THE SPORT OF ROWING at the 1,000, we went into our sprint . . . because we knew we could. We won the race, and no one ever got close to us for the rest of the year.”4323 Paumgarten: “From my perspective as a sophomore in 1964, the newly arrived freshman coach never ceased to amuse and infuriate me – Ted ‘Beat the Varsity’ Nash. (He never did while I was there.) “But the combination of Ted and Joe was topnotch. Frankly, one year with Ted was enough for many people, and three years with Joe were too few.”4324 Nick Paumgarten’s four-year career at Penn spanned quite an interesting arc. His 1964 Freshman Crew under Jim Beggs4325 came in last at the Eastern Sprints. So did that year’s Penn Jayvee, while the Varsity was so slow they did not even qualify for the petit final in Worcester. By 1967, Nick’s senior year, the Penn Jayvees were unquestionably the fastest in the country, and the Freshmen and Varsity were second only to Harvard, that era’s strongest program. 1965 Paumgarten: “Sophomore year, 1965, I had won the competition for the little oar, but it took four races before I got into the Varsity. I finally made the boat based on Joe’s coaching judgment.”4326 Prior to Nick moving into the bow seat, the 1965 Varsity again did not qualify for the petit final at the Eastern Sprints. This was a true low point for Pennsylvania crew. St. A’s Goes to Henley The first sign of new life in the Penn Heavyweight program occurred over the summer of 1965. Delta Psi Fraternity, better known as St. Anthony Hall, put together a crew to race in the Thames Challenge Cup at Henley. Dick Viall: “We were just fraternity brothers who rowed, but when the idea of doing Henley came up and received Crawford Madeira4327’s financial support, it took on a life of its own. We were going to Henley!!”4328 Included in the final boating were bow ‘67, Nick Paumgarten 2 Rusty MacMullan ‘66 and 6 Mark Thompson ‘65 from the 1965 Varsity, stroke Dick Viall ‘66, 7 Tom Hovey ‘66 and 4 Townsend Burden ‘66 from the 1965 Jayvee, 5 Bill Purdy ‘68 from the 1965 Freshmen (Ted Nash’s first crew after he arrived at Penn), and 3 Hap Allen ‘67 from the 1965 Threevee, also known as the Pickle Boat. They actually had to leave several other rowing fraternity brothers behind. Steve Cook ‘68, Purdy’s teammate on the 1965 Freshmen, got mononucleosis just before the team left for London, and so he was replaced. Jeff Fuglestad ‘67: “Finances did not permit that I consider Henley. I worked each summer.” For coach they recruited Bill Chapman ‘52, coxswain of the 1947 Kent School crew which won the Thames Cup and later a member of St. A’s and the ‘52 Varsity Coxswain at Penn.4329 At Henley, Chapman’s old Kent coach, the legendary Tote Walker,4330 by then 4323 Crooker, op. cit. 4324 Paumgarten, op. cit. 4325 See Chapter 81. 4326 Paumgarten, personal conversation, 2007 4327 then President of the Friends of Pennsylvania Rowing. 4328 Viall, personal correspondence, 2007 4329 Bernard Taradash, personal correspondence, 2007 4330 See Chapter 98. 1188
