THE SPORT OF ROWING Thomas E. Weil Collection 1947 Lake Washington Regatta 1 Harvard 5:49.0, 2 Yale 5:51.8, 3 Washington Freshmen 5:51.9 4 Syracuse, 5 Cornell, 6 California, 7 Wisconsin, 8 MIT and Princeton, 10 Pennsylvania, 11 Columbia, 12 UCLA Cornell, including Charles von Wrangell, won in 1946,2273 and Harvard, stroked by Frank Cunningham, won the following year.2274 The New York Times: “A great Harvard crew with a delayed but devastating punch of a world champion boxer rowed to victory today in the second annual Lake Washington Regatta in 5 minutes, 49 seconds, said by regatta officials to be the fastest time ever recorded for 2,000 meters. “The crews got away smoothly after one jump of the gun by the Washington Cubs.2275 On the official start, Washington, the light Penn crew and Cornell’s defending champions jumped into the lead, but Yale moved up to take command immediately. 2273 See Chapter 70. 2274 with Yale second and the Washington freshmen, with Warren Westlund and Rod Johnson in the stern-pair, in third. 2275 stroked by Warren Westlund. See Chapter 61. “The bobbing Bulldogs of Yale, with their high beat, jumping-jack stroke, stuck to the front for three-quarters of the distance. They were first by half a length at the 500- meter mark, with Washington, Penn, Princeton and Cornell trailing in that order. At the midway mark, Harvard had moved up to second place, and Washington and Cornell were fighting for third. “There it was that little Al Petite, the Crimson coxswain, called for power and found his eight oarsmen had it – with plenty to spare. They overhauled Yale like a long- striding man walking past a brick building, and they won with plenty of bow for the finish-line judges to see. “Less than a length behind was the high- stroking Yale Eight, [and] less than six feet behind Yale was the University of Washington’s galley-load of freshmen. “The first three places were easy for the judges, [but] so close was the rest of the field that the judges withheld their decision until they could view motion pictures. 628
