THE WINDS OF CHANGE 65. Joe Burk, Coach 1951 Penn Lightweights – 1955 Penn Heavyweights – Frank Read After their win in Helsinki, the virtually- intact Navy Olympic Crew2376 remained undefeated through the 1953 and 1954 seasons. The coach who managed to finally unseat Navy in 1955 was none other than Callow’s own successor and protégé at Penn, 1930s Diamond Sculls champion sculler Joe Burk.2377 At the end of World War II, Joe had no idea what he would do with his life. Burk: “I was coming back after my tour of duty in the Navy, and my executive officer, Charlie Black, had said to be sure to stop in and say hello to his folks in San Francisco. “Of course, coming out of the Pacific I was a pretty grungy looking guy, with hair down over my ears and so forth, so I went to a barber shop to get a haircut. “There was a fellow on the chair there, and when the barber finished with him, I looked up, and it was Tom Bolles. “Bolles had brought his Harvard crew to Henley back in 1939, the second time I rowed there, and that’s how I got to know him, and that’s how I got into coaching. At that barber shop he said to me, ‘What are you going to do when you get out of the Navy?’ “I said, ‘I really don’t know,’ and he said he’d keep me in mind for any coaching jobs that came up. 2376 See Chapter 64. 2377 See Chapters 53 and 58. “And so he did. When the Yale freshman job came up, he put in a good word for me.”2378 In the summer of 1946, Burk was hired by Skip Walz, newly arrived at Yale from Wisconsin, where he had coached the 1946 Eastern Sprints champs. Burk’s trip home through San Francisco was also how he met his future wife. At dinner with Navy buddy Charlie Black’s parents was Charlie’s sister, Kay. They married the next year. The Yale Years During Joe’s first year as freshman coach at Yale, he taught his crew to row sweep the way he had sculled fifteen years earlier.2379 Historian Mendenhall: “Unfortunately, their lack of weight and experience often made this tactic a handicap, especially in rough water and high winds.”2380 Burk: “They managed to go undefeated in dual competition and were a commendable third in the Eastern Sprints. Their final success was that of beating the Harvard Freshmen at Gales Ferry. “However, following my first year as a freshman coach, I never again taught my crews that technique of rowing. As a freshman coach, it would have caused my 2378 Burk, personal conversation, 2005 2379 See Chapter 58. 2380 Mendenhall, Coaches, Ch. XIV, p. 23 659
