Word: whall
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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What Sports Illustrated staffer Hugh Whall wrote in a fit of pique last year after Harvard's heavyweight crew refused once again to race in the Intercollegiate Rowing Association regatta in favor of its four-mile event with Yale has been the sentiment of a number of crew writers and followers ever since Pennsylvania has become a threat to Harvard's dominance of the American college rowing scene...
...mere fact that Harvard and Yale will meet again in New London this weekend, despite the fact that the Elis are almost certain to lose-and lose badly-is another sign of the unique Harvard attitude towards the sport, an attitude that, as Whall says, belongs back in the 19th century. But for that very reason, Crimson oarsmen feel, with a measure of validity, that their approach to crew is designed to bring about the greatest amount of fulfillment for the competitor...
...Crimson, apparently, cares little about who is considered the champion. Last year, after Whall's piece on Penn's victory had appeared, heavyweight stroke Art Evans said that Harvard's varsity didn't give a damn about a recognized national title, that the boat had proved to itself everything it had to by winning at Worcester in May, and that the Yale race would probably be held as long as both colleges felt it was a valid experience. And there is no indication that either crew feels differently this year either, although Yale failed to even make the varsity finals...
...little more than a runner-up event, and that year, after Navy had upset the field there, the magazine ran a banner headline over its story that read-CHAMPIONSHIPS MINUS THE CHAMP. The cover showed a montage of coach Harry Parker and "The World's Best Crew," and inside. Whall was saying, "When Harvard shows up competition seems to vanish." Later than a month later, however, the Vesper Boat Club defeated the Crimson at Henley, and according to one Harvard athletic official, "Sports Illustrated has never forgiven us since...
...meters of the race, held off Penn's high stroke, and finished nearly a length in front. Suddenly, the championship issue had been clouded again, and due to Harvard's insistence upon racing at New London instead of Syracue, it was never to be resolved formally, except by Whall and the Quakers...