THE SPORT OF ROWING Tony Palms ‘61: “There were almost no days, even in the depths of winter, when Joe couldn’t bust up the ice with his PT-Boat- style coaching launch and get us out on the water. But one day in early 1960, it was just too miserable to bear, and Joe decided to have an indoor regatta on the bench pull device.”4288 Harry Parker ‘56: “I have to confess that I was at least partially the instigator of that session. As you may recall, I was sculling out of the Penn boathouse at that time in preparation for the 1960 Olympic Trials. I was training under Joe and, in fact, we rowed together most days that winter. “Since we couldn’t get on the water that day, we decided to do an extended lifting session, concentrating on the bench pulls. After we had finished, I suggested to Joe that this might be a good thing for him to have you guys do for a workout that afternoon.”4289 Palms: “Everyone was to pull the same weight on the bar, around seventy- five pounds as I recall, and just do as many reps as we could, until there was no more left in our shoulders or grips, whichever gave out first. The early contestants were the lucky ones, scoring forty or fifty reps and retiring with pride of accomplishment, since that was four or five times what the daily tally of training required. Then the fun started, I think with Woody Fischer [‘62] or Fargo Thompson [‘63] 4290 busting through with ninety or a hundred, with each succeeding crew mate trying to best their scores.4291 “For days afterward, you could tell from a hundred yards away on campus who was on the crew since none of us could straighten out our elbows or even hold our 4288 Palms, personal correspondence, 2007 4289 Parker, personal correspondence, 2007 4290 Future members of the 1962 Sprints-winning Varsity and the 1964 College Boat Club Olympic Trials entry. 4291 The winner that day was Tony Palms! books in our poor cramped-up arms. Joe just smiled his quiet smile and went on with the practices as usual.”4292 Parker: “I do recall that I was not very popular with the squad for the next few days!”4293 Cadwalader: “Joe also designed a one- of-a-kind dead lift rowing machine for the Penn crew that was several steps above other machines of its day. “His platform had a Pocock seat on a full slide and an iron pipe oar handle attached to a wire cable around a pulley that connected to weights on the floor four feet below.”4294 Palms: “The first lift was always the hardest, getting the great mass of iron off the reinforced platform floor. Then the thunder started, as each pull was pretty much released at the top and the weights pounded down against the deck, to be caught right at the moment of bouncing back up to make the next lift a few ounces easier. You could hear the impact all the way down Boathouse Row! “The testosterone was flowing every afternoon as all of us macho men vied to pull our eight reps with more weight than the others.”4295 Cadwalader: “Soon after Joe’s dead-lift rowing machine was finally dismantled at the Penn Boathouse, people began fooling around with bicycle wheels, chains and sprockets, and we all know the resulting torture that our modern ergometers have brought us!”4296 International Visitors With his open mind, Joe welcomed new ideas from around the world. In 1962, the 4292 Palms, op. cit. 4293 Parker, op. cit. 4294 Cadwalader, op. cit. 4295 Palms, op. cit. 4296 Cadwalader, op. cit. 1180
