THE SPORT OF ROWING Boston stroke Jeff McLaughlin: “I was coming back from a year away from rowing. The Korzeniowski Eight [Gold in Copenhagen in 1987 and Bronze in Seoul in 1988. See Chapter 124.] had been physically and mentally taxing on many of us. “In late 1989, I decided I was ready to get back into rowing and joined the club that had been producing many of the best U.S. scullers, Boston Rowing Center. It was a collection of Boston-based rowers intent on not moving to Philly or the other training centers more than a formal rowing club with coaches, equipment, etc.”6529 McLaughlin: “Boston Rowing Center rowed out of the Harvard and Radcliffe boathouses and was coached by Harry Parker6530 as well as by other area coaches, including my Northeastern University coach, Buzz Congram. While the lack of intensity was a relief on the mental side of our training, it certainly did not pay off as far as our results showed at the Worlds. “We had Harry coach our four, and it was just a mess! There’s something to be said for an icon, and Harry certainly is an enigma because I don’t think any of his guys know what makes him Harry. He just is. “Our boat in 1990 was Pat Manning [7 in the ‘89 Camp Eight] and myself [6 in the ‘87 and ‘88 Camp Eights] from Northeastern along with Rob Shepard [3-seat in the 1989 Camp Eight] and Chris Sahs. The different personalities thrown together in a Boston Rowing Center four that Harry was coaching just didn’t work in 1990.”6531 “We beat the Penn A.C. Coxless-Four at the Trials and then went slower and slower leading up to the Worlds and finished a dismal ninth.”6532 Meanwhile back in Philadelphia, Ted created an eighty-five person armada to participate in and dominate the U.S. Championships and Canadian Henley, and he coached C.B. Sands (Bohrer) to fifth place in the Worlds in the women’s lightweight singles. 1991 McLaughlin: “After the debacle in the coxless-four in 1990, the U.S. coaches decided to again make the coxless-four a priority boat. It was to be the first boat selected, based on speed-order races and a mini-camp. Pat Manning, Tom Bohrer, Mike Porterfield and I were announced as the four. “Porterfield, Manning and I had been part of the Northeastern University crew that had won the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Regatta in 1988, the year of the tragic death of our boatman, Charlie Smith, en route to Syracuse.6533 We had dedicated our boat and that race to Charlie.”6534 In 1990, Bohrer had rowed 5 and Porterfield 7 in the Camp Eight while McLaughlin and Manning had been in the ill-fated 1990 Boston Rowing Center Coxless-Four. Between the four of them, they already had one Gold, two Silver and one Bronze Medal in international championships. All had rowed at least one year in Camp boats for Kris Korzeniowski, and in addition, Tom Bohrer had been at Penn A.C. under Ted Nash for five years. McLaughlin: “After we were selected in 1991, we were allowed to choose our coach for the Worlds, and given Tom’s past 6529 McLaughlin, personal correspondence, 2006 6530 See Chapter 100 ff. 6531 McLaughlin, personal conversation, 2007 6532 McLaughlin, personal correspondence, 2006 6533 After Smith died in a van accident, Northeastern coach Buzz Congram rallied his devastated rowers to the school’s first IRA victory. 6534 McLaughlin, op. cit. 1806