The Washington herald., 1915-12-26
Washington Oarsmen, Canoe
lists and Swimmers Are on
Par with Best IN East.
SCULLERS SHOW CLASS
by EUGENE u. POSTER,

Ny EUGENE -. FOSTER.
A review of 1915 athletic activities
will show wsshington's wster sth-
letes with q record equal In merit to
that of any other city in the East.
In rowing. canoeing and swimming
representatives of the Washington,
clubs have participated in a number
of out-of-town events and have neye,
failed to give good account of them
selves.
The two Washington boat clubs
Potomacs and Analostans. sent crews
to the peoples regatta at Philadelphia
on the Fourth of July and to the Mid,
die States Regatta in the same city on
Labor Day. and in each of these events
made showing that marked them as
OF class far above the average.
There is no city on the Atlantic
! coast that turns out a higher per-
centage of winners in the rowing
/ game than does Washington, and
other contestants in regattas have
/ come to realize that they are up
against tough proposition any time
/ they are entered in the same race
with oarsmen from either of the local
clubs.
Cunoeists Show Class.
But rowing Is not the only water
sport in which Washington eIcels. for
the Washington Canoe Club has put
| many a winner across the line in both
Canoeing and swimming.
Not only has the canoe club given
good account of itself in local re-
gattas. but in the past season canoeists
| from that organization invaded for
eign territory and showed that Wash
InL 10
branches of water sports by defeating
some OF the cracks of the Atlantic
: coast States and Canada
In swimming the Washington Canoe
Club has put across a number of win
ners in both local and South Atlantic
a. a. L. meets.
While the canoe club specializes on
canoeing and swimming the Potomac
Boat Club has also gone into the game
to some extent and has been that
clubs closest rival in a number of the
| local regattas.
But the Potomac club has made row.
ing its speciality. and in the Middle
States Regatta at Philadelphia on La
Dor Day last showed that they pos
sessed real rowing ability.
without Junior Crew.
When spring opened last season the
Potomac Boat Club found itself up
against the proposition of breaking in
practically a whole new junior crew,
as on the preceding Labor Day four
of their juniors graduated into the
senior class. when they won both the
Junior and intermediate gig races in
the Middle States Regatta at Balti-
more. and three others gave up the
game.
The club had only one Junior oars
men left who had been rowing long
enough to learn the game. and seven
other men had 10 be selected from the
new men to make up the crew.
1t required much effort and time to
teach these green men the art of row.
ing and then a great deal more atten-
tion in welding them into a smooth
working machine.
Another stumbling block was that
competent coach must be obtained
before any good results could be ex-
pected from the oarsmen-
Zappone Named Coach.
Pat Dempsey. the man who had
done so much for Potomac as coach
in the past. was unable to give his
time from his business. and il was
necessary to look around for some
one else.
After a vain search among the pro-
fessional coaches for competent
man the club was up against il as to
just what they were going to do.
Claude r. Zappone. vice-president
of the club and a follower of the
rowing game for over 80 years, seeing
the hopelessness of obtaining a good
professional man to coach the crews
and on the earnest solicitation of ths
club membership. agreed TO take up
the tasy of preparing the crew menu
bers for the Middle States Regatta at
Philadelphia.
The result of his efforts was shown
on Labor Day when he had two of his
crews come across the line in the
lead and his quad row a close Sec
ond in their race.
Double scuIis In Front.
The next win OF the day for the Fo-
tomac club was when Capt. Frank
Chamberlin and Lieut.. Bill Powell
romped away from a field of eight in
the intermediate double sculls.
They were so far ahead of their
nearest rival that they eased up when
fully 4 quarter of mile from the fin
ish and merely p&ddled over the line.
These two men make one of the
best double scull crews in the East
and are expected to beat Smith and
Kelly. present champions. when they
meet this coming season
On that days work the Potomac
club could show two first and a close
second out OF three events. while the
other Washington club, the Analos-s
tans. were a close second in the only
race they entered
The crew that represented the An
alostan Boat Club on that day had
only been training a little over two
weeks and lack of condition lost the
race for them.
Nevertheless they gave q good ac-
count of themselves and were only
beaten out a few yards by the fast
Vesper senior crew.
The Analostan senior crew was COM
posed of four men from the interme-
diate boat that had but . short time
before rowed the dead heat. while the
Undines who defeated them had
fresh crew. They were second. how
ever. and beat out the fast New York
Athletic Club crew. which in itself is
some feat.
Locals Meet Glass.
Washington canoeists in these events
meet the class of this country and
and their showing Is one that
this city should well feel proud.
From the above review 1t will be
seen that Washington's water repre-
sentatives are on par with the best
in the country and the Analostan Boat
Club. the Potomac Boat Club and the
Washington Canoe Club deserve the
support of every public spirited WASH