The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-03
Boat Racing
Hnd Other Sports.
Prom the Springfield Republican.

srom the Springfield Republican.
Boat racing holds a peculiar place
among college sports. There is nothing
essentially aristocratic about it, since
any one may race who can find tub, "A
sheet of water and competitor; but in
colleges a successful career in boat rae
ing calls fer so many elements, such as
vicinity to smooth water, large corps
of students and abundant financial
means, that only a few of our leading
universities pay it any attention. Harv-
ard, Ya!e, Cornell, Pennsylvania and Co.
lumbia have long held the sport in high
esteem, but Princeton, owing to her land
locked position, has never entered the
lists with a crew, while such colleges as
Brown and Bowdoin, although we'll To-
Gated for aquatic sports, have taken 10
rank because of their inability to endure
the demands racing imposes upon the
student body. Such an institution as
Williams is naturally debarred from this
branch of sport, and Amherst is not likely
to take ii up again, although what may be
accomplished under great difficulties by
an inland college is shown by the re-
| markabe record of the Amherst crew of
| the early seventies.
Our English friends are very much de-
voted to boat racing, placing ii in the
| fore of intercollegiate athletic events.
| The annual race between oxford and
| Cambridge. so famous for many years,
| and the Henley regatta, renowned the
| world over, show how the sport is re-
| garded abroad. Its attractive features
| are too obvious, perhaps, to require ana
| lysis, but if we call attention to the ter
| rife struggle Of a boat race and the scien-
| tific precision with which crew Is made
| into a machine, nicely adjusted and work.
| ing harmonior sly in all its parts, we point
out the essential reasons of its popular
| ity. A boat race is a test of physical en-
| durance of the most strenuous and eX-
| haustive sort, SURPRISING in this respect
| all other sports a crew is expected TO
row itself ito death" in order to win; ev-
| cry ounce of strength is called for; and
| this fearful strain upon heart, lungs and
| muscles must continue so long as the race
| lasts. The science of ii all consists in
| making eight men drive a boat with the
least waste of energy, and the problem for
| the trainer is nothing more nor less than
| TO make so nearly as possible a perfect
| machine. The stroke is the secret of this
part of the problem, and as the trainer is
| responsible for the stroke, it is clear
that boat races are as much contests be-
| tween trainers as between the crews
| themselves.
Opinions must vary widely as to the
comparative merits of boat racing and
other college sports, considered from the
| standpoint of the participant rather than
| the spectator 1t will be found neveTthe-
| less, that as between boat racing and
| foot ball there are many college men VINO
| regard the former as much less desirable
| than the latter 1t may seem surprising
to many people to pronounce boat racing
| more brutal than foot ball, yet in a
certain sense II Undo ubtedly is so. A GER
tain Yale graduate and o,d varsity play
er, who loved to play foot ball when IN
college, after three years as substitute
on the Yale crew, withdrew from boating
when he was sure to make the VARSITY
eight, simply because he had become con-
vinced that the physical strain Of train
ing and racing was dangerously severe
upon the great vital organs of the body
especially the heart. If the facts could
be published, we think that the percent
age of college oarsmen who collapse phys
ically at an carly age after graduation
would be found to be considerably larger
than the percentage of foot ball players
We have certainly heard of Yale oarsmer
becoming physical wrecks before reach
ing middle life because of heart trouble
or the decline Of physica. vitality, but