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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1897)
Votume VI. No. 28. NEW HAVEN, CONN., THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1897. THE CHANGE IN THE CREW. And the Facts that Led to It—Lang- ford as Stroke. About the middle of last week J. H. Simpson, 97, stroke of the University eight, expressed to his Captain, Mr. Bailey, his doubts that he could further effectively fill the position which he held in the boat. The reasons which moved him found their way into print through a misunderstanding, and con- trary to Mr. Simpson’s intentions. Some of the facts which induced him to retire have been widely circulated, together with a good many things which aren’t facts. After talking with those who have the best opportunities to judge, and with Mr. Simpson himself, one can not conclude otherwise than that this step was taken with the most loyal regard for what he believed to be to the inter- est of the Crew and with the sincere be- lief that under the conditions existing, the eight would be better without him. Itis also very clear that the relations between Mr. Simpson, his Captain, Mr. Bailey, and his coach, Mr. Cook, are of the most cordial and frank nature. Mr. Simpson’s view of the situation, when, last week, he was moved to con- sider the unusual step of retiring from the Crew, wassomewhatas follows: For several weeks, as he saw it, the Crew had been going backwards, instead of forwards. Instead of the long, strong swing of the early training on the Har- © bor and the speed which easily disposed of the fast Freshman eight, in trial spins, the crew was, as he saw it, pull- ing a ragged short stroke, unsettled in form, frequently changing in detail. The rate of retrogression was indicated ‘by frequent defeats by the Freshmen eight in pulls of about a mile in length. Although it was within two months of the time of the-great race, he could not satisfy himself that distinct principles of rowing had been established, and he found himself unable to follow with any success the different stages of the training which seemed to him to be wholly experimental. Then Simpson went to his Captain and talked it all over with him, and asked him whether under those condi- tions he, Captain Bailey, thought it was best that he, Simpson, should ‘stay in the boat. Mr. Bailey asked him to take plenty of time to consider it and decis- ion was postponed fora day or more but without any effect in changing the mind of Simpson. Finally with the con- sent and advice of Mr. Bailey himself, and believing that he was doing the best thing that he could, he gave up his position. This unusual act has started a good many different reports. One is that an English coach may be called over, a man being named, who had expressed his interest in the Yale eight while they were at Henley, and intimated, it is said, his willingness to help polish it off for this race with Mr. Lehman’s pupils and the Cornell eight. that Mr. Cook would retire from coach- ing. There is nothing to confirm either of these reports here. No English coach has been sent for, nor has the step been seriously contemplated. As faras Mr. Cook is concerned, he and Mr. Bailey are in perfect harmony, and Yale’s best known coach has not the slightest idea of leaving the Crew, While the College has undoubtedly been disturbed by the condition of the crew, it realizes that there area good many causes for the poor work which has recently been done. The change to the shell, always a disturbing time has Another story was. been followed by the introduction of two Freshmen, enough in itself to con- siderably disarrange the form of any crew. Accompanying this, there has been extremely bad weather, while as an incident in the generally unsettled condition, it may be mentioned that Mr. Rogers, who has been doing good work at bow, has had to retire for prac- tically all of last week on account of a slight attack of malaria. The change of stroke oar was also another dis- turbing feature, although the form of the crew has rallied from that. It is due to truth to say that Mr. Cook and Mr. Bailey are confident that the crew is working on the very best princi- ple of rowing. They are following the system which they have mapped out, and are not despondent about the future. They expect rapid: improvement from now on. It is certain that Mr. Lang- ford has fitted very well into his old position at stroke and the feeling is more hopeful, generally. Mr. Cook is not disturbed by Mr. Simpson’s with- drawal. He says that one or two par- ticular points in the stroke as now rowed have not been clear to Simpson and that this has confused and dis- couraged him. Mr. Simpson’s withdrawal was on Friday. On Saturday Mr. Langford, who stroked the crew at Henley, was moved from his position as starboard stroke to Simpson’s place. At first that day the crew was beaten in a mile spin with the Freshmen. Later in the after- noon they pulled themselves together and defeated the Freshmenin a distance slightly less than a mile, the Freshmen rowing in a much heavier boat. - The crew had coaching both morning and afternoon by Mr. Cook during the Easter recess. They are now rowing in the following order: Stroke, Langford ; 7, Griswold; 6, Allen; 5, Bailey; 4, Greenway ; 3, Campbell; 2, Whitney ; 1, Rogers. One afternoon last week, at the Boat House, Mr. Langford was slightly in- jured in the shoulder while aiding in lifting the boat. He has not, however, been obliged to leave the boat for a sin- gle day. Mr. Simpson was Captain of his Fresh- man Crew, substitute the next year on the University and bow oar of the Hen- ley eight. —+0—__—__ The Yale-Princeton Debate. The annual Yale-Princeton debate will be held in the College Street Hall, ‘New Haven, on Friday evening, May 7, at 7 o’clock. The Yale Union desires that as many of the Alumni as possible be present, and will be pleased to re- serve seats for them before the general sale begins on Monday morning, May 3. All orders for seats should be di- rected to R. E. Hume, 260 Lawrance | Hall. The seats are 50 cents. The subject for the debate is: ‘“‘Re- solved, That the power of the Speaker of the United States House of Repre- sentatives is detrimental to the public interest.’’ Yale will support the affirm- ative. Her representatives are: E. H. Hume, 97; A. EB. Frazer, ’°98 T. S., and H. W. Fisher, ’98; with C. L. Avery, ’97 i: S:, and E. -L. -Smith, 79/7, as alter nates. Princeton will be represented by R. Ff. Sterling, N. S. Reeves and H. H. Yocum; with Ivy Lee as alternate. Each debater will be allowed twelve — minutes for his opening speech and five minutes for rebuttal. The following men are to be the judges: Hon. Car- roll Wright, Commissioner of Labor; Fion. Josiah Quincy, Mayor of Boston, and Mr. George E. Waring, Commis- sioner of Street Cleaning, of New York City. The Yale men thus far have been working in general lines, and the out- look is very promising. There have been a number of preliminary debates. Professor Hadley and Dr. Raynolds have been present at some of these pre- liminary practices and have criticised the speakers. ' - dating back to 1650. Price Tren Cents. PROFESSOR J. WILLARD GIBBS. (From a Photograph by Pach.) 7 HE SHEFF. COURSE, Official Statement as to Professor Williams’? Paper. To the Editor of the Yale Alumni Weekly, Sir:— — ; The publication, and wide-spread cir- culation in the Yale Alumni Weekly for April 8, 1897, of the address deliv- ered by Professor Henry S. Williams . before the Sigma Xi Society on a “‘Four- Year Course in the Scientific School,”’ seemingly carrying with it the weight of official authority, forces the Govern- ing Board of the Scientific School to make an equally public disavowal of. any Official sanction of the views there- in expressed. They would call attention to the fact that Professor Williams is in no man- ner connected with the Governing body of the Sheffield Scientific School and that his utterances on the subject above referred to are not to be considered as in any way representing the sentiments of the Governing Board. GEORGE J. BRUSH, Director of Sheffield Scientific School. R. H. CHITTENDEN, Secretary of the Governing Board. oe ON Valuable Gift to Library. Mr. Robert C. Winthrop of Boston : has presented to the University Library an exceedingly valuable collection of autographs and documents. The col- lection consists of sixty-six letters, many of them never before printed, and Among the let- ters are those written by Roger Wiil- liams, Cotton Mather, John Smith, Governors Yale, Eaton, Hooker and many other noted men of that time. The collection is bound together and will be shown to any one interested in such matters. . New York Concert. The annual New York concert of the Yale Glee and Banjo clubs will be held in Carnegie Hall on Friday evening, April 30, the proceeds being devoted to the training expenses of the Univer- sity crew. Tickets may be obtained from J. Sanford Barnes, Jr., 32 Nassau Street, New York City, and also at the Manhattan and Windsor Hotels, and at Carnegie Hall. The following graduates will have charge of the concert: Henry E. How- land, 54; George A. Adee, 67; W. W. Skiddy, °65S.; William A, Copp, ’69; Thomas Thacher, ’71; Otto T. Bannard, "76: Samuel R. Betts, ’75; H. S. Brooks, 86; George G. Haven, Jr., 87; A. Hen- ry Mosle, ’89; George S. Brewster, ’91; J. Sanford Barnes, Jr., ’91; Pierre Jay, 92, and William A, Delano, 795. New Tennis Cup Offered. The Tennis Association of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania has offered a cup to be competed for annually by the Colleges comprising the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. This cup will be in no way inferior to the old cup, and will become the property of the Col- lege, which is the first to score seven points, singles and doubles to count one point each. The cup is offered on > the condition that the annual intercol- legiate tournament be held in Philadel- phia. The increased interest in tennis, the enlarged gate receipts and the fact that little interest has been taken in the tournaments here are considered good reasons for accepting Pennsyl- vania’s offer. It is also thought that a number of Southern and Western Colleges would join the association if the tournaments were held in Phila- delphia. A vote of the Colleges in the association will be taken at once on Pennsylvania’s offer.
