New-York tribune., 1911-12-22
TIGERS GOING SLOWLY
No Hope of Princeton Rowing at
Poughkeepsie or New London.
NOT RIVALS OF BIG CREWS
Limited Resources and Facilities
Lead to Development of Oars
men Along New Lines.
By Edward X. Bushnell.

The representatives OF intercole5le'"
rowing might az well abandon all iurt"ei
thought of persuadlng Princeton 10 com
ncte. either I'm the regatta at Poushkeepsie
or New London. The Princeton a'hI'u'
authorities have definitely decided To con-
fine their rowing activity 10 Princeton IT.
self. with the possible exception or sendlnE
a crow TO the American regatta at Phiia-
delphia occasionally.
This decision on the part OF the Tiger
authorities was communicated to the writer
by W. w Roper, the graduate director OIL
athletics at Princeton. Mr.. Roper eXplalned
-Princeton's attitude as follows:
"yVe at Princeton have come 10 tho con-
clusion that IT will be nadyisable for TINS
university To attempt to compete either at
Poughkeepsie or at any other regatta.
There are two very good reasons for tins
decision one is that we are unable TO pro
vide tho necessary funds with which to
properly train and send crew to compete
with the varsity cights at Poughkeepsie
or New London ! understand that nearly
all universities which compete at these TWO
regattas are obliged to spend from $1,000
upward for the maintenance Of their crews.
Such a thing would be totally impossible at
Princeton.
THE second difficulty we would encounter
Is the small number of students from
which wc have TO draw. our total avail
able athletic strength is hardly half that
Of the big universities whom We meet In
other sports. We have been able to get
along fairly we'll i'm football baseball and
track athletics, but It would be out of the
question to attempt such a comprehensive
programme for rowing. It is possible that
one or two crews will be sent 10 the Amerl-
can regatta at Philadelphia"
Rowing at Princeton is under an entirely
different sort of management from what
it is at other universities From the very
start Princeton has frowred on the idea
of professional coach c. s. Titus, the Old
New York Athletic Club oarsmen, was very
deslrous Of being Princeton's first coach,
and took up his residence there with the
Idea that the Tigers would employ him.
When IT came time for Princeton TO es-
tablish rowing no consideration was given
to the New Yorker. but DR.. J. Duncan
Spaeth, a member OF the Princeton faculty
and professor Of English. was asked to
act as Princeton's head coach. This is his
third year in this capacity, and it is the
unanimous opinion of all Princeton men
that he has accomplished wonders. He
work received its highest commcndatior
last year, when in a triangular regatta wiz
Cornell and Yale the Tigers finished second
No one expected them even to beat Yale
and when they gave Cornell q comfortable
race and left the Blue by many lengths
the critics had to admit that Princeton had
developed a first class crew under difficult
conditions. Fortunately DR.. Spaeth is a
veteran oarsman himself having occupied
a seat in four University of Pennsylvania
crews. His coaching at Princeton comes
as near being the ideal system from the
English point Of view as this country has
ever developed
While Princeton men have not divulged
their plans for the coming season il can
be stated with authority that the Tigers
are planning another triangular regatta
but not with Yale and Cornell. Apparent
~ Princeton intends to play no favorites in
forming rowing alliances. because negotia-
tions are now under way for triple race
with Harvard and PENNSYLVANIA. Appar-
emily it IS the intention of Princeton to
row Yale and Cornell one year and Har-
ward and Pennsylvania the next If Prince
ton succeeds IN so adjusting her rowing
situation the Tigers will have accom-
plished more 10 bring about intercollegiate
harmony than any other agency in a good
many years. That was master stroke by
which Princeton brought Cornell and Yale
together year ago. Those who are ia
miliar with the early days of intercollegiate
rowing know that Cornell gave up the
New London regatta because OF the an
tagonism OF Yale, yet the two institutions
met last year under the friendliest
Of terms. Everybody knows of the hard
feeling which has existed between Harvard
and the University OF PENNSYLVANIA I'm
nearly all departments of athletics. There
fore. If the Tigers bring these two institu-
tions together I'm a triangular regatta they
will have done much TO heal the breach
between them.
princeton naturally has a very friendly
attitude toward the American regatta. This
rs due 10 the fact that even before Prince
ton took up rowing the Tigers had a repre-
sentative on the board OF stewards. And
for the last two years their representative
here has been ". w. Roper the graduate
director. Nr. Roper has stated that II
Princeton competes in any outside reeattas
it will be at the American regatta This
regatta contains no event for varsity
crews, and since Prnceton's main object is
10 interest the undergraduates in rowing
the Tigers cannot have a better oppor-
tunlty. The distance between Princeton
ana Philadelphia is so slight that the Tigers
could compete on the Schuylkill at practi-
cally no expense beyond the shipment Of
the boat.