Evening star., 1938-06-26
By John Clageff Proctor.

UHdG CaTIleS one 5 nina OdCk
to early excursion and picnic
4 places. to summer sports. in
cluding, of course. the boat clubs of
bygone years. Then rivalry between
the various sculling crews OF WASH
ington and Georgetown and outside
crews, attracted more attention than
did any other sport, not barring even
baseball.
For years there we're three boat
clubs that fought it out every sum-
mer. these being the AnalostaYS, the
Potomacs and the Columbias, and
each in turn was victorious as the
years went by. Each club had its
admirers and each one its enthusiastic
rocters. and when things were quiet
around Washington the crews would
60 to other cities to match their skill
and Drawn with other boat clubs.
Always they were accompanied by a
local delegation which went along
TO encourage the boys, and it was a
very rare occasion, indeed when a
District crew was badly or ignomin-
iously defeated.
Of the three boat clubs, the Ana
lostan was the oldest: then came the
Potomac and the latter furnished a
majority of the members for the Co.
lumbia. which had its beginning back
in 1880. The evidence in The Star
Of Monday, April IL, Of that year,
Is fully convincing as to its birth
"A New Boat Club-A meeting for
the purpose of organizing a new boat
club was held Saturday night at the
Riggs House and was we'll attended
by gentlemen of Georgetown and
Washington, and an organization to
be known as the Columbia Boat Club
was formed, with an active list of
about 40 members, comprising many
of the best known among our amateur
boating men. A tasteful house will
be erected Immediately at some point
on the river front at Georgetown,
and the flag of the new aspirants
thrown to the breeze. AS the Potomac
is broad enough and the material
plentiful for another boating asso-
citation in our midst. it is to be hoped
that the existence of a new club will.
add an impetus to boating during
the coming summer never before
known in our waters"
AS YOU have been told on one or
more occasions before, the Riggs
House occupied the site of the present
Keiths Theater, at the southeast cor
ner of G and Fifteenth streets. which
figured largely in local history, and
In later days seems to have been
especially popular with sporting people
Of the better class
The Columbias had two particularly
good racing teams in their four cared
and eight-oared crews, and almost
from the very beginning were to be
reckoned with as formidable an
tagonists in any contest on the river.
Even outside Of Washington. with
the best crews of the country. they
not only held their own, but fire.
quently came home with the highest
honors and the best prizes.
just little over two years after
they were formed into a boat club the
Columbias acquitted themselves glo-
riously at Philadelphia in the regatta
Of October 1921. 1880, winning the
four-oared and the eight-oared races.
Always interesting in its sports COL
umns today. The Star was none the
less so half century ago, and so
upon this occasion it said:
THE WASHINGTONIANS IN
PHILADELPHIA.
"The Regatta -Columbia's
Two Victories.
"The first race in the regatta yes
terday afternoon was between the
four-oared crews of the Columbias of
Washington and the Crescents and
Fairmounts of Philadelphia.
"Columbia's First Victory
"At the first quarter the Crescents
led by half length, Columbias sec
ond and Fairmounts third. The three
crews were soon together. and foul
was imminent, but the Columbias
pulled out and at the end of the mile
the Fairmounts had gone to second
place. A pretty contest followed be-
tween the Columbias and the Fair
mounts. but the Washington boys got
warmed to their work and crossed the
line winners by four lengths in 9:29A.
Fairmounts second and the Crescents
far behind. The crowd of Washington
people present greeted this victory
with cheer after cheer.
~COLUMBIAS WIN THE EIGHT
DARED RACE
THE last race of the day was the
one for eight-oared shells. in
which the Columbias had for their
antagonists the famous crew Of the
Metropolitans of New York. The crews
we're made up as follows: Columbias-
Lake, l.; Woodward, 2; Wade. 3: WAL
lack, 4; Nesmith, S; Davis. 6: Kinter,
Z; Mute 8; Gibson, coxswain. Metro
politans-Cody. / Schile. 2: Schulka.
8; Thompson, 4: Nagle. S; Wilson. s;
Wade, Z; Pilkinson, 8; Mcintyre, cox
swain
THE race was very hotly contested
and excited the greatest interest
among the spectators. The two crews
got an even start and at the first
quarter they were still pulling side
by side. Mute commenced to put
on the pressure and the Columbia boat
began to forge ahead. This lead they
maintained and crossed the line Win
ner in $40, the best record made by
an amateur club since 1879.
Among the members of the Co.
mmbia Club here, besides the crew,
are Messrs. Coon. Williams. Coffin,
Buckingham. Harry and Lem Towers,
Berthrong, Johns, Rothrock, McFalls,
Ward, Kennedy. Ryan, Livingstone,
Zeigler, Ballantyne, Reed. Ba5cock,
Dorsey, Brown, F. L. Williams, w. B.
r. Keyser and H. B. Noble, jr"
The membership of this club was
always large one and its officers
carefully selected. A number are
still with US and residing in WASH
ington. The officers for 1888 were:
President, Charles E. Coon. U. s. A.:
vice president. j. c. Kinter; secretary,