Evening star., 1949-04-03

) Now ina; spslDE - hFre, or
may soon see souae OF Washing
tons sculi,ng crews trying out
their speed on the Potomac: Per
phapx not TO the same sxten, tha,
they did In eyxone days. but a.
least with the sams enthuxss;T,
and determination. The speed
boat has cut In on aquatic sports
but there are still quite . nunber
OF oarSnen capable o. making .
sood showing.
At one time Washington Was q
sreat city for Seulling matches,
and particularly back in the '7os.
sos and -S0s. when the AnalostanS.
the Potomacs and the Columh.as
were the principal local competi-
tors for the highest coveted hon
orS.
OF the three boat clubs, the
Analostan was the oldest, then
came the Potomac and the latter
furnished q majority OF the mem
berS for the Columbia. which had
its beginning back in 1880. The
Star OF Monday. April II OF that
year is fully convincing as 10 its
birth. II said:
A New Boat Club-A meeting
for the purpose OF organizing a
new boat club was held Saturday
night al the Riggs House and was
we'll attended by gentlemen OF
Georgetown and Washington. and
an organization 10 be known as
the Columbia Boat Club was
formed. with an active list OF
about 20 members. comprising
many OF the best known among
our amateur boating men A
tasteful house will be erected i'm
medistely at some point on the
river front at Georgetown, and
the flag of the new asprants
thrown TO the breeze. As the
Potomac Is broad enough and the
material plentiful for another
boating association in our midst,
IL is to be hoped that the exist
ence OF new club will add an
impetus TO boating during the
coming Summer never before
known In our waters"
Had Two Good Crews
The Columhias had two particu-
larry good racing teams in their
four -oared and eight-oared crews
and almost from the very begin
ming were to be reckoned with as
formidable antagonists In any
contest. Even outside OF Wash
ington, among the best crews OF
the country. they not only held
their own but frequently 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 them
selves gloriously at Philadelphia in
the regatta OF October 1927.
1880. winning the four Dared and
the eight-oared races. Always
interesting in its sports columns,
The Star covered this event in its
usual interesting way. saying:
The first race In the regatta
yesterday afternoon was between
the four -oared crews OF the CO.
lumbias Of Washington and the
Crescents and Fairmounts Of
Philadelphia.
Amateur Record Set
AT the first quarter the Cres-
cents led by half q length. Colum-
bias second and Fairmounts third.
The three crews were soon to-
gether. and afoul was imminent;
but the Columbias pulled out. and
at the end Of the mile the Fair
mounts had gone to second place.
A pretty contest followed between
the Columbias and Fairmounts.
but the Washington boys got
warmed to their work and crossed
the line winners by four lengths
in 9:1L4. Fairmounts second and
the Crescents fair behind. The
crowd Of Washington people pres
ent greeted this victory with cheer
after cheer.
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 were made up as fol-
lows: Columbias-Lake l. Wood
ward 2, Wade 3. Wallack 4. Ne
smith 5, David s. Kinter Z. Mute 8.
Gibson, coxswain: Metropolitan
Cody /, Schile 2. Schulka 5.
Thompson 4. Nagie 5. Wade Z. Pill
kinson 8. Mcintyre. coxswain.
The race was very hotly con-
tested and excited the greatest in
terest among the spectators. The
two crews got an even start and