THE LONG ECLIPSE OF AMERICAN ROWING the Amlongs (except maybe Harvard at the Trials5004), and it was all the small-boat training that made us a much faster eight. And then, Clark plus the two Amlongs, our cox and me against Stowe, Knecht, Foley and Cwiklinski in a four-without over six 500s!! Now that was racing!”5005 The Amlong brothers are unique in American rowing history. Almost everybody of that era seems to have their own Amlong story. Budd: “I rowed with Tom and Joe Amlong from the same dock from September ‘63 to September ‘64 when we were fortunate enough to win the Gold in Tokyo. From what I know, they were ‘Army brats,’ born in Europe where their Dad was serving. They learned to row in Liege, Belgium. By the time I met them, Tom was a Captain in the U.S. Army and Joe was a Captain or a Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. They rowed in a pair- without and could on occasion row with the best in the world. “They were undoubtedly among the toughest, most contentious, meanest, most profane, trash-talkingest and strongest oarsmen in the U.S. They would mock anyone in their own boat or in a boat competing with them with some of the most awful trash talk I’d ever heard. They practiced intimidation in all its known forms and were very creative in developing new ones. They fought with everyone, including each other. “They didn’t use a rudder in their pair, and you have undoubtedly heard the story where Tom in the stroke seat out-pulled Joe during a race on the Schuylkill River and pulled their pair right into Peter’s Island. They then proceeded to have a fist fight in the boat. Later, Tom said that Joe had been 5004 See Chapter 100. 5005 Budd, op. cit. up too late the night before getting some [*****] and just ran out of gas.”5006 Rosenberg: “There were times when I felt like a wild animal trainer with a chair and a whip to get the beasts in line and to do what was needed. “I remember watching the Amlongs in a fistfight in their pair, in their boat, at Peter’s Island after a sprint piece. When the punches had lost their sting, Joe in the bow resorted to spitting on Tom’s back.5007 “When Joe Burk had his Light Boat with the strain gauges,5008 we borrowed it one day, but beforehand, Joe Amlong went in and made Tom’s strain gauge very, very difficult to light up. Midway through the workout, Tom wasn’t going anywhere. He literally broke his footstretchers trying to get the lights to work. “His brother never told him what he had done.”5009 Bob Madden: “I ran into Joe Amlong last February [2010] in Melbourne, FL at the Southern Sprints ergometer race. Joe was 72 at the time, I believe. He told us he was a cancer survivor. I noticed during his warm up that he still was able to put in some sub-1:40 strokes. “As I approached Joe, our eyes met and he introduced himself to me. He was actually pretty gracious. He told me that he and Tom were mostly kidding around back in the old days and that they were ‘misunderstood.’”5010 I recently asked Allen how he approached the Amlongs to join the 1964 Vesper Eight. Rosenberg: “Quite frankly, I listened to them before I did anything, and Tom later 5006 Budd, op. cit. 5007 Rosenberg, op. cit., 2010 5008 See Chapter 94. 5009 Rosenberg, personal conversation, 2009 5010 Madden, op. cit., 2010 1391