THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICAN ROWING which crew would be on the stroke at the time they hit the line. “As the gun went off at John B. Kelly III 1931: the two Penn A.C. crews approaching the finish although it was hard to tell when a crew was sprinting, as they were both up to the limit all the time. “Finally they came out from under the trolley bridge [c. 600 meters gone] bow-to- bow, even to the inch, and here something started which I have never seen before in all my experience. These crews happened to be rowing the same stroke [rate] and were in stroke [i.e., in synch], and the same run on their boats developed so that there was never six inches difference in the bows of the boats from the trolley bridge to the head of the island [400 meters to go]. “Here McNichol, stroking the Big Eight, raised his beat a little and rowed out in front of the new eight by about three feet, but English, the stroke of the new eight, was not to be denied, and he raised the stroke and they were even again at the middle of the island with an eighth of a mile to row. “The coxswains were urging their crews for every ounce of strength, and the two crews were straining as hard as any men who ever rowed a race. “Again they were even, rowing about 42 strokes per minute, and by this time they were just out of stroke with each other. Eve- ry time one eight would take a stroke, they would move ahead a couple of feet, then immediately be passed by the other crew when they took their stroke. So finally it developed that it was just a question of the finish, the Big Eight had just finished their stroke, and the new eight was coming up for theirs, and the former flashed over the line by about a one foot margin. Both crews were badly used up at the finish, but they showed the remarkable time of 5:49. True, conditions were fast, but the wind had died down, and the river was very calm. “The last Olympic race, under similar conditions, was won in 6:03.1958”1959 The Penn A.C. in 1932 The 1932 Olympic rowing was sched- uled to be held in Long Beach, just south of Los Angeles, California. The Olympic Small-Boat Trials in Philadelphia in early July were combined with the Nationals and Peoples Regattas a week before the separate Trials for the Olympic Eights in Worcester. The first of the Olympic events contest- ed was the coxed-fours, with four boats qualifying for the final. The Penn A.C. crew was Ed Marshall in bow, Charles Drued- ing 2, Harry Grossmiller 3, and Frank English stroking. All four had been in the Second Eight in 1931. Coxswain was 1930 Big Eight European Champion Tommy Mack. The Penn A.C. was in Lane 1, on the western side of the course.1960 Lane 2 was 1958 Cal won the 1928 Olympics in 6:03.2, but the Schuylkill River course with its following current is notorious for fast times. 1959 Qtd, by Sweeney 1960 During the 1970s, the lanes in Philadelphia were renumbered to put Lane 1 closest to the eastern shore and Lane 6 next to Peter’s Island. 529
