THE SUNSET OF CONIBEAR 90. The End of an Era in Olympic Rowing Lou Lindsey at Annapolis – The 1960 Olympics Entering the Olympic year of 1960, there was a sense of emptiness and loss in American collegiate rowing. In a quirk of fate, three of America’s greatest crew coaches, Ky Ebright, Al Ulbrickson and Rusty Callow, all life-long friends, all University of Washington grads, retired virtually simultaneously. Between them, they had guided the United States to five of its eight Olympic Eights Gold Medals between 1920 and 1956. When his health declined during the spring of 1959, Rusty Callow was forced to relinquish the reins at the Naval Academy. This was particularly hard on his crew at the time. According to 1960 stroke-seat Lyman Perry: “As soon as we won the freshman race for our coach, Paul Quinn, back at the 1957 IRA, we set as our goal winning the 1960 Olympic Trials, and we always imagined ourselves doing it for Rusty. the whole rowing community, and he was the obvious heir-apparent when Rusty got ill in May of our junior year.”4029 Perry: “Paul is a Naval Academy graduate, Class of ‘48. He spent six years on active duty, got out of the Navy and went straight back to the Academy as an instructor in electrical engineering. “Paul had been a basketball player and member of the crew at the Academy, and Rusty brought him back to coach the Plebes. “In 1956, his very first year, he coached the Plebes to victory at the Sprints and second at the IRA. The next year, our class won the freshman IRA for him. We all loved Paul Quinn, this big, tall, rangy guy. “Paul took over the spring Intercollegiate Rowing Association Paul Quinn “As a Varsity, we medaled under Rusty and Paul at the IRA every year for the next three years.”4028 Paul Quinn Peter Bos, 1960 team captain: “Our Freshman Coach, Paul Quinn, had been Rusty’s protégé. Paul revered Rusty, as did 4028 Perry, personal correspondence, 2006 that Rusty got sick, and by the end of the 1959 season, he had basically put together the core of what became the Olympic crew the following year.”4030 Skip Sweetser, 1960 2-seat: “About midway through the 1959 season, Lyman was stroking the Varsity, and I was rowing in 2 behind him. Everybody else who would end up on the Olympic crew was in the Jayvee, and the Varsity and Jayvee boats were close and getting closer. “On the Monday before the Sprints, Paul stopped us up river after half the workout 4029 Bos, personal correspondence, 2006 4030 Perry, personal conversation, 2006 1117
