THE SPORT OF ROWING power-10s, where the stroke would rise to maybe 33, but then if we were rowing well, it would again settle to 31½. “We wanted to hear coxswain Carl Schwarz shout, ‘We are under them and moving!’ “We could start a sprint, if needed, with 500 meters or a little less than a half-mile to go. We would go, ‘Up two in ten!’ every 20 or 30 strokes if we needed to fend off the other boats. “We could actually finish at 40. This was accomplished entirely by shortening the reach, but not changing much else. “Starts were the same process in reverse. 1957 Season Gravink: “Stork was a quiet man, but you knew when he was trying to get into your head. “Todd Simpson (now deceased) and I each were married in the summer of ‘56 after the Olympic Trials. “When we hit the water in mid-March of ‘57, Todd and I found ourselves in the second or third boat. “It was the first time in four years I had been out of the first boat stroke-seat. It was almost the same for Todd in the 4-seat. “We played musical chairs for three weeks, but all of that time the two of us were never back in our old seats. “On any given quarter- or half-mile time trial, any of three boats might win. “It was hard to hide our thoughts from our new brides that Coach might have suspected that our priorities had changed. “Who knows what his thoughts really were? “Finally, about ten days before the Goes Cup, our first race in late April, he pulled our boats together out in the lake and put Todd and me back in our old seats, and Bob Staley, our frosh 2-man, was back in his old 2738 Gravink, op. cit. 2739 See Chapter 68. seat. He had worked hard, mostly in the Jayvee boat, for two years. “We had one or two short time trials that afternoon, and our boat won by open water. “Our ‘54 championship Frosh Crew was now all back together, save for Ben Park, who had left crew to apply to med school. “Sadly, just a few years later Ben died as a military doctor in a helicopter crash in Korea.”2738 Cornell versus Yale, Continued The 1957 season represented an opportunity for Cornell to avenge their bitter 1956 Olympic Trials loss to Yale.2739 For Yale it represented the challenge of replacing half the Gold Medal crew. John Cooke: “Note that in 1957 the Cornell Crew had essentially been together for a full four years. We had the major losses of captain and super-tough Tom Charlton at bow, the highly experienced and picture-perfect oarsman 6’6” Dave Wight at 2, tall, rangy and powerful 6’7” 217-pound Charlie Grimes at 5, and tough, dedicated ‘Essy’ Esselstyn at 6. “The Olympic Final had been on 27 November 1956, and although we had trained all fall on our home course, we had had little contact with the rest of the Yale squad. “Thus, when the crews hit the water again in late February, 1957, the returning four oarsmen and coxswain had never rowed with any of the other Yale undergraduates, and a major restructuring of the Varsity Eight had to be accomplished in relatively short order. “We selected for the 1957 Yale Varsity some very good oarsmen, notably Reed 752
