THE SPORT OF ROWING one of them could have been in our boat and any one of us could have been in theirs, as had happened in several cases earlier in the season.”4399 Sports Illustrated: “At the end, Pennsylvania had not only won its first IRA varsity championship in sixty-seven years but the Ten Eyck Trophy for the best all- around performance in the entire regatta, with nineteen out of a possible twenty points.”4400 The Sunday Bulletin: “As the Penn sweep-swingers, apparently fresh enough to go another three miles, lifted their shell out of the cove, old and young grads rushed up to pump Burk’s hand. Naturally, Joe had to be asked if his brawny boys had followed instructions implicitly. “‘They certainly did,’ Burk bellowed over the uproar. ‘They followed them to the letter. I told them to take the lead when they were ready and hold on to it.’ “Were they the best Penn crew he had ever coached? “‘I’d have to say they are,’ Burk ‘Sure, they were in great declared. condition, but then you always look in great condition when you win.’”4401 Sports Illustrated: “Penn bow Nick Paumgarten, an ebullient Pennsylvanian from West Conshohocken, is always ready with a joke. With a great show of effort, he did a one-hand press of the huge, grotesquely ornate Varsity Challenge Cup for the benefit of photographers. beaten too many other crews from that far back.’ “A succession of Junior Varsity men came up to Burk. ‘Sir, we’re sorry,’ they said. ‘We know we cost you the sweep . . . ‘ “‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Joe Burk answered. ‘I just felt bad for you.’ “To a bystander, he said, ‘That’s the kind of boys they are.’”4402 Allen: “It would be easy to say that we won the race that day in Syracuse, but the truth is that we won it with all the work Joe had us do during the preceding year. I think of nearly non-stop twenty-four-mile rows on Saturdays. Endurance was king, and the company was great over all those miles together. I’d do it all over again! “Now that I am more familiar with the historical context of that ‘67 IRA, I feel really happy for Joe. This was the one he wanted to win, and this was the one he trained us for. “Endurance, endurance, endurance. It worked for us and won us all ten or fifteen pounds of soggy t-shirts. Thanks for clothing us, Joe!”4403 Sculley: “The significance of that 1967 ‘It’s goddam heavy when you’ve just finished rowing a race,’ he moaned, but stroke John Ferris, the only sophomore in the Penn boat, remained dead serious, even in victory. “‘I didn’t think we had it won until we crossed the finish line,’ he said. ‘We’ve 4399 Sculley, op. cit. 4400 Peterson, op. cit 4401 Brown, op. cit IRA race only really struck me a few years ago when I visited the River & Rowing Museum4404 in Henley, England during an exhibition on some of the great American rowers at Henley. There was a picture of a young Joe Burk crossing the finish line in the first of his two Diamond Scull victories, and then another picture of him as coach of the 1955 Penn crew which had just won the Grand Challenge Cup and included Harry Parker. “How lucky I was to be a tiny part of one of Joe’s crews.”4405 4402 Peterson, op. cit 4403 Allen, op. cit. 4404 See Chapter 5. 4405 Sculley, op. cit. 1210
