THE SPORT OF ROWING pupils to have trouble when they moved up to the varsity level. “Likewise, when I became a varsity coach, it would have taken a long time and lots of patience for them to learn and feel confident with such a radical technique. I had been rather successful with the normal technique and thought that there were other areas to work on that would be just as effective.”2381 Nevertheless, for much of the rest of Joe’s coaching career, his crews often tended to overstroke their opponents. Joe Returns to Penn In 1950, when Rusty Callow left the University of Pennsylvania for the Naval Academy,2382 Joe Burk, Penn ‘34, returned to his alma mater as head coach. The lightweight coach was Joe’s former undergraduate teammate, J. Richard Jordan ‘33. He and Joe, both 6’3” and 196 lb., had also rowed together in the 4-seat and 5-seat of Rusty Callow’s Penn Graduate Eight that came in second to Washington at the 1936 Olympic Trials.2383 Dick Kendall ‘51, 7-seat on the 1951 Penn Lightweight Varsity, remembers Jordan fondly: “When I started rowing in the fall of 1947, there were only two coaches at Penn, Rusty Callow and Dick Jordan. They spent all of their fall time teaching the combined light and heavy freshman. They put all the experienced stroke-oars into the frosh boats for us to follow, and the other experienced rowers pretty much rowed by themselves. In the spring, the lightweights and heavyweights separated.”2384 2381 Burk, personal correspondence, 2004 2382 See Chapter 64. 2383 See Chapter 59. 2384 Kendall, personal correspondence, 2006 The University had just officially dropped lightweight crew when Joe was hired, and so he quickly appointed Dick to coach the 1951 heavy freshmen. Jordan provided Joe the continuity and professional support that the new head coach was looking for. Dick Jordan’s Technique Having rowed for and coached under Rusty Callow, it was not surprising that Jordan coached a close version of Rusty’s 1st Generation Conibear Stroke. Kendall: “Dick coached the original Pocock/Callow stroke and emphasized the snap catch with an imperceptible hesitation as the blade was buried. He wanted us to feel the water and make sure that the blade was totally immersed before ‘standing on it.’ “In those days, rowing trunks were wool with chamois on the backs. Before a race Dick used to have the boatman put shellac on our seats so that we would stay on during the drive when suspending from the handle. “He referred to the drive as the ‘Bung Ho’ Stroke. On ‘Bung’ you rammed an umbrella up your [butt], and on ‘Ho’ you opened it.2385 Despite the colorful description, force application was definitely Schubschlag. Kendall: “Hammering the catch would have been fatal for lightweights over a long season. “The arms were broken earlier than present-day practice. This seemed to be common among many of the Washington coaches of the time, Callow and Stork Sanford to mention a few. “After the leg drive, the hips started to rotate. As the hands came into the body, the finish was ‘squeezed’ and not slammed. “At the release, the hands were quite fast with the legs held down until catch body 2385 Ibid. 660
