New-York tribune., 1921-12-25

DelnG enacted at fougnkeepSle ana
Discussing the rowing year is apt to
be a thankless job, for even now, in a
Christmas retrospect. it is impossible
to designate the championship eight
Of controversy.
Unlimited material for argument and
disputation is the seasons legacy to
followers of the game, and the inheri-
tance will probably last as long as men
use the shell and sweep in struggles
for supremacy.
The United States Naval Academy
declares with sharp and uncompromis-
ing emphasis that its eight, stroked by
the giant Frawley, has the only real
claim to the championship.
Didn't we go to Poughkeepsie and
row into ragged and embarrassed sub
MIA. Syracuse. Pennsylvania and Co.
lumbar" pipe the midshipmen.
Midshipmen Easy Victors
No room for argument there. This
super-crew from the Severn pulled
away from the five other boats with
ridiculous ease and padded across the
finish line nearly a quarter OF a mile
i'll front. Had it not been for the
amazing performance of the University
of gCalifornia crew in suddenly emerg-
ing from hopeless obscurity and nip
ping Cornell in the very last stroke for
second place, the intercollegiate row.
ing championship at Poughkeepse
would have been a decidedly fiat affair.
On this victory the Naval Academy
honors, and in the eyes of many stu
cents Of the sport the evidence is
sufficient to award the verdict to An
napolis. This claim is all right SO far
as 1t goes. but it doesn't go any
further than Princeton, N. j., without
starting bristling of fur and spite
ful splitting on the part of certain
we'll known Tiger.
"How about the afternoon of June a.,
naughty and unbeaten midshipmen
across the finish line of a two-mile
race on Lake Carnegie ?" megaphoned
DR.. J. Duncan Spaeth, miracle man
Of the Princeton fleet.
Therein lie all the elements neces-
sary for first class argument.
Princeton did, on that peaceful June
thet can be charged against Dick Glen
don's mighty crew, winners in 1920
OF the Olympic championship at Ant
werp. The race was a short, sharp duel,
in which prevailing conditions were
distinctly favorable to the Tigers. The
distance, a mile and seven-eighths, wes
not to the liking of the midshipmen,
and many who saw the struggle declare
that If the voyage had been longer the
dipped that day.
Conditions Helped Princeton
Coming from the choppy waters of
the Severn, Glendon's men were OBJ
Siously puzzled by the looking glass
surface of Lake Carnegie, and their
boat was plainly rugged too high for
the smooth going. These conditions,
on the other hand, were the ones under
which DR.. Spaeth had tutored his
wonderfully proficient A and B crews,
probably the finest short distance
cights of the last decade.
The crew, stroked by the master
ful Heinie Leh, cut out a terrific pace
from start to finish, the entire distance
being covered in furious sprint The
Tigers won by something less than
half boats length. Harvard, rowing
in the same contest, was a drab and
distant third. This defeat was one of
the three great upsets and form re-
versals Of the season.
Princeton's crew pulled on through
tHC cc0SOl W many NiSLOIlcS ana no
defeats, and DR.. Spaeth's claim to the
intercollegiate championship would be
clear and unquestoned were it not for
the fact that his A crew began
the season as the recognized varsity
eight. The professor stated repeated
ly that one crew was as good as the
other, and that Princeton, as a result
Of having an abundance of material
was in the unusual position of having
two varsity eights.
This was the situation which existed
when the A crew, stroked by
Hugh Cresswell, came to the Harlem
to race against Columbia and Pennsyl-
vania in the Childs Cup. Cresswell's
boat was beaten by Jim Rice's Blue anc
White combination, stroked by Frank
lin Brodil, after a fierce struggle OF
approximately two miles. This is The
one scar on Princeton's 1921 recorc
and many experts hold to the opinion
that it must be taken into consiiera
tion when summing up Old Nassau's
championship claims, regardless of the
crews undefcated career.
The defeat of Princeton's A crew
marked the peak Of Columbia's accom-.
plishments on the water last summe,
and at that time this extraordinary
eight was being touted as the prospec.
tive winner Of the great Poughkeepsie
regatta. Brodil's boat had all unbroker
string of victories to its credit up to
that time, having begun the season by
administering a rather shocking de-
feat to Guy Nickalls's Yale Varsity on
the HousatonIc. Their wonderful form
and apparent power caused these Co
lumbia oarsmen to be spoken of as Jim
Rice's "wonder crew."
Columbia a Miserable Last
Hopes Of Columbia ran high to the
very eve Of the Poughkeepsie struggle
and the night before that race there
was an inclination to make Rice's men
favorites over the Navy eight. The
showing of the Blue and White in this
contest marked the second upset. the
second shocking reversal, of an alto
eether turbulent season. Columbia
finished miserable last. being beaten
by crews she had defeated earlier in
the season. What happened to this
great crew in the weeks Of training
prior to the regatta is one of the dark
est mysteries of sport.
Meanwhile, Yale and Harvard had
been leading life of shame on the
water. at least they had so far as their
varsity combinations were concerned.
Defeat after defeat has been their Dor
ton until both crews became the OBJ
iects of much scornful and sarcastic
criticism.
The situation at Yale came to a SEN
sational and dramatic climax week
before the classic contest against Har-
ward on the Thames he1d IN Tupe %