The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1928-05-02
COLUMBIA HAS
GREAT VARSITY
SHELL In TACT
Surprise of 1927 Poughkeepsic
Regatta Again Favored
to Sweep River
BY +. &. vOSBURGH

Nc0SuIC OVINlCV SpOEtS COltOTI
New York, May 2.-(P-Six oil
the eight oarsmen who rowed Col.
umbias Blue and White to the in
tercollegiate championship al
Poughkeepsie last June are manning
the shell this year.
Furthermore, the crew has the
same c0xswain and the two oars.
men who have been picked as re-
placements proved their stuff as
stroke oars of Columbia's junior
varsity and freshman crews last
season.
When Columbia's great varsity
astounded the experts by winning
the Hudson classic 4 year ago the
crew was acclaimed as the young
est ever to win at Poughkeepsie.
Its members are a year older now,
but this prize collection Of city
bred rowing talent still! is not out
of it's teens.
Not counting the coxswain, who
is only II, the age average is q
fraction over 10 years, but what
they lack in venerability these
products Of Young Dick Glendon s
coaching make up in height and
weight. Every man is more than
six feet tall and the average is over
6 feet 2 and just under 1870 pounds.
Columbia Is FavOrite
This crew looks great on paper
where it has done all its racing
thus far this season-and if there
is a favorite, at this early date, to
win at Poughkeepsie and in the
Olympic trials it is none other than
this Columbia eight.
just how good a claim it has to
such a rating can be told in part
before very long, as Columbia is to
open its season May S on the
Schuylkill at Philadelphia in the
Blackwell Cup race against Penn
sylvania and Yale, two of it's most
formidable rivals. Instead of the
usual two miles the distance will
be a mile and a halt. which is near
er to the Olympic distance.
This is to be the first general
engagement Of the college rowing
season. The only previous races
have been dual regattas such as
those in which California beat
Washington and the Navy beat
Massachusetts, Institute of Tech
nology. incidentally, both victories
were won by mere half-length,
lending force to various coaches
predictions Of warm year on the
water.
In the long grind Of spring train
ing bad luck has struck again and
again at the Columbia crew, but at
this writing the ink appears to
have been pretty we'll outdistanced.
Jinx Flabbergasted
First Eric Lambart met scholas-
tic difficulties and it looked for a
time as though this great stroke
oar might be lost to the crew. Then
Horace Davenport; husky No. 7.
was stricken with appendicitis, but
he has now COMPOUNDED physicians
by returning to his oar only five
weeks after undergoing an opera
ton and apparently is sure to start
the season at his old post.
Columbia has not been so fortu-
nate with Gordon Percy, No. 4 in
last years boat, who suffered a
recurrence Of a severe foot ailment
and appears to be definitely out of
It this season. He and George
French, No. 3, who was graduated.
are the two veterans Of 1927 not
available this year.
10 I'LL these vacancies Coach
Clendon picked Art Douglas. last
years junior varsity stroke, and
Bill biessee, who set the pace in the
shell. In physical endow-
ments these two measure well up
70 their predecessors and are thor.
ouehly seasoned by the experience
gained in their responsible stroke
oar jobs last season.