THE SPORT OF ROWING Once the ‘84 Camp lineups were announced, Brad quickly contacted Paul Enquist, who had left Hanover after being cut, and getting his assent, politely declined by phone Harry’s invitation to be part of the Camp spare double, saying he preferred to commit to the Doubles Trials with Paul. Harry instantaneously called Paul and invited him to take Brad’s place in Lucerne. Paul also declined, and Harry then invited and was turned down by two other camp cuts, Ridgely Johnson and Greg Montesi,7286 who had already committed to a challenge quad of their own for the Trials. Dietz: “Mr. Parker tried, in vain, to get another sculler back – but no one would return.”7287 Mike Totta: “Actually, Ridgely initially accepted. I still remember as clear as yesterday standing in the parking lot at Newell Boathouse talking Ridgely out of Lucerne and into going to Squam Lake for a long weekend with Brad, Paul, Bruce Beall, Curtis Fleming, and Gregg Montesi to arrange a challenge double and quad. “As it turned out, I was the guy voted out of the quad . . . with the inclusion of Ridgely in the process! I had thought that Curtis would be the one left out, but the consensus was that I was less effective. I can come up with excuses and claims that the process was unfair – What jilted rower can’t produce the same? – but we were without a coach and it had to be that kind of decision, and it ended up working out for them, so it wasn’t wrong. “After the vote happened back in Newell, as a 26-year-old I went out into the parking lot and just sat on the guardrail and cried for about five minutes – I knew my Olympic dream was over. “Funny but the four men in the quad told me after the vote that if they won they’d choose me as their spare. “When they did win, I got excited about that possibility, but when they came back to Boston after the Trials, I saw Ridgely warming up on an erg and asked him what they were going to do. He didn’t even make eye contact and said, ‘We don’t owe you anything . . . ’ – a funny comment coming from a guy who wouldn’t have even been in the boat if I hadn’t talked him out of Lucerne. “In 1983, I had competed well at the Camp and was in the final selection for the last seat in the quad with Charlie. That fall of 1983, I had foolishly overtrained and frequently got sick. I went to Long Beach for the winter and continued just pounding myself. I wasn’t listening to my body – I didn’t know any better. By the Tampa camp, I was very ill and had to go home, only to be diagnosed with mono – I was wiped out for two months at about the worst time possible. “I returned to Boston but just couldn’t develop the fitness fast enough – I didn’t get invited to the Camp and had to wait for guys to fall out to develop a challenge. Since there were so many guys close in the team boats, I thought there was still a chance . . . “That guardrail still sits at the end of the parking lot at Newell. I see it every time I drive by . . . and I remember.”7288 So plans for a second double in Lucerne had to be abandoned. Wood and Frackelton would take turns in the bow seat of the quad in the separate Saturday and Sunday race programs on the Rotsee. Brad and Paul then quickly removed one of several Men’s Olympic Rowing Committee doubles and two sets of sculls 7286 Lewis, op. cit., p. 79 7287 Dietz, op. cit. 7288 Totta, personal correspondence, 2010 2030
