THE SUNSET OF CONIBEAR Tiff Wood, Harvard ‘75: “You have to understand that what Harry did was respect his rowers enough to allow them some distance and difference. Rowing for Harry, you felt that he was not going to make you win. He was going to permit you to make the crew win. “It was clear that the motivation he wanted was not to be imposed. It had to come from within the rowers, and that internally-generated motivation was the truest and strongest – and the kind of people who had it were the kind you could count on. “He respected all oarsmen – he never said a bad thing about any crew we raced. Sure, if pressed, you could get him to evaluate a crew’s speed, but there was never a denigrating or derogatory remark.”4503 Shealy: “Harry’s Zeus-like presence is truly larger than life, and I credit him with an inspirational influence that permeated every aspect of my ensuing endeavors, both on and off the water. Harry assumed the role of second father to many of us, and we luxuriated in his approbation and cringed at his rebuke.”4504 Cashin: “Harry was an environment creator, whereas Allen needed an organization and support system. Without [1974 assistant coaches] Ted Nash, Bill Stowe and Tony Johnson, he couldn’t function. Somebody had to get him to practice, take care of logistics, and the crews had to be in shape before he got to them because he’s a fine tuner, a good coach but really narrow and fragile.”4505 Ted Nash: “Al and I became friends by accident, and the accident was that we both believed in small-boat training when not everybody did. 4503 Wood, personal correspondence, 2005 4504 Shealy, personal correspondence, 2005 4505 Cashin, op. cit. “Talk about the odd couple. We are totally different kinds of people in so many ways, but we agreed on so much that it was kind of natural that we’d gravitate together. “And we did. We had a great year together in ‘74. He wanted to be the artist who made the plan and picked out the colors. He didn’t want to mess around with the palette or the brushes. I wanted it the other way, so we got along fine.”4506 Historical Perspective The 1960s were a difficult time for the Unites States in international rowing, with foreign national composite teams increasingly outpacing the crews produced by American colleges and clubs. In technique, training and equipment, the new ideas in rowing emanating from Canottieri Moto Guzzi, the Soviet Union and from Ratzeburg were sweeping Europe, and as Rosenberg and Parker traveled overseas, they were utterly transformed by their contact with those new ideas. This led both of them to move away from their own country’s homegrown rowing heritage, although Harry was consciously attempting to combine the best of the old and new and Allen sincerely believed he was actually reinterpreting a traditional American technique. “A Bygone Era” In addition, by 1964, George Pocock, Rusty Callow, Ky Ebright, Al Ulbrickson, Tom Bolles, Joe Burk, Jim Rathschmidt and Stork Sanford were all perceived as old men, dinosaurs, creatures of the past, of “a bygone era in style,”4507 according to Rosenberg, an ancient historical tradition that was no longer relevant and had let America down at the 1960 Olympics. By 4506 Nash, op. cit. 4507 Rosenberg, personal correspondence, 2007 1245
