AMERICAN ROWING COMES OF AGE with their four-oared shell, which had the critical positions – bow and stroke – filled with two men, E.E. Sage and J.T. Goodwin, the equals of whom were not to be found in college rowing of the period. “Every member of the Columbia Four had been in at least one important race, and they were well qualified to be the first college representatives of America at Henley. “George Rives, who had rowed at Cambridge, and R.C. Cornell, a member of the [RAAC] winning ‘74 crew, looked after the coaching. At Henley, “their style had the sharp criticism of the English press. Of their stroke, the Pall Mall Gazette said, ‘They keep their backs straight, but their swing has a wooden appearance; they hang at both ends of the stroke – on the recovery when their hands touch the chest, and again when a full reach forward.’”1247 Their technique would have been at odds with English Orthodoxy as it relied on “high strokes, with considerable leg and arm work and not much swing,”1248 in other words, long American slides, emphasis of leg drive over body swing, and ending in a ferryman’s finish. At Henley in 1878 in the Visitor’s Cup, open to college fours, the entries were Columbia University from the United States, Oxford’s University College and Hertford College, and Cambridge’s 1247 Crowther, p. 62 1248 Ibid, p. 68 Trinity College, Lady Margaret Boat Club as well as Jesus College, the defending champions. Crowther: “At the time, the Henley Stewards had three crews in each heat instead of two as at the present day. Crowther Columbia College Coxless-Four 1878 Visitor’s Cup Champion, Henley (above) Spare Charles Eldridge, Bow E.E. Sage 5’ll” 180cm 170lb. 77kg, 2 Cyrus Edson 161lb. 73kg, Stroke J.T. Goodwin 5’10½” 179cm 153lb. 69kg, (below) 3 H.G. Ridabock 170lb. 77kg 333
