THE POCOCK GENERATION perpendicular. He called it his ‘rumble-seat stroke.’”2227 As a point of comparison, Ulbrickson’s Washington crews and Bolles’ Harvard crews were following a similar timeline: Washington: 1936: +25° to -25°, 0-10, 0-10, 0-102228 1940: +25° to -15°, 0-10, 0-10, 0-102229 1949: +35° to -15°, 0-10, 0-10, 0-102230 Harvard: 1938: +25° to -10°, 0-10, 0-8, 0-102231 1950: +35° to 0°, 0-8, 0-8, 0-102232 1951: +35° to -5°, 0-10, 0-9, 0-102233 In 1948, The New York Times rowing correspondent Allison Danzig contrasted the Cal technique to that of that year’s Cambridge University crew: “The Bears put a tremendous wallop into their stroke, on which they reach out long, catch hard and coordinate their early arm pull beautifully with their leg drive. “They are a straight-backed crew, while the British employ longer layback, though not so long as they customarily have in the past.”2234 1948 Olympics With the Thames choked with traffic and winding back and forth through London, the Olympic organizers chose to hold the rowing competition over a slightly modified three lane straightaway venue at Henley. The New York Times: “The course is an unusually attractive one, lined with weeping willows, beeches and poplars, and is straight 2227 Gladstone, personal conversation, 2005 2228 Scott 2229 www.BrisishPathé.com, 999-62 2230 Life Magazine, June 20, 1949 2231 www.BrisishPathé.com, 959-15, 969-22 2232 www.BrisishPathé.com, 1476-16, 2310-10 2233 www.BrisishPathé.com, 1449-10 2234 Allison Danzig, California Eight and Washington Four Annex Olympic Rowing Titles For U.S., The New York Times, August 10, 1948 IOC 1948 Olympic Games, London for its entire length. Stands and marquees in the enclosure near the finish line and the big tents which served as shell houses added to the picturesqueness of the scene. “The exact distance could not be determined. One coach said it was 1,870 meters. Another put the length at 1,930.2235 The Olympic distance is 2,000 meters, but because of the fact that it is impossible for three crews to row the course past Temple Island, the length of the race course had to be shortened.”2236 2235 The Italians thought it was 1,883 meters, per Centovent’anni, p. 120. Ebright believed in was 1,923 meters, per Ky Ebright, California in the Olympics, NAAO Official Rowing Guide 1949, p. 21 2236 Danzig, op. cit. 617
