Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-06-20
CRIMSON AND
Blue IN ROYAL
BATTLE TODAY
Harvard and Yale. Ready for
the Forty.Seventh Annual
Regatta Today
Race 10 Take Place on the
Sluggish Tide Of The HIS
tofiC Thames
- l#
One Of the Real Sporting
Events 10 Antiquity and
Tradition

New London, Conn.,, June l9.-lhe
crews of both Yale and Harvard Uni
versities are, figuratively speaking
resting on their oars tonight, Tor on
the morrow the rival Fights ana tours
meet in the forty-seventh regatta OF
the two New England colleges. In
point of competition these crew races
hold precedence over all other forms
of dual sports in which the teams OF
Harvard and Yale are accustomed tt
match skill and endurance. Stretch
ing back to the autumn Of 1852 the
history of the inter-varsity races
shows that with but a few exceptions
during the infancy of the sport, the
oarsmen have tested stroke and sta
nina each year.
In point of antiquity, tradition ana
prominence these regattas yield &c
no college contest in American sport
ing annals. Anteceding the foot ball
baseball and track meets now a part
of the annual athletic curriculum. the
boat races are in fact only overshad'
owed by the historic series between
the crews of Oxford and Cambridge
which began in 1S41. Added inter
est is also given the regatta of to-
morrow because of the fact that the
winning crew will break the tie OF
victories now existing as a result of
the forty-six races that have already
become a part of the boating history
of Harvard and Yale.
Since the first race was rOwed on
Lake Winnipiseogee on August d
1862, the oarsmen of Yale and Har-
ward have matched speed and strength
~forty-six times, and the total number
of wins for each university is TWEEN
ty.three, showing how evenly match
ed the two universities have proved
during this period of sixty-one years.
Victories, however, have not been so
evenly apportioned in the matter or
Years for both Harvard and Yale
have won and lost races in groups OF
three or more. as a rule.
Harvard, opening with a victory IN
the initial contest, appeared to en-
Joy the experience, for during the
first twenty-three Harvard won
fifteen to Yale's, eight. The Ellis
turned the tide in 1886, and from that
year until 1908 the regatta on the
Thames, so far as the varsity eight
Dared crews were concerned, saw the
olue-tipped oars finishing first in
every year except in 1891, 1899 and
1896. Then the pendulum swung to
the Crimson again and for the past
five years Harvard has led the way
across the finish line.
AS a result of this string Of defeats
Yale rowing authorities decided that
a new system was needed. 1t was
determined to 60 back to England for
a stroke and coaches, and begin all
over again. Consequently on the w
Of the regatta Yale is found with an
English shell, and English stroke, and
two advisory English coaches in the
persons of j. r. Kirby and Harcourt
Gold, both well-known Oxford Univer-
sity oarsnen. The Eli under-gradu-
ates and alumni are hoping that the
change in system will develop a win
ner tomorrow for the Blue. But
above victory they place faith in the
methods now IN vogue, and believe
that by going back to the fountain
head OF rowing a successful coaching
system will be evolved in the near
future, If noet in 1913.
IT will be seen therefore, that the
two university crews came to New
London this year after training sea-
0 Of radically different character.
Jim Wray, the Crimson coach, who
has turned out five winning crews,
remains in charge of the Harvard
boat, but the varsity eight has still
TO win it's first race this year, having
been defeated by both Princeton and
Cornell over short courses last month.
Yale has not been tested in an inter
collegiate contest this season. The
rowing activities at New Haven have
been devoted chiefly to learning the
so-called English stroke. Whether
the resultant greater backward swing
and long recover In the Yale shell will
bring to the Blue her first victory in
six years has been a subject for ami
mated discussion among oarsmen,
both amateur and profes sional. Since
the seasons training began there
have been many shifts in both crews.
Although the changes in the Grim
sons boat were the more numerous
and radical, Harvard will have more
veteran Oarsmen than Yale in tOmOr-
rows contest.
Because of the sluggish tide, the
Thames course is slow as compared
| with the intercollegiate course at
Poughkeepsie. The time Of twenty
minutes, ten seconds, made by Yale
in 1888, still stands as the Thames
record, while the record for four
miles lane on the Hudson river is
eighteen minutes, fifty.three seconds,
made by Cornell in 1901.
AS a marine picture, the Harvard
and Yale regatta on the lower reaches
Of the Thames probably surpasses
anything of its kind in this country.
Because Of the proximity of the
Thames course to Long Island Sound,
! hundreds of steam, motor and sailing