New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-06-27
Columbia Rules Favorlte,
but Other Crews
Promise Well.
EIGHT FROM COAST
LEADS ALL IN POWER
Cornell Combination Seems to
Lack the Finish Which Char
acterizes COurtney's Work.

aCleTlZSS IOul lIS w VI ~
With little 10 choose among them
Ave VARSITY crews, trained TO the MIN
ute. will paddle TO the starting Ine OF
the four-mile regatta course on the
Updson AZ Poughkeepsic tomorrow az
ternoon ready for one Of the greatest
rsees in the history Of intercoilec ate
rowing. Columbia, Cornell, Pennsy.-
vania. Syracuse and Leland Stanford
from the far Pacific, are the crews that
make up the field, and with one pos
sible exception the race vii. be oat'.e
ROYAL, with every one In the running
until the finish line Is crossed.
Because OF its unexpected victory 4
wear ago Columbia seems 20 many 20 be
the logical favoTite, but Syracuse win
a powerful fast crew seems worth every
BIT as much consideration as Columbia,
while Cornell, with q crew that is NOT
quite UP 20 the standard which kept the
Ithscans ahead Of all for so many
years. is not 10 be held too lightly on
tina. account.
So far as rowing form md actual
trv-outs over the four miles 20 Pennsyl-
vania does not seem 20 have a crew that
will measure up 20 the eight Of year
ago. but the Quakers have always the
happy faculty Of being able 10 row bet
ter on race day than they know how
and although the Philadelphians arc
not taking much stock IN their 1913
eight Il is far from being an outside
chance. ,
Unfortunately the only eight which
does not seem 10 be entitled 10 consld-
Grafton as a possibility for first place Is
the Leland Stanford crew from Palo
Alto The Ca.ifornians have crew
that is far superior physically to every
other eight on the river, but u Is lack
ing in the finer essentials OF rowing,
and without these 10 is hard to see how
even so powerful a crew can hope TO
finish better than in the second diVl-
sion.
Interest in the big regatta on the
Hudson instead Of tagging seems to be
increasing year by year, and II Is esti--
mated that 10000 persons or more VIII
see the crews battle over the line. Inc
presence of the Stanford crew IN the
lists gives the race a nationwide I'M
portance and makes up In some meas
ure for the fact that for the FIRST time
in the history Of the regatta victory
will not carry with u a national inter
collegiate championship. That honor
went 10 the Thames, and was estao-
Nshed when Yale won on Friday Nlth
the exception Of Syracuse and stanford
the crews on the Hudson have all SUI
fered early season reycrses, Cornell at
the hands Of Yale and Harvard, Colum-
bia By Princeton, and Pennsylvania by
Yale and Princeton.
No Two-Crew Racing.
That the race tomorrow will not be
a struggle between any two crews,
which will strive to kin each other off,
goes without saying. The folly Of that
kind Of racing was proved two years
ago when Columbia and Cornell, with
two of the finest crews that ever came
10 the Hudson, rowed each other out in
the first three miles and then were
lucky TO finish at all. This year there
will be no pitched battle between Co
lumbia and the lthacans, and each Will
row its own race In its own way.
II is believed that Syracuse, with It's
slugging combination, will set the pace
from the outset, but If IT does 1t VIII
have TO contend with two mighty
powerful crews, which are being
coached TO put forth their greatest
efforts in the last mile. The two are
Cornell and Columbia. Pennsylvania
will rate along as IT did year ago. and
will try to row a steady pace that Will
carry il well 10 the front before the
last sprint is called for. Stanford Will
row. as will Columbia and Cornell, with
a sprint all the way through the last
mile 10 top off with.
As 10 the personnel and physical
standards Of the crews, Stanford mas
the biggest and finest lot Of men that
ever stepped into shell. Inc average
height Of this crew Is feet / men, ana
its average weight IS 1912 POUNDS
- - "a
rowed in the crew which Stanford sent
East in 1912, but the others are all oars
men of experience.
Syracuse and Columbia have the
lightest varsity crews on the river.
Each averages l64B pounds, and IN
gross weight the Syracuse combination
weighs lust one pound more than the
Blue and White. The Cornell eight is
somewhat lighter than most Cornell
varsity crews, averaging I6S pounds,
while Pennsylvania bOatload has an
average Of l72i4.
Only three of the men who rowed
the Columbia 1914 shell TO victory are
in the Blue and White crew this year.
They are Manner at bow, Sanborn al
No. 4 and Bratton at No. 8. Win the
exception Of TichbOrne, at No. 3, not
man Of the remainder rowed IN var
sity shell until ten days ago, when Jim
Rice put through his surprising shake
up
Wormser, the new stroke oar, is
surprising bit Of humanity. He weighs
only l54 pounds, but he stands feet
inches in height and is the most elon-
gated man on the river. He rows sur
prising stroke, however, and Columbia
rowing with the beat as low as "a is
able to creep away from It's junior var
sity rowing as high stroke as ~ or
so II is stroke which conServes
every ounce Of strength, and IL is com
bined with the fact that the crew ~ the
smoothest rowing combination Rice has
ever turned out.
Shakeup Quickly Settled.
One marvels at the rapidly with
which the crew got together after the
big shakeup. but study of the KIND
Of rowing Rice teaches shows that no
man on the river has his men rowing
80 nearly alike as the Columbia coach.
Rice teaches Craftsmanship first and
racing second. and il is this fact alone
which makes u possible for him 10 drop
his men in here and there ana nave
them row together the first time they
70 out. The Columbia eight is the
youngest on the river
Charley Courtney, the dean Of Amer
lean college rowing, has had an unusu-
ally hard task in fitting together a
Cornell combination this year IL was
not until after the crew had been
beaten by both Yale and Harvard that
Courtney evolved grouping OF the
men in the shell which az last seems TO
have produced results. although the
crew does not row together nearly as
well as many Of the Fights Courtney
has brought down TO the Hudson.