THE ERA OF POLARIZATION Cunningham out in Seattle and having them say, ‘No, you’ve got the position. It’s a position of great honor. You’ve got to row it.’ “Anyway, I decided to stay with the single. With 20-20 hindsight, I wish that I hadn’t, but I did.”7281 After Altekruse and Bouscaren had been selected as the double, the next task was to select a quad for Lucerne and the Olympic Quads Trials. In well-established Harry Parker style, this was done primarily through seat racing in quads between Monday, May 28 and Friday, June 8. Altekruse: “Bouscaren and I were doing a lot of the stroking because we were already designated the double, so we were going to be neutral. “Enquist was close to making the quad, but it became pretty clear that if you jacked it up in the last twenty strokes you could pass any boat that Enquist was in. “And then at that point you also had Lewis trying to make the quad, and the flow issue was terrible. I could remember when we went to a training camp in Tampa in January of ‘84, and nobody could row with Brad. His power application was too jerky, and his temperament seemed to fit that. I mean this is a man who would end up writing ‘Rape & Murder’ on the side of his single for the Trials. “These were the issues with those two guys that helped determine that they wouldn’t make the quad.”7282 Lewis: “I couldn’t win any seat races. It’s that simple. I can offer a lot of excuses. I was tired from the Singles Trials, the boatings were screwy, but when it came time for Harry to make his decision, he went with the proven seat racers.”7283 7281 Biglow, op. cit. 7282 Altekruse, op. cit. 7283 Lewis, op. cit., p. 90 When Harry returned from the IRA on Wednesday, June 6, Ridgely Johnson and Paul Enquist were cut. The nominated Camp Quad would be stroked by Charlie Bracken, from a Philadelphia Boathouse Row family. He had done his rowing at West Catholic High School, Fairmount Rowing Association and Northeastern University before he stroked Temple University’s 1983 Dad Vail Champion crew. In 3-seat behind Bracken would be Bill Purdy. Sean Colgan and Tiff Wood would round out the Camp Quad. Harry also nominated Brad Lewis and Jack Frackelton, 5’11” 180cm 187lb. 85kg, a four-year UMass Amherst stroke and Dad Vail Champion, to be in a second or spare double to compete in Lucerne. Interestingly, Bracken and Frackelton had been members of a Fairmont R.A. quad which had won the Quads Trials for the 1982 Worlds over a high-powered big-name crew of Wood, Dietz, Lewis and Colgan. Lewis: “The characters in my rowing career, from year to year, never changed very much. Only the boatings were reshuffled.”7284 Colgan: “Dietz, Tiff, Altekruse and I had all pledged early in 1982 to row a quad for the Worlds if we did not win the Singles Trials (never much of an option for me). We practiced it several times through the year. I even remember a long weekend at NYAC. “Anyway, Parker asked me to row in the four-with that he was forming, but I declined, saying I was pledged to the quad. That did not stop Parker from asking Altekruse, who accepted. Then as a spare in Luzern, I substituted for Charlie for most of the time as his back was injured. “Small world.”7285 7284 Lewis, op. cit., p. 108 7285 Colgan, op. cit. 2029
