THE SUNSET OF CONIBEAR USNA 1960 United States Naval Academy Olympic Eight 50th Reunion Row, April 16, 2010 Coxswain Nate Miller ‘11, Stroke Lyman Perry, 7 Bruce Wilson, 6 Howard Winfree, 5 Peter Bos, 4 Mike McMahon, 3 Gayle Thompson, 2 Author, Bow Mark Moore Skip Sweetser and Joe Baldwin attended but did not row. Sadly, Bill Long passed away in March, 2010. In 2000, the team surprised Lou by donating a shell named after him. He was enormously touched. Re-evaluating the 1960 Navy Crew Although one last university eight would represent the U.S. in the Olympics in 1968,4127 it was the 1960 Navy crew that truly was the last of its kind, the end of the Conibear Era, the end of a proud college tradition that had begun with Ellis Ward, Charles Courtney and Hiram Conibear, the end of a forty-year American Olympic hegemony. Thus ended a victory streak dating back to 1920, when another Navy crew started the 4127 Harvard. See Chapter 102. tradition of American supremacy in the premier event of rowing. For nearly half a century, 1960 has been dismissed as a mediocre year in American rowing without a single exceptional crew, but while it is true that no one crew dominated the entire season, it is more accurate to say that there were four exceptional crews that year, Western Champion Washington, Eastern Champion Cornell, IRA Champion California and Trials Champion Navy. It often happens that when there is a change in coaches, the team excels beyond expectation for a time, retaining the values and strengths instilled by the former coach while also enjoying the benefits of the new coach. With the retirement of Ebright, Ulbrickson and Callow, that is precisely what happened at Cal, Washington and 1139
