THE WINDS OF CHANGE Ferry for two weeks of intensive practice, where outings twice a day and a stablemate made up of oarsmen competing to be alternates on the Olympic squad did much to get the crew back into shape in a hurry.”2622 Vesper coxswain Allen Rosenberg, a future National Coach, was in attendance, trying out as Olympic spare coxswain: “I remember riding in Rathschmidt’s coaching launch along with Geronimo [Jerry Romano], watching and above all listening to him coach the eight. They were very rusty after the summer layoff, and he started with the basics, having them row less than all-eight. “There were no power megaphones, and John P. Cooke Early morning back at Gales Ferry, August, 1956 Jim never raised his voice. He hoarsely whispered. His ‘ready-all, row’ came out sounding like ‘phrow.’ “My recollections for the training were long hard rows at lower cadence and an occasional punishing row to Norwich, a round trip of twelve to fourteen miles. That was a demanding row but laid the groundwork for getting back to basics.”2623 Mendenhall: “Once back in Derby after classes had started, the Olympic crew had to dog it alone. Quite properly, the Yale undergraduate squad was working on fundamentals and could not go immediately into full training.”2624 The 1956 crew got to know their 1924 Yale Olympic predecessors in the months before they left for the Games. Dr. Benjamin Spock, the 1924 7-seat, struck up a particular friendship with Rusty Wailes, 2622 Mendenhall, Oar, p. 12 2623 Rosenberg, personal correspondence, 2007 2624 Mendenhall, op. cit. his 1956 seatmate, and wrote for him the narrative which has formed the backbone for this book’s coverage of the 1924 crew. It also included extensive statistical comparisons of the two crews: heights, weights, ages, classes, etc. Journalist Oli Rosenbladt: “John Cooke once told me that after they’d won the Trials and were training back at Yale before departing for Australia, the USOC sent them a huge crate of Olympic team gear . . . jackets, blue jeans, etc. with ‘U.S. Olympic Team’ all over them. Rathschmidt instructed the Yale boatman to hide all of the gear, and not turn them over to the rowers until they were in Australia, so as not to distract them from the task at hand.”2625 As the weeks went by, having only the clock and the expectations of generations of Eli alumni to spur them on was a huge mental burden. Four 1¼-mile time trials in five days in October to simulate the Olympic schedule yielded a 6:04 on the final day.2626 Cooke: “On November 2, our last day on the Housatonic before we left for 2625 Rosenbladt, personal correspondence, 2009 2626 Mendenhall, op. cit. 723
