THE SPORT OF ROWING “With its finest performance of the season, Joe Burk’s Pennsylvania Eight finished only a length behind Ratzeburg and retained the cup, getting ahead of previously unbeaten Harvard and Navy. “Penn rowed only a stroke under Ratzeburg through the body of the race. It was around 38½ or 39 to the Germans’ 40. It took second place before the bridge, and for the last three-quarters of a mile the race was between the two leaders. “Harvard and Navy rowed well under Penn and Ratzeburg. Harvard was at 35 and Navy 33 most of the way. “Harvard, which had won its first two races, put on a marvelous sprint at the finish. It went all the way up to 41½. It came up so fast that it reduced Penn’s advantage from open water to half a length. “Probably today’s race showed that if any crew is to beat Ratzeburg in the sprint championships at Worcester, Mass, next week, it must row at a much higher stroke than it is accustomed to.”4524 According to Mendenhall, while the men and their conditioning are perhaps 90%.’”4527 “By the end of the week Ratzeburg spoke of ‘a great comradeship with the Penn oarsmen’ who ‘row close to our style’ and seem ‘interested in our technique.’ “As for their coach, ‘we have the highest respect for Joe Burk. He’s a coach we would be proud to have in Europe.”4528 The feeling was mutual. Burk: “I got to know Karl Adam quite well. He not only had a splendid record with his crew, but he developed fine young men – great off the water as well as on.”4529 1963 Eastern Sprints Ratzeburg climaxed its trip to America with a guest appearance at the Eastern Sprints. In their morning heat with two to qualify, they lost to Cornell. The following year’s EARC Program: the Ratzeburg visit had a profound effect on Burk, “for it brought him back virtually full circle to those lonely hours sculling on the Rancocas over twenty-five years before.4525 Given what Joe had discovered while sculling by himself, he could not accept that 31 to 32 was the top rating for an eight! In one sense, the rest of his career was spent learning through trial and error ‘that a good high stroke would beat a good low stroke!’ The trick was to be able to row high well. “In his own words, Ratzeburg convinced him that he had been ‘right after all. I would do my own thing from then on.’”4526 For Burk, “the only challenge left was in the training . . . ‘Technique is about 10%, 4524 Allison Danzig, Ratzeburg Beats 3 College Crews, The New York Times, May 12, 1963 4525 See Chapter 58. 4526 Mendenhall, op. cit., pp. 43-4 “Only a tremendous last furlong sprint by the World Rowing Champions saved them from elimination. The Germans upped their beat to an unbelievable 48 as they whipped across the finish line a mere two-tenths of a second ahead of the Wisconsin Badgers.”4530 Wisconsin was later added to the final field, which was expanded to seven lanes. The New York Times: “Coach Adam said that the strong headwind blowing during the morning heats was ‘not good for a high-stroking crew. In our own shell, we would have changed the outboard rigging.’”4531 During their entire trip, Ratzeburg rowed the Pocock lightweight shell, Nelson F. Cox, which they had borrowed from 4527 Ibid, pp. 60-1 4528 Ibid, p. 46 4529 Burk, personal correspondence, 2004 4530 1964 EARC Program, p. 45 4531 Allison Danzig, Ratzeburg Coach Lauds U.S. Eight, The New York Times, May 21, 1963 1252
