THE POCOCK GENERATION Cornell, the defending champion, appeared to be fourth, and Wisconsin was close, but an accurate selection was not possible. “Unofficial estimates placed the crowd at 110,000. “Harvard’s stroke, Frank Cunning- ham, set the beat at 35 strokes per minute after the first 25 digs of the oars. For the next minute the Crimson dropped to 33, then moved back up to 35, hit the 1,000-meter mark and kicked it up to 37. There was plenty of power still in those big shoulders, and when Cunningham raised it again, all were ready, and he said they were hitting 40 as they rammed down on the finish line. “The Washington freshmen never matched the stroke speed of either Yale – which was somewhere in the astronomical 40s – or Harvard, going most of the way at 34 and lifting to 36 in the last drive to the finish.”2276 The Crimson and the Big Red met three times in 1948. In The New York Times on July 2nd of that year, correspondent Allison Danzig reported that Harvard entered the Olympic Trials undefeated . . . except for Cornell. The New York Times, describing the second semi-final of the 1948 Olympic Trials after Cornell had beaten Harvard in the opening heats: “Twice before today, Harvard and Cornell had matched sweeps this year, and each time Stork Sanford’s eight had come home first. On the Charles early in the season, the Big Red won by half a length. Last Wednesday, in the opening heats here, Cornell again prevailed, but only by nine-tenths of a second. “Today Harvard jumped Cornell with an extremely fast start, and there was never any catching the Crimson as it rowed away to win by almost a full length. 2276 Harvard Oarsmen Make Great Finish to Win at Seattle, The New York Times, June 29, 1947 “Tommy Bolles’ New London champ- ions were in no mood for anything but victory this peaceful afternoon of perfect water conditions. No nemesis could blight their confidence. The fact that Harvard had lost to Cornell in nine of their fifteen meetings during the stewardship of Bolles and Sanford only whetted their appetite to avenge Wednesday’s reversal.”2277 Von Wrangell was also counting races: “Cornell met Harvard in nine races in my three post-war years, and we beat them in six of the nine times. They and we were very closely matched. Those races were really rewarding. “Immediately after each race, the two coaches, Bolles and Sanford, would have their launches brought close to the other coach’s crew first, and they’d have a sincere, kind word for them before going to their own crews.”2278 At the 1948 Olympic Trials, Cornell set the course record beating Harvard in its heat but was eliminated by Harvard in their semi- final. Harvard then lost to California in the Trials final.2279 In 1950, Harvard competed in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley, where their “sitting-up” style was called by “bankside sages,” “all arms and legs,”2280 which, of course, meant not enough back swing. They rowed in a Pocock shell named Robert F. Herrick after the coach of the first two Harvard Henley victories in 19142281 and 1939.2282 2277 Allison Danzig, California Upsets Washington Eight, The New York Times, July 3, 1948 2278 von Wrangell, op.cit. 2279 See Chapter 60. 2280 Qtd. by Dodd, Henley, p. 151 2281 See Chapter 43. 2282 Dodd, op. cit. 629
