Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-05

NEW HAVEN, Conn.,, May 4.-Be-
cause of the numerous hard luck stories
that have come up from New Haven
the past month regarding the Yale var
sity crew material, the impression may
have got abroad that "clean shave
and a BATH" as John L. Sullivan once
said, will be all the training that Har-
ward will require to land the annual
boat race at New London.
If there is anybody foolish enough to
believe that Yale will go down to the
Thames for the race with Harvard In
a crippled condition, he has only to
visit New Haven and speedily become
convinced that instead of boatload OF
cripples or weddings, Yale will be
found at the starting line in much bet
ter shape than last season.
1t was not many days after the con-
test last year that Coach John Kennedy
of Yale saw some radical changes in
the crew would have to be made to
meet the Harvard combination this sea-
son on anything like equal terms.
He set about looking up the football
heroes and in fact every other kind of
athlete who gave promise of furnishing
husky material for the crew.
The result has been very gratifying,
for at present there are four varsity
crews and four freshman squads at
work in the harbor daily, and when
things are in full swing nine class crews
will also be afioat.
Husky Crew
Early in the season 1t became appar-
ent that Yale would probably have a
crew that would weigh an average of
174 pounds to the man. The husky foot
ball men were tried; some were found
wanting and others are struggling to
master the use Of the oar and sliding
seat, and for this season, at least, can
not be considered as crew possibilities.
The Yale crew Of today is an un-
known quantity, as only two or last
years combination have seats in the
boat-Stroke Bolton and Capt. Ide at
No. 7. The presence of these men-and
they must be regarded as fixtures
guarantees that both sides of the boat
will have proper stroking and that the
crew will have pacemakers able to
keep the others going from start to
finish.
There are no changes this season in
the rigging, oars or stroke employed by
the crew, and unless Bolton loses his
seat through accident the Yale crew
will present about the same appearance
as last June.
The men are employing that long,
easy, swinging stroke of the past six
years. They have mastered this stroke
to such an extent that they row in
chop seas and side winds and keep the
shell as steady as an ordinary crew
does on a millpond.
Well Trained
Kennedy's men are we'll versed in
workmanship, for they carry their oar
blades close to the water on the re-
covery, and turn them as evenly and
gracefully as scullers before dropping
them in the water at the catch.
The triumph of the Belgian crew over
tire Britons at Henley, the victory o1
the Cambridge crew on the Thames
over Harvard and the general inter.
national discussion following both race:
have interested Coach Kennedy, but al
the talk has not made him bulge al
inch or discard what he considers the
tried and true methods for those EN-
ployed abroad.
Yale's stroke consists of that long
easy effort, with arms and back to &c
out and get as much length of stroke
as is consistent with a mans build, and
pull it through hard and even to tho
finish.
1t is the steadiness of the shell that
furnishes the most encouragement TO
the Yale followers, and the cleverness
of the men individually and collectively
comes next.
Where Yale is uncertain is in the