THE LONG ECLIPSE OF AMERICAN ROWING Wisconsin rowing’s entire history has been to a large extent dictated by its location. First, like Harvard, the U.S. Naval Academy and later the University of Washington, the Wisconsin campus in Madison was situated immediately adjacent to a body of water. The boathouse could be located right on campus, and the activities of the crew were visible to all. Around the world and throughout history, this has provided a tremendous advantage. Second, like Cornell (and Syracuse and Dartmouth), Madison’s winters are long and severe. During its first century of rowing, the waters of Lake Mendota in front of the boathouse were typically not free of ice until early April, so the crew got a late start every spring compared to many of their opponents. Third, during the 19th Century, Wisconsin was indeed isolated from other rowing programs, and it remains somewhat isolated. Even as urban civilization reached to the American West Coast, the Midwest remained largely rural, with daunting distances separating regional populations. This isolation would eventually have an important impact on the evolution of a distinct Wisconsin approach to boat moving. Rowing came to the University of Wisconsin in 1892, and it was encouraged by University President Charles Kendall Adams, who had learned a thing or two about the value of crew as President of Cornell University early in the Charles Courtney era.4846 In 1893, a beautiful boathouse was built adjacent to the imposing Red Gym on 4846 See Chapter 31 ff. 1904 Postcard, Thomas E. Weil Collection University Boathouse with the Red Gym behind campus, and an indoor tank was added in 1897. In 1894, Adams hired Amos Marston, a former captain of the Cornell crew who had rowed four years under Courtney, as Wisconsin’s first rowing coach. A few months later, Adams replaced him with Andrew M. O’Dea, a former professional sculler from Yarra Yarra Rowing Club of Melbourne, Australia, who had been coaching in Minneapolis.4847 Wisconsin historian Bradley F. Taylor: “To stay in condition over the winter, the training included work on rowing machines in the new boathouse or in the balconies of the Old Red Gym. Other times, O’Dea had the boys push a red boat cart across the ice from the boathouse to the mouth of the Yahara River between Lakes Mendota and Monona, and then unload the shells and row on the open water of the river.”4848 O’Dea reportedly taught what he called “the Kangaroo Stroke.” Harper’s Weekly, July 18, 1896: “They sat up to their work with good backs, caught 4847 Taylor, p. 23 4848 Ibid, p. 24 1351
