Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-06-25
Madison, June Is.

the ordeal = number OF Wisconsin
rooters will be Oil hand to off set
gopher bluffing. The reception Of the
cardinal rOWers in the eftete east was
polite enough, yet in the light Of the
the results, had many interesting rhas-
es. At first there were no bettcrs on
Wisconsin, said one of the badgers and
Yale's money seemed eXhaustle5S. But
something had to be done to withstand
the bantering and blutllng of the blues.
So the visitors who came out of the
west formed a pool of 5000 This was
taken down town and exchanged for 81
bills When Eli enthusiasts Haunted
their money in the face of the badgers
they were astounded to see a man pull
cut of his pocket the biggest roll OF
bills they had ever seen. The Eli 0luf-
fing ceased at once. The Wisconsin
men immensely enjoyed their success
fui call of the blues four-card flush
bluff.
The New York World of the 18th
printed bright story of Yale's defeat
,
men, it said, came out Of the west, I'M
known and unheralded, to do battle
with a crew of the greatest rowing
university in the country. Eight
young men will go back in triumph,
for they gave Yale crew a tremendous
trouncing, and this without showing
the real stuff that is in them. These
OarSmen came from a seat of learning
little known in the east Of course
people here have a haZy knowledge
that there is such an institution as the
University of Wisconsin, but very few
in the east knew that they had great
rowing men in the university. Nor
had they until two years ago, when
they put forth crew. There are four
beautiful lakes at Madison, two per-
feet for rowing. There the students
went to work. There was good crew
last year. 1t was made up of seven
novices and one man who had Eat in
boat a few times. There are five of
last years men in this years crew.
When the University of Wisconsin
challenged the Yale freshmen it was
locked upon as a joke 1t was absurd
to think that a university with a'bOat-
ing history two years old could hope
to do anything with Yale and the Bob
Cook stroke But the men from the
Mississippi valley said they meant it,
and so the race was arranged. The
Badgers arrived in New Haven last
Monday. They went to Lake Saltan-
stall, which is five miles from New
Haven, and began to paddle around.
The Yale rowing men went out to
watch them They saw a strong, Wig
oI0us set of men who seemed to lack
beef. When they heard that the aver
age weight of the visiting crew was
154 pounds the Yale men whistled. The
wise Yale men saw men with long
aims and stout backs. upon which lay
long, lean muscles. instead of being
gathered in chunky punches. The men
looked very small in their boat Yale
oarsmen watched them with a lazy
interest. which speedily gave way to a
superior smile.
What kind of stroke do you call
that?" asked the Blues.
It's the Yara Yara stroke" replied
the University of Wisconsin man seri-
ously.
That is really the name of the stroke.
Andy O'Day says so. Andy is the
coach Of The Wisconsin, crow 1t is the
stroke which he learned when he was
a member of the Yara Yara crew of
Australia, which was never beaten.
Andy ODay has grated this antipo-
dean stroke on western muscle and
the result is a crew that would prob
bly, be dangerous in any company.
The Wisconsin crew showed yester-
day thar it had no business racing
against freshmen. 1t should be in the
varsity races at Poughkeepsie There
is no possible doubt that the Wisconsin
men knew that they would win. but
they didn't boast about it. In fact.
they were amazingly modest To be
sure there was not many of them
not over eighteen or twenty-and they
couldn't make much of showing
among 1000 or more Yale men and
many more Yale sympathizers.
A big crowd saw this race. They
reached Lake Saltonstall as best they
could. Several thousand rode out in
the trolley cars, which have signs read
ing, Don't be a champ and jump off
the cars while in motion" AS many
rode out awheel and in carriages Di-
rectly they reached the lake they were
lost. 1t was kind of picnic function.
There was something bucolic about it.
The lake is about three and one-half
miles long and not more than one
fourth of a mile wide On one side
bluff of rich green rises precipitate-
ly. On the other side the country rolls
IN succession of fat little hills.
There were no arrangements for spec
tators beyond a small barge, hauled
about by a fussy, incompetent launch.
Between eight and nine thousand
people distributed themselves along
the banks and were half hidden by the
trees. On one side of the lake a man
charged an admission to enter his
grounds. Nine-tenths of the crowd in