Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-08
HARVARD'S PLAN To
BUILD Up A CREW
Best Method for Obtaining
Rowing Material Practiced
by Any American
College.

CAMBRIDGE. Mass. December T.
has now turned to the work to be done
during the winter and early spring in the
sports that will occupy the attention Of
the Crimson athletes when the bluebird.
sing again. Base ball. track and rowing
are the principal subjects of discussion
with the last named the most prominent
in every athletic talk where three or more
husky lads are gathered together. The
interest in rowing has grown to amazing
proportions in the last eight months, and
this is largely due to the building of the
new Weld boathouse. with its accomno'
dations for so many more crews than the
old quarters afforded.
The new house stands on the Cambridge
side of the Charles river, on the road tc
Soldiers Field. 1t is a cement structure
with red brick trimmings, and is consider.
ably larger than the old Weld boathouse
which formerly stood on the site of the
new house, and which has been moved w
the river. Most Of the spacious rooms or
the ground floor are given to the storage
of the shells. The racks are not hall
filled as yet, many of the Weld club
shells being still at the Newell boat
house, on the other side Of the river from
There are berths for over forty boats ir
the new building. but at present it con.
tains only eight sixty-foot eight-oared
shells. All of these were used this au-
tumn by the newly organized dormintory
crews. At the western end of the first
floor is a large room cited up as shell
repair shop Hereafter the club Will re-
pair it's own boats. and thus save much
delay in training. On the second floor are
the baths and the locker rooms.
The new house has 700 lockers. Over
half the number have already been en-
gagged. The large locker rooms and baths
are situated at both ends of the building
and between them is large social room
At either end of this room is a huge fire.
place, in white marble. and the furnish
ings of the room are in keeping with the
fireplaces. One Of the pleasing features
of the new building Is series of bal
comics along the first and second stories,
from which guests of the club may view
the rowing on the river to the best adj
vantage.
Harvard has system for securing row.
ing material which Is undoubtedly the
best used in American colleges To-Day.
When Coach Wray suggested last year
that each of the college dormitories or.
ganize a crew of its own to compete
against other dormintory crews in a fall
regatta the idea was received with en-
thusiasm. Last years dormitory day, or
humping day, as 1t is sometimes called
from the fact that some of the events are
humping matches, was a great success
1t gave great number Of the university
students a chance to participate in events
where they had some show of winning
and few who had any interest at all in
aquatics missed the opportunity.
AS soon as the term opened this year
the organization of the dormitory crew
was taken up just as enthusiastically as
foot ball was begun on Soldiers Field. In
deed, the enthusiasm In rowing Is SO keen
at present that it Is question whether
rowing has or has not supplanted foot
ball In the hearts Of the Harvard students
During the fall the fifteen dormitories
housing Harvard students turned out ter
Fights. Each crew takes the name of its
dormintory, and the following reported
for training at the new boathouse every
afternoon: Russell, Hollis-Stoughton. Mat
thews, Grays. Randolph, Weld. Holyoke
Westmorley, Craige-Waverly and College
House.
The completion Of the new house means
new epoch in Harvard rowing. The
Weld house has become the home of the
dormitory crews, a source of rowing ma
terial which was unknown before the new
house was a certainty, as 1t would be
impossible to have the dormitory crews
and the varsity and freshmen Fights train
from the same house. Coach Wray con-
fines his attention to the varsity and
freshman squads, which he trains from
the Newell boathouse. The dormitory
crews are under the direction Of Coaches
Brown and Stephenson.