THE CORNELL CREW OF ‘7.
A Very Unusual History.— How the
Veterans were Supplanted.
Poughkeepsie, June 19, 1897. The his-
tory of the Cornell crew this year fur-
nishes a striking illustration of the
uncertainties of rowing. At the begin-
ning of the season every man who
rowed on last year’s victorious eight
presented himself at the crew room in
the University Gymnasium and an-
nounced that he intended the man who
should win his seat in the boat from
him should work for his position. As
long as the practice was confined to
work on the rowing machines every
one felt that the crew should make a
strong fight again at Poughkeepsie.
They rowed in almost as good form as
at the end of last season, and there
seemed to be an abundance of power.
ee er ——
CHARLES E,. COURTNEY.
Coach of Cornell.
Alongside of them, at another set of
machines, was last year’s Freshman
Crew, all back except one. Many an ex-
citing race was rowed (in imagination),
as the crews swung back and forth at
the machines, side by side, but. one
was inclined to feel sorry for the ’99
men. There seemed not the slightest
chance for one of them to make the
University boat; but they were faith-
ful in their practice, and seemed in no
way discouraged by the poor pros-
pects of their rowing at Poughkeepsie.
Thus it went until April 12, when the
crews were able to take to the boats.
It soon appeared that the ’99 boat
moved as fast as that manned by the
older men. This in itself was surpris-
ing, but in a wek or two the so-called
Y Adie ALU MNT
second crew had improved so much
more rapidly than the University crew
that they defeated the veterans quite
handily every time a race was ar-
ranged. The expected improvement in
the University’s speed did not come.
Their form remained all that one could
ask, but the lack of power was painful-
ly manifest. The Sophomore crew not
only defeated them in every one of the
two-mile races that they rowed, but
the defeats became worse week by
week. The youngsters were preparing
for their two-mile race with Annapo-
lis on May 15, and were not sent for a
longer distance. They won their race
handily in rough water and slow time.
After their return they were tried
against the University for three miles.
They demonstrated in no uncertain
fashion that theirs was not only the
ability to sprint for two miles; they
defeated the University so badly over
the longer course that all doubt as to
their superiority vanished instantly.
The positions of the crews was exactly
reversed. The question was no longer
whether any of the Annapolis crew
would secure a seat in the University
boat, but whether any of last year’s
crew would be able to win his seat
from any of the ’Ninety-nine men.
There were rumors, too, that the rap-
id improvement in the Sophomore boat
had been only apparent, that the fact
was that there had been slack training
on the part of some men in the Uni-
versity boat, and that the difference
between the two boats was due to their
deterioration rather than to improve-
ment on the part of the Sophomores.
THE SHAKE-UP.
Whatever the cause, there was evi-
dently no use in waiting longer for the
older men to improve. .On June 1 they
were informed that only one of their
number, Savage, would be retained at
training table. The whole University
was startled at this tremendous ‘‘shake-
up,’ but every one felt that there was
nothing else to do. ‘Afterward Briggs
and Spillman were taken back, and
when Moore returned from the civil
engineering camp at Otisco Lake he
had evidently trained with such care
that he was allowed to take up his
work where he had left.it when the
Faculty had refused to excuse him
from the regular field work of the en-
gineers.
The discarded men, without except-
ion, admitted the justice of what had
been done, and most of them continued
to apear at the boathouse, saying in the»
best of spirit, “If we cannot row our-
selves we can at least help make the
other fellows row.’”’ So a pacing crew
was made up and relay races began
between the ’Ninety-nine crew, rein-
forced by Savage and Bentley (one of
the Henley substitutes) and the old
University, and Freshman, relieving
each other. The ‘Ninety-nine crew
continued to fmprove and demonstrated
that they were good for three miles, at
least.
None of the men could leave Ithaca
it marks the resumption
WeEeKRLY
HARVARD UNIVERSITY CREW.
The Oars Are Just Coming Back.
(From a Photograph at Poughkeepsie, June 17.)
until June 16, Commencement Day,
and their practice on the Hudson has
been therefore limited.
It seems not yet altogether certain
at the time of writing, who will stroke
the crew on the day of the race. Hith-
er Carter, the stroke of the Annapolis
crew, or Briggs of last year’s Univer-
sity, would be a good man and they
are relieving each other in the prac-
tice. There seems to be some difference
of stroke between last year’s crew and
the ’99 men, which may result in Cart-
er’s pulling No. 8 on Friday.
The men have the same quarters
that they occupied last year, the ‘‘old
Hicks Place,’? on the summit of Pros-
pect Hill in Poughkeepsie, about a
mile below the bridge. They are in
good spirits and hope to make a good
showing, whoever wins. Their boat-
house is abreast their quarters on the
east shore below the city.
This year’s University race between
Harvard, Cornell and Yale is fraught
with especial interest for two reasons;
of rowing
contests between Yale and Harvard
and it will be the first time that Yale
and Cornell have met: on the water in
twenty-two years. Harvard and Cor-
nell rowed at Poughkeepsie last year
in company with Columbia and Penn-
sylvania, but Cornell has not rowed
CORNELL UNIVERSITY. CRE VV:
Oars Have Just Entered. Part of Freshman Crew in Foreground at Finish of Stroke.
(From Photograph at Ithaca, June 14.)
race.
against Yale since 1875 at Saratoga, in
the races of the old Intercollegiate As-
sociation. Cornell won that race, as
indeed she had won the Freshman
race the day before. There were thir-
teen starters, however and Yale felt
that such a number was unwieldy and
undesirable. Accordingly Yale with-
drew from the Association and in 1876
Harvard followed her example, after
being defeated by both Yale and Cor-
nell. Cornell-was unable to gain ad-
mittance to the subsequent races be-
tween Yale and Harvard.
CORNELL’S RECORD.
Cornell holds the American Inter-
collegiate records for four miles, for
three miles and for one and a half
miles, all in eights: Since the Inter-
collegiate Association ceased to exist,
Cornell has rowed with Pennsylvania,
Columbia and Harvard. Since 1883
the Cornell crews have used the much-—
talked-about ‘‘Courtney stroke,” a
purely American production, according
to some authorities. Anyone who has
ever watched it knows that there is
nothing mysterious or new about it.
When the oars drop into the water,
to begin the stroke, the seat is forward
on its slide as far as it can go, the
arms straight out, the knees’ bent
sharply but not spread and the back
straight. A quick sharp catch to grip
the water well in the oar-blade and
‘the shoulders start back, at the same
time the legs begin to straighten and
the seat runs back. The arms are not
bent until the legs are straight. Then,
the body well back, the hands are
brought into the oarsman’s lap, drop-
ped, to take the blade out of the wat-
er turned quickly to turn the blade
flat, and shot out straight immediate-
ly. The seat comes back quickly as
the body bends forward at the hips
but slows up as it nears the end of the
slide so that there is no jar to stop
the boat between strokes.
Cornell has two University crews
here at Poughkeepsie besides the
Freshman crew. The pictures show
the men who will probably row in the
They are as follows:
Ages. Height Wt.
Bow—Samuel W. Wake-
man, ’99, E. E., Bridge-
port: “ont. ee 6 165
2—Wilton Bentley, ’98, E.
Bao Flivanna NN: Yac.. 20 5-11 158
8—Ciarence S. Moore, ’98,
C:- BW. Olean, NYY ..;...... 20 55-10%. 165
h Aa? Oo Jeans 09, ee Peg
Trumansburg, N. Y.¢..... 20 6 168
5—-Mark M. Odell, ’97, Let-
ters, Baldwinsville, N. Y. 25 5-11 162
6é—Charles M. Oddie, ’99,
M. E., East Orange, N.J.. 20 6-144 168
{—Kdward J. Savage, ’98,
Optional, New Haven,
OORI 2 ae eta ree ene 22 5-116 148
Stroke—Emment B. Carter,
99 M. E., Owego, N.Y.... 21 5-10% 148
Coxswain — Frederick OD.
Colson, ’97, Letters, Buf-
fale. 2Ne Os ae soa a ass 21 5-6 106
Substitutes :—
Frederick <A. Briggs, ’98,
Letters, Waterloo, Can-
Coe Bie ec egmec ing ee ee 134
William CG. Dalzell, Jr., 99;
Cc. E., South Egremont,
NEGA es i See Peg 19 5-11 160
Theodore Tu. Bailey, ’99,
Phil., New York City..... 20 6 --~ {6S
William B. Stamford, ’99,
I. E., Grand View, N. ¥. 19° 5-10 ~~ 150
Age. Height. Wi.
Ss ie cece Sees te ae 4
E. — As
Averages
