Embedded Files
The fall of 1960 brought significant improvements in the fortunes of the Georgetown Crew. Coach Cadle was already impressing the OxBridge traditions on the upperclassmen he’d brought under his spell that spring, while the freshman class of 1964 held a number of strong novice rowers who would soon earn their seats.[1] The timeline for University recognition was maturing, the Class of ’61 was beginning to discuss its Senior Class gift, and the committee charged with the decision included a strong crew representative in Bob Remuzzi. From the river the crew was eagerly watching the completion of what would soon become their new boathouse close by the mouth of Rock Creek, a project referred to at that time as the National Capital Water Sports Center, aka “mission 66.” [2] So that Fall the crew, and especially the seniors, were eager to follow the new coach as he charted the course toward their first victory the next spring.
"A Lucky Find' is what the
'61 College yearbook called
Don D. Cadle
"National Capitol" renamed "Thompson" Water Sports
Center, pictured about 2008
By the time the new boathouse was dedicated on Saturday, Sept 24th, 1960, the University and Don Cadle had already put in their “dibs” on the far bay on the eastern side of the brick and fieldstone structure. Georgetown would now have ample space for the storage of at least four eights on one side, and a couple of fours and pairs on the other. Upstairs there were lockers and a shower room, as well as a spacious meeting room, and a balcony overlooking the dock, that offered good views of the Potomac both upstream and down. The crews of GW, American, and Howard also came to share the facility for rowing shells, while on the other side of the central office on the ground floor there were several bays available for canoes and kayaks. Broad aluminum ramps reached down to a long and spacious floating dock that could easily accommodate two eights at a time with ample room to spare. The new facility became the home for the Georgetown Crew for the next fifty years and was a big step in establishing the Potomac as a major rowing venue. But without their own boats a new boat house would be of little use, so that March the crew continued to row out of Potomac Boat Club, using rented boats & oars.
George Pocock in 1959
Happily, the issue of boats was already being solved behind the scenes. Not only was the Student Government Senior Gift committee coming to a consensus on how to allocate its $2,900 gift, but Don Cadle had taken the initiative in contacting George Pocock, the great American boat builder in Seattle, Washington. As events unfolded both tracks came together the following spring, when two new eights and three sets of oars were delivered to the newly named “Harry Thompson Water Sports Center.” The Senior Class Gift Committee (having been successfully lobbied by member Bob Remuzzi) decided to buy one shell and thirty oars, to be named appropriately, “The Spirit of ’61.” The name paid respect both to the class as a whole, and in particular to the dedication of the seniors[3] who had founded the modern era crew, and held it together for three tough years. The second shell, donated by Don and Inge Cadle, was named “The Fred Maletz,” in honor of their first coach and founder.
There was more good news in January when the University announced that it was granting the Crew Varsity status and an annual allowance of $1000. Varsity status gave formal recognition to all the work accomplished by the members over the years and conferred the Varsity Letter “G” and freshman Numerals on those who rowed the season in the varsity boat and the first freshman eight. Guys who had sacrificed for so long were finally going to receive their visible reward in these tokens of University recognition and support.[4] Cadle also created the Society of the Golden Oar[5] with membership limited to those who rowed at least half the season’s races in the Varsity boat, and to graduating seniors who’d rowed all four years; members would be awarded a handsome 14k gold oar tie clip to adorn the new crew tie he’d designed.
The Cadle Touch
1961 Crew pictured in Ye Domesday Book that same year
Don Cadle’s arrival and the University’s recognition and budgetary support might have been happily coincidental, but it is worth noting that Don was a remarkably charming fellow and was able to deal successfully with the university administration from the outset. The reasons for this are not difficult to understand.
As an advocate for the OxBridge paradigm of rowing as a club sport, Don was not asking from the University anything beyond the token support they had already promised, and which the Crew had earned and deserved during the “probationary years.” In Don’s view, financial support from the University was at best a mixed blessing that could compromise the independence of the Crew as an autonomous student-run organization.[6] On principle, Don didn’t press the administration for more than what they were willing to grant.
Then there was the Cadle pedigree: Wentworth Military Academy, Yale, a Rhodes scholarship, and an Oxford Ph.D. currently working as an executive at NASA.[7] Here was a highly credentialed volunteer willing to coach an up and coming young team in a prestigious Ivy League sport, and do so without pay! No wonder the administration was eager to embrace him. As events would soon reveal, with the Cadles, they were getting much more than they were giving.
But there was a deeper reason for the warm relationship Don was able to cultivate with the administration, something more than the personal charisma and professional résumé. It is likely that despite their religious differences,[8] the Jesuits recognized in him something very close to their own Ignatian ideals: a stern commitment to excellence. And the admiration was mutual. Although we have no quote from Don himself, here is a comment on what the Jesuits represented to another patron of Georgetown athletics that probably captures Don’s own feelings toward the Society of Jesus:
The order seemed to stand for great things . . . I came to see them as men formed in a great school, modeled on a noble pattern and I thought if I could be the kind of man that they were . . . there was nothing better that I could ask or do in life.[9]
Not that Don was going to convert to Catholicism, but the total commitment[10] to a moral ideal of life was definitely something he shared with the Jesuits, and it was their shared dedication that provided the moral foundation for the cordial and cooperative relationship they enjoyed. Religious differences aside, Don and the Jesuits were morally kindred spirits.
The Spring of 1961 [11]
Nineteen sixty one was the year the GU Crew realized its potential and began to win races. No doubt part of this was due to Don Cadle’s technical knowledge and skill as a coach, but the decisive change was psychological and moral. Cadle had the ability not just to demand the best from his men, but to convince them that their notion of their “best” was only the threshold to a higher level of performance; no one knew what his best really was; one’s best was still to be discovered. Rowing was much more than something done merely for “fun;” it was an expression of one’s moral character, and consequently it deserved to be taken seriously; very seriously. Someone once said of football (soccer) that “it’s not a matter of life and death. It’s more important than that.” [12] Cadle would have agreed to the extent that he believed that the way one plays a sport is the way he’ll live his life, and die his death. Seriousness and dedication are the price of excellence, and to perform excellently is better than mere “fun.” The Greek word for it is eudemonia; it’s a moral and spiritual exercise.[13]
One of the most important innovations that Cadle introduced that first winter was early morning workouts in the gym. In January and February while the river was still frozen, Don gathered the crew each morning at six am for calisthenics to prepare them for the spring races. This is where the Cadle gospel was first put into practice; it wasn’t explicitly “spiritual,” and was never expressed in this religious idiom, but in retrospect the coach clearly knew what he was striving to achieve with his new converts.
The physical benefits of pushing beyond one’s “personal best” in physical exercise are obvious: increasing strength, agility and endurance. But as Pat Doyle ’63 recalls,[14] Cadle was also concerned with the psychological (spiritual) effects of continually striving to surpass one’s “best;” the self-discovery that comes from driving (or being driven) beyond anything you had thought possible, whets the sort of desire that is absolutely crucial for winning crew races. The Cadle gospel taught that such intensity in the gym would enable the oarsman to row through the pain and exhaustion of a close race on the river, and convince him that he was worthy of winning.
"What a Workout" reads Ye Domesday '61 caption
As Jim Mietus ‘63 wrote, “You win races in the gym in January. You collect your medals after the races in May.”[15] The point of such exercise is to do “one more” and then another one, and another; and most importantly, to develop an appetite, a positive taste for that sort of intensity.[16] Cadle’s approach to conditioning stressed this spiritual dimension of calisthenics and made the winter workouts something akin to a personal quest, an exploration of the frontiers of one’s endurance. Call it “brainwashing” or “cool aid,” but the crew believed and accepted the gospel according to Cadle, and by the time they hit the water in March of ‘61 they were ready – seriously ready – to win.
Domesday '61, V-boat (partial view)(l to r): Fitzgerald, Risser, Mietus
On that first foggy morning of March 6th the varsity went out with Henry Walker in the bow, Don Whamond 2, Butch Cassidy 3, Dave Casey 4, Frank Barrett 5, Jim Fitzgerald 6, Chris Risser 7, Jim Mietus at stroke, and Al DiFiore in the coxswain’s seat. According to the anonymous keeper of the Log, they “rowed well – 5 miles at a 20.” [17] Although there is scant mention of the JV boatings in the Log, Chris Risser explains some background:
All ’60 freshmen (ie, class of ’63) to my recall started in the ’61 JV. Don Cadle was very determined to put the strongest varsity into the ’61 Dad Vail and to that purpose began jayvee-varsity seat challenges early in the season. Eventually, all four oarsmen from the stern half of the ’60 frosh crew (Mietus, Risser, Casey, and McGuire) ended up in the same order (stroke, 7, 6, 5) in the ’61 varsity Dad Vail race with four seniors (Barrett, O’Brien, Whamond, and Fitzgerald) retaining the bow seats, and Al serving as coxswain.
I did not unseat Butch (Cassidy). My challenge sent senior Bill Prest back to the jayvee boat. I felt bad about that and feared Bill would hold that against me. To my great relief, he was the perfect gentleman and true sportsman . . . and his friendship was to be cherished.[18]
Four days later on March 10, Don began to introduce the freshmen to rowing by rotating them into the varsity boat as pairs (in the 3 and 4 seats) while the varsity guys set the boat for them.
Shells and Shirts, April ‘61
New shell, new shirts '61
T.S. Eliot famously wrote that “April is the cruelest month.” Whatever that might have meant for T.S., it certainly didn’t fit the fortunes of the Georgetown Crew, for April finally brought the laurels they had been cultivating for three years. In April, they began to win boat races. In fact, in the next three years they would come in behind only three crews, and one of them was the reigning Olympic, and World Champion Ratzeburg eight.
The change in fortune was perhaps best symbolized by the arrival of the two new Pocock eights and oars delivered to the newly named Thompson Water Sports Center on Good Friday, March 31st. New season, new house,[19] new boats, new oars, new launches, and a new and charismatic coach: as Frank Barrett wrote in his memoir, “We had it all!” Could things get any better? Yes! Before the first race Cadle presented them with their new English rowing shirts: heavy woolen jerseys in the classic OxBridge cut, white with horizontal navy-blue pinstripes.[20] Now the circumstances were set; all that remained was to row, race, and win.
The Varsity Wins its First Race
Their first race that year was April 15th against St. Joe’s and George Washington. Given the friendly publicity generated for the Crew by the class gift of their new shell, “Spirit of ’61,” and by the flyers posted around campus inviting Hoyas to “bring a date” to the crew races, there was a huge crowd (by crew standards) of 1,500 spectators gathered at the new boat house. The finish line stretched from the boathouse across to a point on Roosevelt Island, but it was the downstream[21] course they rowed that day, with the start about 3/8ths of a mile south of Memorial Bridge.
The reasons for choosing the downstream course for this race were both practical and prudential. Practically, there was a high school race being run on the upper stretch of the upstream course. Prudentially, the upstream course was still obstructed by the piers of the old aqueduct only a hundred feet or so upriver from the abutments for Key Bridge. In a three boat race, steering through these obstacles in the high water of April would be a coxswain’s nightmare.[22] By contrast, the downstream course afforded a relatively straight shot from start to finish line, with the only obstacles being the widely spaced abutments of the Memorial Bridge and the even wider abutments of the unfinished Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, neither of which posed any problems for the coxswains. So with two brand new boats and oars at risk, the preference for the less obstructed course is understandable.
As usual in rowing regattas, the freshman race went off first, with the Hoyas[23] facing a tough crew from St. Joe’s. There were no times posted for this race, just the result: St. J’s first, GU second; but judging by the times for the later races the freshmen must have endured a grueling debut, rowing against a headwind and strong current. The Junior Varsity[24] was more successful, defeating George Washington in 9:00.6 for the 2000 meter course; St. J’s did not enter a JV.
Domesday '61, "The Coach and his Boys": Seniors
Bill Prest, Mike O'Brien, Al DiFiore, Don Whamond
By the time of the Varsity race the crowd had swelled, and when the crew emerged from the boathouse with their new eight on their shoulders they were cheered all the way down to the dock. The new gold leaf letters on the bow, “The Spirit of ’61,” announced high expectations for this first race of the season. After three years of hard struggle, the “Spirit of ‘61” was something very real for the five seniors in the boat; bowman Frank Barrett, Don Whamond 2, Mike O’Brien 3, Jim Fitzgerald 4, and cox Al DiFiore. The next four weeks would be the culmination of their rowing careers and they were now ready and determined to go out winners. No less determined were the four sophomores in the boat: John McGuire at 5, Dave Casey 6, Chris Risser 7, and Jim Mietus at Stroke.
The race quickly developed into a duel between the Hoyas and the Hawks of St. Joe’s, as the GW crew was left in their wakes from the very start and was never a factor. Going off the line at 39 spm, the Hoyas took the lead and built on it going under the Memorial Bridge.
But then Mike O’Brien caught a horrendous crab that almost stopped the boat. Fortunately, Mike had the presence of mind to maintain control of his oar and quickly recovered; momentum had been lost, but not the race.
Washington Post Apr 16, 1961
Washington Post on April 16, 1961 catches Varsity victory
St. Joe’s had seized the lead and held it all the way through the abutments for the unfinished Roosevelt Bridge, but despite being behind in adverse conditions (headwind and a strong current) the guys were confident they had time to overtake the Hawks. The fact was that they were used to rowing against the Potomac’s spring currents but the boys from Philly were not. So with five hundred very long meters to go, Jim Mietus took the stroke up and began to close the gap. From three quarters of a length down, the Hoyas simply rowed through the tiring Hawks to win by three quarters of a length.
As Jim Mietus wrote in his memoir,
One of life’s greatest pleasures is being, say 300 yards from the finish line . . . You will win if you have it in you. You have it in you. You win!
The times tell the tale of a very long 2000 meter race: GU 8:46.6, St. Joseph’s 8:49.3, and George Washington two and a half lengths back[25]. As the excited crowd rushed down to the dock to greet their heroes, their weight actually bent the ramp’s under-structure. The “Spirit of ‘61” was victorious, and as Frank Barrett has said: “Georgetown rowing as we know it began that day.”
Washington Post Apr 30, 1961
The victory over St. Joe’s was followed two weeks later on April 29th, with the Hoyas’ first sweep against their young neighbors, the crew of Washington & Lee HS, the defending National Schoolboy Champions coached by the venerable Charlie Butt.[26] Although the Generals were several years younger than the Hoyas, in terms of experience they were a strong and seasoned crew. This was no mismatch.
The Hoya freshmen[27] easily handled the W&L third varsity boat by a two length margin, with American University’s JV and Howard’s varsity trailing. The JV [28] then won their race over the Generals’ second eight by a length, with an overmatched American University varsity boat four lengths back.
The GU varsity eight remained unchanged, but rowed a shorter one mile downstream course from just below Memorial Bridge, again against a strong current and a gusty headwind. The outcome was never really in doubt as the Hoyas, again rowing in the “Sprit,” pulled away to a solid lead from the start and at 39spm in the sprint won going away by a length and a half in a time of 6:38, over W&L’s 6:46. Coach Cadle told the victors they were now “Kings of the Potomac,” and that never again would they row against a high school crew.[29]
The next Saturday, May 6th, Georgetown scored another sweep over the Colonials of George Washington. Competitively, this was not a particularly important race since GW had already proven to be no match for the GU crews. Whatever interest there is in this race comes from the shifts Cadle made in the boatings. In the Varsity, Don Whamond and Jim Fitzgerald exchanged seats: Whamond now rowing 4 and Fitzgerald in 2. In the freshman boat, the changes were more significant; Jack Michael came in as stroke, Sterling Miller rowed 6, Pete Fisher 4, and Ed Geary, Dean Conley and Jack Sharkey filled out the bow three.
Except for a moment of comic relief at the finish of the varsity race, the racing itself was almost anticlimactic. The freshmen won by default when American University withdrew from their race. Rowing in the varsity race, the JV came from behind to pass the GW varsity by a quarter length. In the same race, the GU Varsity rowed out to a six length lead but in the last strokes Al DiFiore misjudged the finish and called “let ‘er run” three seconds (about fifty feet) short of the line. Fortunately for the Varsity, their momentum carried them over the line and they came in a scant five lengths ahead of their own JV and the struggling GW Varsity. The times for the varsity race were 6:28.8 for the Hoya Varsity, 6:43 for their JV, and 6:44 for GW.
Washington Post May 7, 1961
The Dad Vail ‘61
Washington Post touts
GU Crew May 9, 1961
Having rowed to their first (albeit brief) regular season undefeated, the Hoyas arrived on the Schuylkill with high hopes that they would improve on last year’s ninth place showing. The regatta was the largest yet, with nineteen varsities, nine JV’s and eleven freshmen crews set to row in the qualifying heats on Saturday morning, May 13th. Given the odd number of entries in each division some heats were overloaded, and as luck would have it, each of the GU crews faced a loaded heat.
In the second heat of the morning, the varsity Hoyas[30] found themselves rowing in the middle lane (four) against six other crews: St. Joe’s, Tampa, Amherst, (Georgetown,) Fordham, Marietta, and American International; first two from each heat to qualify, second two to the consolation race. From the start, Georgetown took a quarter length lead at 40spm and extended it to a half-length over St. Joe’s and Amherst by the half-mile mark at 32spm. From there it was essentially a two boat race until the sprint at 40spm stretched their lead to three quarters of a length over Amherst, with St. Joe’s trailing. The times were GU 6:22.4, Amherst 6:24.4, and St. Joe’s 6:28.2.[31] Marietta, American International, Tampa, and Fordham followed.
There were two JV heats with the first three from each to qualify. Again Georgetown[32] rowing in lane five faced the larger (five boat) field, but won by a full length in a time of 6:38.8 over Fordham 6:42.8 and Purdue 6:45.2, with Rollins and Tampa trailing.
The Hoya freshmen[33] (6:37.1) qualified from lane three by placing a very close .4 seconds behind Fordham 6:36.7, with LaSalle 6:40.6, while Purdue, Wayne State, and St. John’s failed to make the final.
The Finals
The New York Times
May 14, 1961
The afternoon events were foretold by the morning heats as Brown swept to decisive open water victories in each division. In the freshman race, the Hoyas were disappointed, coming in fifth (6:35.5) behind Brown 6:24.8, Fordham 6:29.8, LaSalle 6:31.8, and St. Joe’s 6:32.8. Drexel came in last.
The JV final was a run-away for the low-stroking Bruins (6:25.5) who cruised the course well ahead of the second place Hoyas (6:39) and the rest of the closely spaced field: Marietta in 6.40.5, Purdue 6:42, Drexel 6:45.9, and Fordham 6:46.1.
In the grand finale, the Hoya Varsity went off at a swift 40spm but by the settle they found themselves in fourth place behind the lower stroking Bruins, Amherst, and LaSalle. By the turn under the Strawberry Mansion Bridge, DiFiore and Mietus had moved the boat past LaSalle but GU was still a quarter-length behind Amherst and more than a length behind the big Brown crew. Down the stretch, Brown and Amherst extended their leads over GU by about a half-length each. With three-eighths of a mile to go, Mietus started the sprint (41spm) and managed to pull even with Amherst in second place; but then, passing the last quarter mile marker, both Brown and Amherst raised their strokes and drew away again to finish first and second. The times: Brown 6:19.5, Amherst 6:25.8, Georgetown 6:28.5, LaSalle 6:32.7, Drexel 6: 37, Rollins 6:37.6. Brown’s time set a new course record by bettering LaSalle’s 6:25.8 that had stood since 1953.[34]
Although disappointed with third place, the seniors of ‘61 who ended their rowing careers that afternoon could look back on four years of solid accomplishment and lifelong friendships forged through adversity and lately, real success. Had they been able to look into the future they would have had even greater reason to be proud of what they’d started, for this third place finish would be the last time a Georgetown Varsity would finish behind another college crew for two years.
The following Monday night, May 15, 1961, at the annual Athletic Award Banquet thirteen members of the Georgetown Crew became the first oarsmen to receive their Varsity Letter certificates from Coach Cadle:
Frank Barrett* James Mietus
Wilfred Blanchet* Michael O’Brien (President)*
David Casey William Prest*
Albert DiFiore* Robert Remuzzi*
James Fitzgerald (Captain of Boats)* Christian Risser
Joseph Masterson* Donald Whamond*
John McGuire
These men were also the charter members of the Society of the Golden Oar and the first recipients of the Golden Oar tie clasp.
(*The asterisks mark the “Originals” who persevered from the first days to this final celebration.)
Don Whamond's "G"
It deserves note that traditionally the varsity letter was awarded with a heavy navy-blue cardigan sweater; and personally, when I won the Golden Oar in 1965, I bought my letter sweater, the price: $40. But since the 14k Golden Oar cost $16, the Golden Oar was awarded in lieu of the letter sweater; a letterman could receive one or the other but not both, which seemed fair. Now to us the Golden Oar meant more than the “G” on a sweater because it represented all that was special about the being on the crew. But it also meant that the Athletic Department was saving about $24 on each oarsman who earned the varsity “G” and accepted the Golden Oar.
Ed Witman's Golden Oar
tie clasp on GRA tie
[1] The Crew Class of ’64 eventually came to include such stalwarts as Bill Allen, Dean Conley, Dan Ebert, Bob Frederick, Joe Frederick, John Harrington, Jack Hoeschler, Jack Michael, Mike Mullin, Marc O’Brien, Mark Pisano, Pete Reyburn, Doug “Tiger” Sergeant, Robert Valerian, and Fred Vollbrecht. Not all of these guys rowed their freshman year however; Dan Ebert, Jack Hoeschler, Marc O’Brien, Mark Pisano and Bob Valerian came out in their sophomore year, 1962.
[2] This new boathouse was “the brainchild of the national Capital Parks Superintendent Harry T. Thompson, . . . (and) built with funds allocated under a 10 year expansion and rebuilding project embarked on by the National Park Service known as ‘Mission 66’. The facility was renamed 3/28/61 for its champion who passed away 5 months after its dedication.” From: History of theThompson Boat Center (website.)
[3] See Chapter One for a list of the Originals of ’61 who founded the GU Crew as freshmen back in the late winter of ’58. For the lettermen of ’61 and SGO members see below, last page of this chapter.
[4] For a more complete chronicle of the Crew’s relations with the University, see the postscript to Chapter Two.
[5] The Society of the Golden Oar was legally incorporated November 19, 1964. The incorporators were Robert Remuzzi, Francis W. Barrett, and Patrick A. Doyle. See appendix for the Articles of Incorporation.
[6] Don Whamond, 7/21/12. As Whamond recalls, “The University loved Cadle.”
[7] The NASA connection was not an insignificant item. Remember that this was 1960, the dawn of the “space race,” a time when the nation’s power and prestige were invested in developing the rockets that would take Americans to the moon. NASA was the flagship agency of that effort, and so to be connected with the space program carried a very potent cachet.
[8] Cadle was born into a family of Alabama Baptists, but later became a Presbyterian.
[9] Rev. Gerald Yates, SJ. (1907 – 1979) from the Jesuit website.
[10] Frank Barrett recalls that Cadle once explained that the most important thing he looked for in a man was the willingness and ability to commit himself to a worthy goal. Dedication and commitment demand the seriousness that was evident in everything Don did. In Frank’s term, Don was an “excessive compulsive” in his pursuit of excellence.
[11] Thanks to a Log detailing every workout and race, the spring rowing season of ‘61 is (at least with respect to the varsity boat) the most carefully documented of the first decade. The Log was discovered 10/17/12 among Don Cadle’s collection of crew memorabilia. Unfortunately, the identity of the person who kept the Log remains unknown; because of their handwriting differences and 3rd person references to “Mr. Cadle” and “Coach Cadle,” it seems that none of the most likely people (Cadle, Al DiFiore, or Bob Remuzzi) could be the author, so the mystery remains unsolved to date. See the Appendix for the complete Log.
[12] The quote is usually attributed to Bill Shankly, Scottish footballer and coach of the Liverpool Club.
[13] This term is chosen deliberately for its association with the Jesuit tradition. St. Ignatius Loyola wrote and prescribed THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES for his company of priests, the Society of Jesus. It is still a classic of spiritual formation and self-analysis.
[14] Personal interview, 7/9/12
[15] Mietus’ memoir, 9/13/12
[16] In his book on rowing, THE AMATEURS, David Halberstam describes Olympic sculling contender John Bigelow as “The Connoisseur of Pain.” Don Cadle would have approved that turn of phrase.
[17] For the Log itself, see the appendix. When reading the Log it is important to note that throughout March ‘61 GU was still rowing to and from “the dock” at the Potomac Boat Club just upriver from Key Bridge, so distances and landmarks for those early workouts need to be identified from that perspective.
[18] Chris Risser, 10/17/12. The Log confirms that the challenges began April 4/61.
[19] The Crew moved into their new boat house April 4th.
[20] There is a great photo taken that April of the varsity crew in their new shirts posing in front of the new boat house. These shirts were worn by GU crews in all races up through the spring of ’64. Beginning in the summer of ’64, the heavyweights rowed in new singlet style sleeveless shirts, gray with a broad horizontal stripe of royal blue. The classic Oxford pinstriped shirts were given to the lightweights who continued to race in them through spring of 1966.
[21] “Downstream” refers to the location of the start relative to the finish, not the direction of the boat relative to the current. The “upstream” course started up at the Three Sisters, ran under Key Bridge and finished at the Thompson boat house. Once the piers from the old aqueduct were removed, this upstream course became the regular race course.
[22] Al DiFiore explains: (on the upstream course) “each lane had a pair of designated old piers to go between (I think 2 shells between each set of piers) then through the bridge, turn a little to the right and finish in front of the boathouse.” 10/27/12.
[23] From the bow, the freshmen were John Harrington, Jack Michael 2, Pete Linzmeyer 3, Carlos Sarmento 4, Pete Reyburn 5, Pete Fisher 6, Mike Mullin 7, Sterling Miller stroke, and Tiger Sergeant cox. Given the need to run the JV race immediately after the freshman race, it is likely that the freshmen rowed in “The Spirit of ’61” while the JV rowed in the “Maletz.” This would have allowed the Varsity enough time to take their seats in the “Spirit,” adjust the foot stretchers and get to the starting line for their own race.
[24] From the bow: Henry Walker, Bill Blanchet 2, Bob Remuzzi 3, John Walsh 4, Butch Cassidy 5, Jay O’Brien 6, Carl Haeger 7, Bill Prest stroke, and Paul Ritter cox. There is a photo of this crew crossing the finish line in the Washington Post of 4/16/61.
[25] Generally, in reading margins of a lead between boats the rule is that 1 sec. = ±16ft. In a final sprint it takes an eight about 4 seconds to travel one length (about 60 feet.) This varies with the quality of the crew and conditions but not by very much.
[26] Washington & Lee High School (“The Generals”) owned the US National schoolboy title from 1957 thru 1962, and in 1963 tied for the championship with Hammond HS.
[27] The freshman boat on this day was, from bow: John Harrington, Tony Musto 2, Fred Vollbrecht 3, Carlos Sarmento 4, Pete Reyburn 5, Pete Fisher 6, Mike Mullin 7, Sterling Miller stroke, and Tiger Sergeant cox.
[28] The JV boat was Henry Walker in bow, John Walsh 2, Bob Remuzzi 3, Pat Doyle 4, Butch Cassidy 5, Jay O’Brien 6, Carl Haeger 7, Bill Prest stroke, and Paul Ritter cox.
[29] Jim Mietus, 9/13/12; Frank Barrett 9/14/12
[30] From bow: Barrett, Jim Fitzgerald 2, Mike O’Brien 3, Don Whamond 4, John McGuire 5, Dave Casey 6, Chris Risser 7, Jim Mietus stroke, and Al DiFiore cox.
[31] These times are taken from Ralph Lindamood’s MARIETTA CREW: A HISTORY OF ROWING AT MARIETTA COLLEGE, p.173. In contrast the GU Crew Log records the same varsity heat times as GU 6:19, Amherst 6:21, which are both several seconds faster than the times in the first heat, and more than ten seconds faster than the winning time in the third heat. This inconsistency in the times cast some doubt on the Log’s times for these heats. See appendices for both records.
[32] This was the first year that Georgetown entered a Junior Varsity in the Dad Vail. From bow: Bob Remuzzi, John Walsh 2, Bob Keating 3, Pat Doyle 4, Carl Haeger 5, Jay O’Brien 6, Vito Zambelli 7, Bill Prest stroke, and Paul Ritter cox.
[33] From bow: Fred Vollbrecht, Jack Michael 2, Ed Geary 3, Pete Fisher 4, Pete Reyburn 5, Dean Conley 6, Mike Mullin 7, Sterling Miller stroke, and Tiger Sergeant cox.
[34] Having scored their sweep, as well as their third consecutive Varsity victory, Brown would later announce (at the winter meeting of the Board of Stewards) that they would withdraw from the Dad Vail Association and join the IRA and EARC.
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