THE LONG ECLIPSE OF AMERICAN ROWING individuals working as hard as we could to survive each day.”4760 The experience was brutal. Terry: “That month up in Hanover was probably the most intense rowing I’ve ever gone through. It was mostly in fours, and it was like the workout that never went away. “Talk about plant and pull! Going through that month of seat racing was what got me in shape.”4761 Not everyone had a positive experience. Cal Coffey, Northeastern University: “In ‘72, I was the last guy cut from the Camp! It was the first year that Northeastern had won the Sprints, and our coach, Ernie Arlett,4762 being from Henley, had vowed that if we won the Sprints, he’d take us there, and he lived up to that promise. “The problem for me was that I was also participating in the various preliminaries for the Olympic Camp for the eight [and coxed- four]. When I went to a last pre-selection, I remember Harry telling me, ‘You’re the only Northeastern guy who’s made the cut,’ but when I told him that our crew was going to Henley, he said, ‘You should come up to Hanover and not go to Henley.’ “Ernie had already told me that if I didn’t go, they wouldn’t send the boat, so I told Harry, ‘I’m stroking the boat, and going to Henley is the culmination of my teammates’ rowing careers. “‘I have to go.’ “So I made the decision to go to Henley, but I asked Ernie to do what he could to persuade Harry to take me when I got back. I don’t know what he did, but I believe he talked to Hart Perry and the people running 4760 Clapp, personal conversation, 2007 4761 Terry, personal conversation, 2005 4762 For an extensive discussion of Arlett, Northeastern University and Cal Coffey as an undergraduate, see Chapter 116. the federation. I got the impression that they kind of coerced Harry into taking me, and that must have pissed him off. “Anyway, I remember we raced at Henley, made it to the final of the Grand Challenge Cup, lost to the Russian Olympic Team and had a great time in England. “I also remember getting back to the States. It was early afternoon, and I had no sooner walked into my apartment when the phone rang. It was Harry Parker up at the Camp in Hanover. He goes, ‘We have practice tonight on the water at 5:30, and I expect you to be there.’ “I said, ‘I haven’t slept all night, I just got in, and I don’t have a car. I don’t know how I’m going to make it.’ “He said, ‘Okay. Practice in the morning at 5:30. I expect you to be there,’ and hung up. “I went to bed, got up early, hitch-hiked to Hanover and got there for the evening row. There were two eights, and they were already on the dock. I found out afterward that one of the eights was almost identical to the boat that eventually went to Munich. They had been out several nights rowing together with Monk Terry at stroke. This night, I went down the dock and I was put in as the stroke of that boat, and Monk was stroking all these other guys. “I didn’t really know the guys. I’d never rowed with them. It felt a little different, but it felt strong (obviously!) and pretty smooth, and I was like, ‘Shit, this is alright!’ “We went upstream to the race course. Harry lined us up, and we did a 1,500 meter piece or something. We beat the other crew by about a seat and a half, and we were gliding out, just starting to paddle, when Harry says, ‘Okay, pull the boats together,’ and he had Monk and I switch across. “This other boat was completely foreign to me. You could feel the individual power 1321
