Word: paulovich
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...Paulovich says he'll never forget that time freshman year when he was filling in on the varsity boat in practice and varsity lightweight coach John Higginson started screaming about a seven-man boat. "He just couldn't see me over the taller guys from the escort boat," says Mike, who admits that as a high school athlete he "never amounted to anything more than a hill of beans...
...Paulovich tucked that experience under his belt when he decided to spend the summer at Marine Platoon Officer Candidates School in beautiful downtown Quantico, Virginia. Too short to be eligible for the Marines, Paulovich says he slept on a board the night before his physical and stood on his tip-toes at the weigh-in. "Sarge" (his nickname from day one of sophomore year when he returned to Cambridge sporting a Frank Freidel crew-cut) finished in the top 5 per cent of his Marine class and plans to take a commission following graduation from Harvard next year...
Sophomore year brought with it discouragement and disappointment. Paulovich failed to make a varsity boat, but his endless effort and determination garnered him the "official spare" designation on the varsity roster. Mike was supposed to be the man waiting in the wings to take over for rowers who succumbed to the sundry ailments that plague their lot. And sure enough, just as fast as you can say 'crab,' the injury devil wreaked its havoc on the lights...
...Paulovich never got the call. "Coach Higginson told me I was aggressive enough," he remembers, "but that I still lacked a certain smoothness, that my height was a distinct disadvantage." As he speaks of this obvious slight, there is no bitterness in Mike's voice, no remorse; rather. the tone is one of the steady plodder who never quits because of an intangible quality called pride...
...next week the real season begins, when the cream is sifted from the curdle and teammates battle stroke-for-stroke for a varsity berth. "Just because you're short doesn't mean you can't make it," says the ever-optimistic Paulovich. "I'm psyched to prove...