AMERICAN ROWING COMES OF AGE 37. Ellis Ward Goes to Henley 1901 Grand Challenge Cup Ward’s crews dominated the IRA from 1898 through 1900. The Sunday Bulletin, Philadelphia: “The winter following Penn’s third straight at Poughkeepsie, it was decided to compete in the Henley. “Five of the 1901 Eight were holdovers from the 1900 crew which took the Poughkeepsie title race, which was Penn’s third successive conquest on the Hudson. Two of the five rowed in all three championships. Two others pulled oars in two of the Poughkeepsie classics. “Stroke of all three championship crews was John P. Gardiner, who in the twilight years of an old century and the dawn of a new one, was rated as one of America’s best oarsmen. “In 1901, his younger “To keep his athletes in condition during the crossing, Ward took his rowing machines along and set them up on the deck of the liner Wäsland.”1390 Crowther: “The managers wisely chose an inn on Remenham Hill, about a mile from the river, for their quarters, and thus escaped the enervating valley which had so affected Cornell and Yale. The crew went into regatta week in most excellent condition.”1391 The British were very University of Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Athletics On the SS Wäsland, 1901 brother, William G. Gardiner, rowed back of him at No. 7. Bill Gardiner later captained the football team. “The University made careful plans to develop the oarsmen especially for this race. Through most of the winter and spring, Coach Ellis Ward trained his boatmen indoors or on the river daily. Ward’s task was to convert his four-mile champs into sprinters for the Henley distance, and it was apparent that the change-over was complete when the Penns beat Navy in a trial race before leaving for the Thames. interested in the Penn equipment, The Field reporting: “They have brought two paper boats with them, fitted with seats which slide up a slight gradient and are fixed down the centre of the craft. Swivel rowlocks are used, and the oars are rather short and heavy, with small handles and very broad blades.”1392 Since Ward’s college students were not as strong or as well trained as professional rowers such as himself had been, and since long mileage was impossible on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, there being only three miles of clear water above Boathouse Row, Ward coached for high ratings. “Where they had rowed 33 and 34 1390 Pollock, Ed, Travel Times Changed Since 1901 Henley – But Not Rowing Times, The Sunday Bulletin, Philadelphia, June 26, 1955 1391 Crowther, p. 132 1392 Qtd. by Dodd, Henley, p. 88 371
