THE POCOCK GENERATION “We were in England fourteen days before the races started and took [a] hard double workout every day but one. On that day, all participated in the opening ceremony at Wembley Stadium, so we could work only once.”2238 Preliminaries On the first day of heats, the Bears began quickly. The New York Times: “The University of California’s husky Eight clocked the fastest time of the day up the abbreviated 1,900-meter course, winning against Yugoslavia and France in 5:59.1.”2239 Ebright: “Our first race was against the Jugoslavs and the French. The latter were not a strong entry, but the Jugoslavs were big, raw-boned and tough looking. Going away from the mark, the French fell back immediately. The Jugoslavs held the lead for several hundred meters. When they did fall back, they fell back fast, finishing nearly five lengths back and not far ahead of the French. Times: USA 5:59.1, Jugoslavia 6:16.2, France 6:18.1.”2240 The New York Times: “Coach Ky Ebright was pleased with the United States’ beginnings. ‘The eight rowed a slower race than I expected,’ he said, ‘but the boys had a good spurt at the finish.’ “The eight, which hit 31 to Ebright’s scheduled 33, served notice with their time that they will be hard to beat for the Olympic title, held by the United States since 1920.2241 Ebright: “Britain, Italy and Canada also won their heats, thus qualifying for the semi- final, and the next day Switzerland, Portugal 2238 Ky Ebright, California in the Olympics, NAAO Official Rowing Guide 1949, pp. 21-2 2239 U.S. Crews Excel in Thames Heats, The New York Times, August 6, 1948 2240 Ebright op. cit., p. 22 2241 U.S. Crews Excel in Thames Heats, The New York Times, August 6, 1948 and Norway gained re-entry through the repêchages. Our semi-final opponents were Italy and Switzerland. Italy was known to be good as they had won the European Championship the year before and had made the second fastest time the first day [6:03.8]. They were muscular and rangy and had a lot of life. “In each of our races we bucked the current in the midstream lane, and in each race our strongest opponent was in the most protected lane under the windward bank. The day [of the semi-final] was a stormy one with the wind directly against the race. “We were concerned as to what might happen with the strong Italians in the protected lane, but the slow race was apparently not to their liking, so it was pretty much the same story as before. They took the lead and held it nearly half way. There they faltered and dropped back to finish four lengths behind with the Swiss another two lengths back. Times: USA 6:36.5, Italy 6:52.1, Switzerland 7:03.0.”2242 To give you some idea of the dominance of the Cal Crew, the boat they beat so convincingly in the semis, Canottieri Varese from the village of Schiranna in the lake district north of Milan, would go on to successfully defend their 1947 European eights title in 1949 and 1950. They were so dominant that the French sports daily, L’Equipe, questioned their amateur status. They stoutly defended themselves by pointing out they were all full-time employees of businesses around Varese.2243 They were not the only Italian crew made up of artisans at Henley that year. As will be discussed in Chapter 75, a boat made up of workers at the Moto Guzzi motorcycle factory about 50 kilometers to the east of Varese was on its way to winning 2242 Ebright, op. cit. 2243 www.conottierivarese.it 619
