THE SPORT OF ROWING “After graduating from WSU, Enquist hung around the University of Washington boathouse looking for a summer rowing program. The 1977 Washington crew [ended up winning] the prestigious Grand Challenge and Visitors Challenge Cups at the Henley Royal Regatta in England, but needed four rowers to complete a third boat for training. Enquist agreed to participate. “Enquist soon realized he was holding his own against some of the nation’s best rowers.”7064 Ted Nash: “In 1979, Paul rowed half a year with me at the Penn Elite Center and really came on stream in the 6-seat of our eight. They won Gold at the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs.7065 “Paul, who was even then a commercial fisherman in Alaska, was ecstatic at the Sports Festival, and that is a lot to say as he is a quiet, yet friendly giant. He cherished the USA uniforms and the large gathering of all sports. “He was a sweep rower about to become a sculler.”7066 Biglow: “By 1980, Paul was considered the best sculler in Seattle, and he was being coached by Bob Ernst [the University of Washington Women’s Coach back then]. When I asked to row with him, he kind of paused and said, ‘Well . . . have you gotten a lot better?’ I must have rowed with him at some time before, and I didn’t do very well or something. “Anyway, he allowed me to come row with him, and Bob sort of ran the workout and coached Paul. He would tell us to row this distance and that rating. 7064 Michael McLaughlin, Where Are They Now: Paul Enquist, www.seattlepi.com, March 31, 2004 7065 a multi-sport championship for the four regions of the USA used to encourage Olympic hopefuls. It had TV coverage, medal ceremonies and Olympic-type gear. 7066 Nash, personal correspondence, 2006 “I was feeling very comfortable rowing against Paul, and I would sort of keep him on my hip and not have to really push too hard. We got down past the Seattle Tennis Club toward Leschi Park [three miles south of the floating bridge on the western shore of Lake Washington], way down towards the old bridge across the lake, and then we turned around and were going to do one long piece at full pressure back to the university. “When Bob told us to row full pressure, I felt I had to if I was going to have integrity about it, so I rowed full pressure, and I pulled way ahead of Paul. I just left him so far behind it was embarrassing, and I think Bob was really mad at him. “I felt bad for Paul, but it was a good sign for me. “Later that spring, I went up to Boston, and that’s when I started to row against the famous Tiff Wood7067 from Harvard, who had been on National Teams since 1975. “That’s also when I asked Harry Parker to be my coach, and he accepted me into the Harvard boathouse.”7068 Harry Parker 1984 Olympic Sculling Coach Harry’s bad luck with Olympics continued in 1984. As the “preeminent figure of American rowing,”7069 Harry wanted badly to again be the head Olympic men’s sweep coach while he continued to coach Harvard full time. He was the obvious choice, and he assumed he would get the job, but deliberations after considerable the Olympic Committee decided to hire a year-round coach and picked Kris Korzeniowski.7070 In 1984, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam would write a 7067 See Chapter 140. 7068 Biglow, op. cit. 7069 Halberstam, p. 162 7070 See Chapter 124. 1976
