five on the first Freshman boat, then skippered by present Harvard coach Tom Bolles, whose Cuban crew Dutch was to defeat thirteen years later in Havana.

In 1936, his junior year, when he won the first of his varsity letters, Schoch encountered Princeton for the first time — as an alternate on the near-legendary Huskie crew that swept all Olympic tryouts on Lake Carnegie and went on that summer to annex the Olympic eight-oared champion ship at Berlin. After the races Dutch and a friend hiked all over Europe. enjoying continental life so much that they delayed their return to the states until October. In his senior year Dutch again worked on the jayvees behind all the returning members of the victorious Olympic varsity. In four years of crew at Washington, he never rowed on a losing boat.

Today Schoch feels that climate is a major factor in the acknowledged superiority of Western over Eastern crew. Because of the uninter-rupted rowing year out West, the crews can put in as much rowing mileage before their first race as a crew here pulls all year. Dutch’s four years in Washington have convinced him that an Eastern coach is bound to choose his men before they have rowed enough to work out all their kinks.

“. . . row, swing the hips. . .”Fred Spuhn, Princeton crew coach, was looking around for an as-

sistant as Schoch got out of school, and, through George Pocock, internationally famous shell-builder, Dutch made the contact with Spuhn which resulted in his appoint ment as Assistant Coach. In this capacity he worked four years with Princeton’s varsity, freshmen, and 150-pound eights.

The war found him in the Navy, serving at Hawaii and the West Coast, first as ensign and later as lieutenant. Par ticipating in the Navy’s

Physical Training Program gave him new methods of conditioning to apply to his candidates at Princeton.

After being discharged, Dutch returned to take over the vacated Head Crew Coach slot in January 1946. Thirty-three years of age, Schoch was one of the youngest major sport coaches in the history of Princeton athletics. in his attempt to return crew to its pre-war status, Dutch found it necessary to upset Princeton rowing tradition. Since time immemorial the Tiger stroke had pulled his oar from the starboard side of the boat, while almost every other college in the country had adopted the port stroke. Thus, during the last years of the war, when lack of transportation forced the crew to use their op ponents port-stroke shells on away races, Princeton eights found themselves at a decided disadvantage. With typical Schoch energy Dutch shifted the stroke’s position from star board to port, a bigger job than most people realize, since the eight riggers (the iron bars supporting the oars) in each of twelve boats had to be unbolted, fitted, and readjusted.

“You guys look like the ‘46 crew, pretty as hell and slow as . . .”

Schoch in the crew launch is action incarnate. Wearing his Washington letter sweater, Dutch stands, sits, grins, and talks, nervously tapping his megaphone when he isn’t shout ing to the crews. For some two hours the eights labor up and down Lake Carnegie, stopping for correction at the com mand of the coach.A crew is like a chorus line; one off motion by any per former can stop

the show. Each man must “catch” the water, pull through, remove the oar from the water, recover, and slide forward to dip the oar again in perfect unison with his teammates. To effect this end, Dutch alternately croons and bellows to his crew, sometimes picturesque, always encouraging.

This strain on the vocal chords has worked; perhaps Schoch’s most satisfying experience here was when in the season of ’47, lying in a hospital bed in town with lung trouble, he received a call from Yale notifying him that his varsity, jayvees, and freshman boats had won all their races against Yale and Cornell on the Housatonic that after-noon. (continued)

COACHES


In this initial major sport victory over Yale in four long years, Dutch became the first coach in Princeton history to “sweep the river” against Yale and Cornell. A year later the Varsity smashed the all-time record for the mile-and-three- quarters distance on Lake Carnegie in a losing effort against Harvard.

That same June, the Tigers battled their way to the United States Olympic Tryout Final at Lake Carnegie, won by Cali fornia with Harvard runner-up. The Bears went on to bring the Olympic title to America that summer. In reaching the final heat, Princeton had shaded Yale in the first photo-finish race in rowing history.

“Move the BOAT, not the water.”’

Although Dutch spends most of his time at the boat house, where he works on the shells in the morning and coaches all afternoon, he does find time for some squash and tennis and, in Cuba, a lot of golf. He and his wife Jane put in a lot of time and work on the new Cooperative Nursery School, organized last year. He also somehow finds time to serve as a deacon of the First Presbyterian Church.

Dutch’s son, Frederick, is too young to appreciate crew (he has gone on to direct the Head of the Charles Regatta), but occasionally Sally, age five, has shown interest in the affairs of the boathouse (much to the distress of her father) in frequent unescorted visits to the locker room.

Questioned about his plans for the future, Dutch will settle his huge

frame back in a chair, fiddle with a match cover or cigarette, and with a broad grin tell you that his main objectives are an unde-feated season in the east, a vic tory at the Poughkeepsie Regatta (now held at Marietta, Ohio — in which we’ve never finished first), and the defeat of Harvard’s traditionally powerful eight. He holds that the competitions for football and crew are in direct relation. “The tougher the competition for football, the better it is for crew,” because more large athletes, their football ambi tions thwarted, will gravitate down to the boathouse. And experience is not necessarily a prerequisite — most coaches prefer a non-rower over an athlete who has mastered a dif ferent type of oarsmanship in school.

Always an unusually popular coach, for his devotion to the sport as well as for his achievements at Princeton, Dutch has been commended by a New ,Jersey sports writer for these reasons:

“For exemplifying the best that intercollegiate sport has to offer in the way of sportsmanship, tradition, and spirit; for inculcating in his squad a sense of values that will prove of inestimable worth to its members in the years ahead; for modestly shrugging off the accolades of well-wishers and giving credit where he feels credit is due.”

by Leftfield Thomas, The Nassau SovereignApril, 1950

“Dutch” (continued)

CREW COACHING LAUNCHdesigned by

Floyd P. AkersBay Head, N.J.

for Princeton University

1948

Gift ofJames H. Mason, IV MD

Class of 1943

June 5, 1993Model by James H. Mason, V


1947 HEAVYWEIGHT CREWS – 1

VARSITYCarnegie Cup

P.R.Brock ’49, H.N.Feist ’48, C.P.Hunter ’48, H.L.Dillon ’47, L.U.Park ’44, J.S.Meserole ’44, J.B.Ashmun ’45, C.Nevin ’46 (Stroke), C.C.Allen ’45 (Cox)

JUNIOR VARSITYJ.S.Cuniberti ’49, G.H.Dexter ’45, A.G.Velasco ’49, J.P.Shenfield ’46, R.E.Thompson ’46, R.B.O’Connor ’50, J.Northrop ’45, P.V.W.Gardner ’46 (Stroke), F.F.Rosenbaum ’48 (Cox)

VARSITY DEMONSTRATES

BRAINS AND BRAWN

Graduating Seniors Before Final Regatta in Seattle

J.Ashmun ’45, L.Park ’44, H.Feist ’48, C.Hunter ’48, J.Northrop ’45, G.Dexter ’45, J.Shenfield ’46


The varsity started its season by finishing more than a length in front of Penn in the time of 6:15 2/5, over the Henley distance. Increasing its stroke to 40 was just not enough to overcome Harvard in the Regatta held on the Charles. M.I.T. was three-quarters of a length behind the Tigers. Heavy winds made the varsity the slowest of the day, Harvard needed 10:11 3/5 minutes to win.

The Tiger crews made a clean sweep over Yale and Cornell at Derby, Conn., and they had to do it without the services of Coach Dutch Schoch, who was confined to the Infirmary and unable to be on hand. The varsity, rowing in a driving rain, covered the two mile distance in 10:04. Yale took an early lead, but the Tigers forged ahead to lead by a length and a quarter. Cornell challenged but Princeton held the lead and came in on top. Throughout the race Princeton maintained a steady 32-and 33-stroke beat.

Now not a single varsity crew in the East remained undefeated. In the race against Navy the Midshipmen took an early lead against Princeton and Rutgers and were never headed. Navy beat off every Princeton challenge to win by three-quarters of a length, with Rutgers five lengths behind.

Nearly 10,000 spectators gathered on the north side of Lake Carnegie near Kingston to watch 28 crews com-pete for the Eastern Championships over the 2000-meter Olympic distance. In the first heat the varsity jumped to an early lead with Navy, M.I.T, and Syracuse following. Twice the Middies made strong bids but each time the Tigers managed to stave off the challenge. With less than a quarter-mile to go Navy made its final bid and passed the Tigers just before the finish line to win by three feet. The first qualifying heat of the day produced the closest contest. Both Navy and Princeton were sprinting the final quarter-mile with Princeton slightly ahead. The Tiger jayvees were given first by two feet in 6:34 2/5. The finals were not too fortunate for the Tigers. Harvard and Penn proved to be too much for the jayvees, and after hold-ing the lead for the first quarter-mile they faded fast and came in third, more than three length behind the winning Crimson shell.

To end the season the Princeton crew went up to Poughkeepsie for the first post-war revival of the Regatta. Bob O’Conner was moved up to stroke but Princeton fin-ished fifth. Travelling across the country to make its first appearance on the West Coast, the Tigers tied for eighth place at the invitation race on Lake Washington at Seattle.

150 Pound Crew

The 150 pound crew started off its season with a win over Penn, both first and second boats winning. The time was 6:29. LaSalle College was then defeated in the race on Lake Carnegie. Penn was again defeated, this time on home ground. The varsity 150’s led Penn by 2/3 length, with Columbia more than 6 lengths behind. The same order of finish applied to the 150-pound jayvee event. The time for the varsity was 7:18.2, and for the jayvee, 7:32.

Racing against Harvard and Yale at Derby, Conn., the 150’s trailed Harvard by two feet to take second. The jayvee race was won handily. Up at Cambridge, Harvard’s undefeated 150’s regained the Joseph Wright Trophy by finishing a length and a half ahead of Princeton. The Can-tabs held an early lead to win in 6:54.2. Princeton was a length in front of Yale, followed by Penn, Cornell, M.I.T. and Columbia. The junior varsity lightweights ended their undefeated season by beating second place Yale by more than a length.

Freshman CrewThe freshmen lost their first race of the season to

Penn over the Henley distance of a mile and 5/16. In their next race the cubs came off much better, winning by a length over M.I.T., with Harvard third by three-quarters. As the water had smoothed down, the yearlings were able to make the best time of the day over the mile and three quarters course. The clock showed 9:38 3/5.

Up at Derby, Conn., the fast Tiger freshmen crew finished in the time of 10:05.2 to trim Yale and Cornell, while down on Lake Carnegie the frosh 150’s rushed to win over Columbia by the close margin of four feet, after having caught a crab at the quarter-mile mark. The next contest, with Rutgers, was never in doubt as the fresh-men outdistanced their opponents by eight lengths. In the Eastern Rowing Association Regatta on Lake Carnegie the freshmen ended the season by winning the final heat by a length in 6:18 1/5 with Navy beating Yale by a third of a length.

1948 BRIC-A-BRAC



1947 HEAVYWEIGHT CREWS – 2

FRESHMEN E.A.R.C.

CHAMPIONSClass of 1950

Navy, Yale, Harvard, Penn, MIT, Cornell, Rutgers, Columbia

G.L.Ohrstrom, J.G.Schaefer, H.F.Prioleau, W.F.Bernart, S.S.Halsey, R.D.S.Bryan, J.S.Williams, G.B.MacDonald, J.C.Maxwell (Cox)

LAIRD U. PARK ’44 CAPTAIN

1947 VARSITY VISITS

U.S.S.PRINCETONJune 27, 1947

Back Row: Shenfield, Brock, Northrup, Hunter, Park, Ashmun, O’ConnorFront Row: Gardner, Dillon, Feist, Dutch Schoch, Rathschmidt


SHELL CHRISTENINGS – 1

THE EARLY DAYS

CHRISTENING THE ‘OLD NASSAU’Connecticut River near Dartmouth, May 1937

CHRISTENING THE HEINIE LEH ’21 CHRISTENING THE W.A. RENTSCHLER ’25 / Coach Larry Gluckman & Henry A. Rentschler ’50, son of Walter A. Rentschler ’25 – Spring 1984

CHRISTENING THE CLASS OF 1924 / J.Paul Barringer, Rev. Canon David C. Trimble, Lunsford P. Yandell, C. Lee Austin, Coach Larry Gluckman

CHRISTENING THE ALFRED V.S. OLCOTT ’09 Coach Larry Gluckman, Mrs. Van Olcott, Van Olcott, Jr. ’44 – Spring 1985

LAUNCHING THE 1960 SEASON Mrs. Fordyce B. St. John and Mrs. Sally Prescott

CHRISTENING THE DAVID B. HINCHMAN, JR. ’61Alan MacKenzie ’61, John Bjorkholm ’61, Mr. & Mrs. David B. Hinchman ’28, James Todd ’61: Class Day – November 22, 1986CHRISTENING THE G.G.S.


1947-48 LIGHTWEIGHT CREWS

1947 VARSITYA.P.Morgan ’46, M.W.Huber ’49, A.J.Penfield ’49, B.P.Atterbury ’47, T.L.Faix ’47, M.A.deCamp ’49, D.F.Gebhard ’47, J.H.Steward ’48 (Capt.), J.P.Eiler ’47 (Cox)


UNDEFEATEDR.T.Whitlock, J.B.Wren, J.M.Hitzrot, C.E.Lawrence, H.A.Rentschler, J.M.Stone, W.W.Tomlinson, H.L.Bird (Stroke), N.T.Rogers (Cox)

1948 VARSITYWINNERS OF THAMES

CHALLENGE CUP IN 1948

Wood-Hammond CupA.P.Morgan ’46, C. McLain ’47, J.M.Hitzrot ’50, B.P.Atterbury ’47, C.D.Cole ’45, M.W. Huber ’49,R.Read ’50, J.M.Stone ’49, J.P.Eiler ’47 (Cox)

Documents

Rowing 113-174