THE ERA OF POLARIZATION from the Camp trailer parked at the Harvard boathouse and prepared to leave town in a hurry. There was a harsh exchange of words in the parking lot between Brad and Charlie, and the following morning Harry hit the roof when he found out the equipment had been taken.7289 This was not an isolated incident. Dietz: “When asked by scullers who were cut if they could use equipment which was not being raced, he refused permission. This is not the kind of action which should come from a coach whose responsibility is to create the fastest boats for the USA. He had no reason to refuse equipment to Olympic contenders except to give his favored boats another edge.”7290 Wherever Brad and Paul went after they left, their reputation as “the guys who blew off Harry” would precede them.7291 And so the actors in Halberstam’s epic drama reassembled and hastened toward their destinies. Ted Nash: “I can’t believe that Paul and Brad were ever cut, but that is what all good club athletes feed on. Tell them they are ‘nothing special,’ and they will find a secret lake or river and become very special.”7292 Altekruse: “One more story. Paul is a wonderful guy, a gentle soul, sort of the opposite of the Brad Lewis cool. “The day that he got cut from the training camp in Dartmouth, I was hitchhiking from town back to the Chieftain Motel when I happened to find a little four- leaf clover that I plucked and taped to a card. “When I ran into Paul, I said, ‘This is for you. I really respect you as a rower. 7289 Lewis, op. cit., p. 75 7290 Dietz, op. cit. 7291 Lewis, op. cit., p. 83 7292 Ted Nash has made a career of taking camp rejects and molding them into Trials-winning boats. See Chapters 129 and 132. Good luck. I’m sure I’m going to see you down the road.’ “This was before we went to Lucerne, so the Trials were off about three weeks away. It wasn’t clear that Enquist and Lewis were going to get together, although it was obviously a possibility. “Later I reminded Paul of the story and told him maybe I should never have given him that four-leaf clover.”7293 Lewis and Enquist Lewis: “If the best thing that ever happened to me was that I lost those Singles Trials, the second best thing that happened was that Enquist got kicked out of the Camp, and the third best thing was that I did poorly at the Camp, too, so we were both freed up to do our own thing.7294 Altekruse: “Brad was terrible to row with . . . except when he was rowing with Enquist, whom he respected and had rowed with and done well with the year before at the World Championships. “They had been able to put in a lot of miles as the double in ‘83, but they ended that year sort of swearing they would never row together again. emotionally. “The next year turned out to be the perfect scenario for Brad because what happened was when they got cut from the camp, they came back together because there was nothing else left, and they only had to stay together for a few weeks to win the Trials, go to the Olympics, win the Olympics, and then they were done with each other again. “Don’t get me wrong. Paul and Brad were a really strong crew. Joe and I certainly knew that. After all, we had watched them race magnificently in Duisburg in ‘83, and we had raced them 7293 Altekruse, op. cit. 7294 Lewis, personal conversation, 2009 It was that hard 2031
