INTERNATIONAL ROWING TURNS PROFESSIONAL Georg Meyers of The Seattle Times was busy drawing parallels to four years earlier. Meyers: “Nash can remember when the Italian Four was appraised as unbeatable on its home waters, Lake Albano, in the 1960 Olympics. The Yank shell, with Nash at No. 2, beat the unbeatables and brought back to Lake Washington the United States’ only Gold Medal in rowing. “This year, the Russian Four is the ‘invincible,’ and its performance in the recent European Championships is the evidence. It rowed 2,000 meters – 1 mile 427 yards – in 6:14.4. “Nash, Durbrow, Lyon and Mittet won on New York’s [Hunter Island] Lagoon in 6:23.1. “It is obvious that, for what it’s worth, the Lakers will inherit the underdog’s advantage in Tokyo.”3691 After the rep, there were more parallels to be made with 1960. Meyers: “Four years ago, in a preliminary rowing heat during the Rome Olympics, Nash bashed a buoy and broke an oar; his four-man crew finished second behind Britain. The next day they won a second-chance repêchage heat and went into the final, where they won the United States’ only rowing Gold Medal in 1960. “Four years later, Phil Durbrow, No. 3 man for the Lake Washington Rowing Club, collapsed with a lung infection, and Nash’s crew again finished second to Britain. “That was yesterday. Today, in a tedious repetition of history, Nash’s Four- Without-Coxswain returned in the repêchage and swept into the final with Geoffrey Picard in Durbrow’s seat.”3692 3691 Georg N. Meyers, September Morn, Delights Await, The Seattle Times, September 1, 1964 (estimate) 3692 Georg N. Meyers, Nash Repeats History, The Seattle Times, October 14, 1964 Repêchage 1 1 United States 2 France 3 Japan 4 Australia 6:38.93 6:42.85 7:00.29 7:01.07 Nash: “Picard did a great job, but with our different West Coast technique and rhythm, he told me he never totally felt in synch.”3693 Meyers: “France menaced the Yanks for 1,500 meters today; then Nash, Picard, Dick Lyon and Ted Mittet leaned on their oars in the final 150 yards and won by two lengths. “First to greet the victors in the shellhouse was Durbrow. “‘When we got to the starting line,’ Nash told Durbrow later, ‘we all shook hands and said, “Let’s get this one for Phil.”‘ “‘Okay,’ Durbrow replied, ‘then get the next one for me, too.’ “The next one is the run for the medals.”3694 Durbrow: “I’m afraid this newspaper account is not accurate. I wasn’t there at the boathouse after the race, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t hoping they’d get the Gold.”3695 Geoff Picard, after the rep: “If we should luck out and win a medal, I’ll saw it in half and split it with Durbrow. He earned it.”3696 The repêchages had been a tense time for the U.S. sweep team. Only the coxed- pair had advanced directly to the final. The coxless-pair and the Harvard Coxed-Four failed to advance. The eight and coxless- four survived the reps, and there was a bit of 3693 Nash, qtd. by Stowe, p. 151 3694 Meyers, op. cit. 3695 Durbrow, op. cit. 3696 Qtd. by Georg N. Meyers, Flu Hits Lake Washington Crew, The Seattle Times, October 13, 1964 1011
