Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-01-05
WHAT WILL THE
HARYESTBERE
THE YALECREW
BY FAIR PLAY IN N. Y. EVENING
POST.
IBy Latest MALL

NEW YORK. - Appointment OF
Richard Armstrong, Yale. 80 s, as
head coach of the Yale crew for next
season. with DR.. Giannini. of the New
York Athletic Club. and Guy Nickalls.
the noted English oar. as assistants, is
not easy to understand. How can any
good, it may be asked, come Of such
a medley Of talent? All the men named
have different ideas and methods-the
Cook stroke. fer instance, is not the
Nickalls stroke, by any means. don't
quite see what Yale is at. The row
ing authorities may know, but on the
face of things the suggestion Of a
hotch-potch arrangement is strong |
knew that Armstrong was under con.
sideration. and announced on SaturA r.
that, besides Nickalls, "a former y
crew captain" was being considG {
for the post. In all probability A.
selection of Armstrong. with Niche
and Giannini as coadiutors, inv
a compromise among those respe-
for Yale's rowing fortunes. Arp S
rowed in the 1893 freshman crs
in the "a and '95 varsity eigh
of which were successful In Il
cared events against Harvard
Thames. When Armstrong was
lege the Bob Cook stroke w ri
preme, and, so far as Harvardial
concerned, all-conQuering. Cook.l
sumed general charge of rowing I
Yale in 1876 and continued until the
close of 1898. In that period Yale
met Harvard 81 times and was VIC
torious IA times. From 1876 to 1886
Cooks association with Yale crews
was confined more to final polishing
than anything else, but In 1886 he be.
came closely associated with rowing
at New Haven, and from that year,
until he retired in 1898, Harvard won.
but one race. Armstrong, Of course.
is thoroughly imbued with all of
Cooks principles, and, 1t may be as
suIned, knows how to impart them to
modern crews. Guy Nickalls does not,
i understand. believe that the Eng
lish stroke per Sc is the ideal stroke
for American university oarsmen. but
feels that there are many excellent
points in 1t which might well be adopt.
ed, while Giannini, sponsor for the
pure American modern system and a
fine developer of material, will, sup
pose, act as a sort of balance wheel.
1t is considered likely that Arm
strong will do most of the work of
teaching the sweep-swingers the Cook
stroke, or whatever variation Is de-.
cided upon Giannini is a great train
er of oarsmeTl, besides being an ali-,
thority on boat rigging, which may
make his services valuable Last year
the crews were coached by Harcourt
Gold, and g. W. Kirby, prominent Eng
lish oarsmen, and British methods
were adopted throughout Yale's
showing against Harvard on the
Thames in June was discouragiHg, the
defeat being a. decisive one. Under.
graduates and graduates denounced
the English stroke, as being hard to
master, within short time, in addi-
ton to being too wearing on the men.
Nevertheless, ii was decided to give
the English methods another trial, and
early this fall formal announcement
was made that Messrs. Gold and Kir-
by would again cross the Atlantic and
coach the crews, with w. Averill Har-
riman, son Of the late railroad mag.
nate, as head coach. Soon afterwards,
Yale rowed Princeton a short race on
Lake Carnegie, and was defeated.
From all sides came strong criticism
of the coaching methods, until finally
the rowing committee was forced to
reconsider their intentions. Confer
enees have been held in New York for
several weeks by the rowing commit
tee and Captain Denegre, in an en-
deavor to decide ON coaching policy
OF course, as said, Yale authorities
may know what they are doing. the
three coaches may interlock harmoni-
ously and with excellent results, but
assuredly the three men represent a
radical mixture of ideas and methods