THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT 129. Ted Nash at Penn Staines, Jones & Herman – Coffey-Staines Penn After Joe Burk Ted Nash had stood on top of the podium at the Olympics in 1960. When he moved to his University of Pennsylvania Freshman coaching job straight from the 1964 Olympics, his vision extended far past the Schuylkill River Valley, and he got his Penn crews to see with him. Gardner Cadwalader: “Ted came from a distant, mythical place to us Easterners. Lake Washington was spoken of as the oracle, the shrine in the mists, the font of rowing lore, wisdom and manhood. It was where the boats were made. It was where Ted had burst forth, won medals, broke oars, raced with legends like Conn Findlay, the man the Pococks had to rebuild the inside of a boat for because he was so big.5941 “Legends. Lake Washington. The Pococks . . . and yet this man from Valhalla was focusing his attention on us. What a thrill for an 18-year-old!”5942 Ted Nash would cultivate his larger- than-life image at Penn and around the world. In 1970 and beyond, there was a swagger to Penn under Ted Nash that had not been seen before or since. Hugh Stevenson: “I rowed all four years at Penn for Ted, and I was in three eights that won the IRA (‘69, ‘70, ‘72) and two eights that won the Eastern Sprints (‘69, 5941 another legend. The Pococks refused. See Chapter 82. 5942 Cadwalader, personal correspondence, 2007 ‘70). We took home hundreds of shirts in those days! “No question that Harvard was the crew to beat when I got to college in the fall of 1968, but I lost to them exactly once: the 1971 Adams Cup on the Severn. Well, twice if you consider the Adams Cup on the Schuylkill in 1972 when we sank in an experimental new Pocock ‘Cedar Speeder’ at the 1,000 meter mark while ahead by one length and moving away as we went down. “A week later at Quinsigamond, we pounded them in the opening heat by over a length. We took them apart in the final, too, only we were so into beating Harvard that we let Northeastern and Brown in the far outside two lanes go ahead to win the real race, dammit!!! “But one week later, we murdered Northeastern easily on the Schuylkill for the Burk Cup . . . and Brown? Check out the splits from the IRA final on Onondaga. That race was over at the 1,000 meter mark, and we won by four lengths over Washington with Brown third.”5943 Calvin Coffey, 1972 Northeastern stroke: “The Schuylkill was at flood stage the day of our race with Penn. They weren’t even sure they should hold the race, but ultimately they did. “Now that year, we had a very strong crew. No one was faster than us in the last 500, but we never led a single race off the line. Our strategy was to just grind our opponents down and sprint by. 5943 Stevenson, personal correspondence, 2006 1669
