THE SPORT OF ROWING “Oh, yeah. I wouldn’t argue that point at all.”2486 Halberstam: “The amazing thing is that ten years later he was still doing that to the top scullers in the area.”2487 Still competitive today, more than forty years later, Harry Parker makes it clear that he used to give Joe a good run on the river. Parker: “There wasn’t much talking going on during those pieces, I assure you. For all of our endurance training, it was all side-by-side stuff.”2488 Stan Pocock: “I vividly recall Dad talking about how he wished that he could have convinced Joe that he would be faster were he to scull at a lower rate. “It was many years later, when he was coaching [Harry Parker], that Joe wrote to Dad to say that he had been right, that he had found that he could now go faster at 27 than he could at 40 when in his prime.”2489 Tony Palms, Penn ‘61, also observed some of the workouts. “To break the monotony, and perhaps the ignominy of Joe pacing Harry on the water, they would often turn to another form of racing, one running along the bank of the Schuylkill, the other in his single, rowing as fast as he could to beat the runner. “To make it even more interesting, the runner was on his honor to hold his breath during the interval of every other street light pole, then hopefully regain his breath sufficiently to repeat the breath-holding at the next pole interval. “Nobody ever questioned whether Joe snuck in a breath or two in those competitions. It was simply not conceivable, knowing Joe as we did.”2490 2486 Parker, op. cit., 2005 2487 Qtd. by Halberstam, p. 94 2488 Parker, op. cit., 2004 2489 S. Pocock, personal correspondence, 2005 2490 Palms, qtd. by Fabricus, p. 16 1960 At the 1960 Olympics on Lago di Albano, the overwhelming favorite to win was 1956 Olympic Singles Champion Vyacheslav Ivanov. Halberstam: “Ivanov, then 22 and in the Soviet Army, was a figure of awe to Parker. The Olympics being about friendship and fellowship, they even had a brief conversation. “Some of the Soviet sweep oarsmen were Lithuanians who still thought of themselves as Lithuanians2491 and who spoke a little English. They told Parker that Ivanov badly wanted to meet his American competitor, and they coached him in what to say. “Parker had memorized these words and gone over to Ivanov. They had shaken hands. Ivanov had beamed with fraternal sports pleasure. Parker had beamed with fraternal sports pleasure. “‘Sukin sin,’ Parker had said in his instant Russian. Ivanov’s face had fallen, and he had become chilly. “A decade later, watching the scene in the movie Patton where the general said the same thing to the Russian generals, he realized he had said, ‘You son of a prostitute!’ to Ivanov.”2492 Harry “barely qualified for the final as he had a real struggle to best Lex Redelé [6’4” 192cm 187lb. 85kg] of Holland in the repêchages. After trailing the high-stroking Netherlands oarsman for 1,800 meters, Parker made a desperate bid and finally took the lead with less than 100 meters to go. “In the final, Parker made a strong bid 200 meters from home and took over third place. However, the pace set by [Achim Hill 6’0” 184cm 172lb. 78kg, eventual Silver Medalist from Germany] and 2491 See Chapter 79. 2492 Halberstam pp. 95-6 690
