THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICAN ROWING “Eliot Farley of Harvard came alongside in his referee’s launch to give final instruc- tions, and both coxswains, Norris Graham and George Loveless, did a fine job of pick- ing up their stakeboats in the quartering wind. “With a minimum of delay the gun of Farley had spoken, and they went away. “Rowing 22 and 42 in the first mi- nute,1969 California matched the 21 and 42 in the Penn A.C. boat and got a jump, a good one. “But it didn’t last long. The club oars- men came down nicely from that fast first minute and moved up alongside to join bat- tle. “It was impossible to detect any differ- ence between them at the first quarter-mile. Then, between there and the half, California did some rowing that had a great deal to do with the final victory. With both rowing at 37, the Westerners seemed to be working easier, and they began to gain. “Halfway down the course, the West- erners went out to a lead, very nearly half a length. They hung to that as the crowded banks of the finish loomed into sight. For a few split seconds it appeared the race was over, for the Californians apparently had plenty left. But the Philadelphians had other ideas. “Off Regatta Point, where the biggest part of the crowd stood and let go with its cheers for California, John (Babe) McNichol, dark spectacles hiding his eyes, began his final spurt. “As smoothly and powerfully as a big car thrown into second gear, this great Penn A.C. Eight began coming. McNichol asked for a 39 from the crew which had been row- ing 37 over every inch of the way. “And he received his answer. “Inch by inch, the California lead was cut away, and then, right abaft a yellow buoy a hundred yards from the finish, the nose of the club shell poked out in front. “For one or two strokes it continued to gain until it seemed there was almost six feet of lead. “But then it stopped. “Here, off Regatta Point, came the start of that thrilling last struggle. Here it was that the Penn A.C. oarsmen, all of them from the veteran Charlie McIlvaine in the bow, down through Tom Curran, Jack Brat- ten, Joe Dougherty, Lat Lawrence, Emanuel McGreal, Dan Barrow and McNichol to Loveless in the stern, wrote their names high in the records of rowing. “Little Norris Graham, a great coxswain if there ever was one, banged hard with his rope handles on the sides of the California shell. Ed Salisbury, his face set in a grim mask, began sending up the beat. “Faster and faster it went, and back came the California shell. There was no stopping it now. “This was the final, complete answer to the slogan that had hung so long on the boathouse wall back home. California’s crew was coming home to California’s Olympics. “Up to 38, to 40 and to 42 went the beat, and the boys behind Salisbury – 7-man Jimmy Blair, Duncan Gregg, David Dunlap, Burt Jastram, Charles Chandler, Harold Tower and Winslow Hall – stayed right with him. “At the finish they had gone on steadily and relentlessly. This was not a finish de- cided by one or two strokes. California def- initely went on by to its slim but very im- portant margin as the finish gun banged. [my emphasis] 1969 This means 22 total strokes during the first 30 seconds and 42 total during the first minute. 535
