Rowing and Track athletics;

Front matter

LIBRARY OF CX>NGRESS

ODDiaibfiblS iiill'

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Preface

The preparation of this account of the development of American rowing has been attended with no Httle difficulty because of the wide area that it covers and the scattered and fragmentary nature of the sources. The greater portion of the information has been gathered by personal contact with and by letters from the men who were active in rowing during the periods in question, while the remainder has been taken from the contemporary sporting periodicals and the newspapers. I shall appreciate the noting of any inaccuracies.

I wish to ackaciwledge the assistance given by Messrs. Reginaid^ L. Hart and F. F. Hallowell of the University of Pennsylvania, Messrs. Lewis S. Welch and Julian W. Curtiss of Yale, Messrs. Charles S. and John M. Francis of Cornell, and Professor Benjamin Ide Wheeler, now of the University of California, in the college rowing ; Messrs. Henry Whiting Garfield, D. B. Duffield, vi Preface

and Thomas B. Harper, in club rowing ; and Ellis F. Ward and Charles E. Courtney for general help in college and professional rowing. I also wish to thank the many other college and club rowing men throughout the country who have given me information and suggestions.

SAMUEL CROWTHER, Jr.

Part I — Rowing Chapter Page

I. The Beginnings of Rowing 3

II. Collegiate Rowing through 1876 . . .28

III. Collegiate Rowing, 1875-1898 .... 55

IV. The Intercollegiate Rowing Association . . 127 V. Yale and Harvard 141

VI. Club and Professional Rowing through the

Civil War Period 147

VII. The National Association of Amateur Oarsmen 161 VIII. The American Rowing Association . . .191

IX. Professional Rowing, 1872 196

X. Style 203

XL Coaching 219

XII. Training and the Rowing Type . . . . 226

XIII. The Type of Rowing Man 233

XIV. Equipment 235

Part II — Track Athletics

I. The Gentle Art of Running

11. The Beginnings of Modern Track Athletics

III. The Organization of the Clubs .

IV. Track Athletics in the Colleges V. Sprinting and American Sprinters

CHAPTER PAGE

VI. Distance Runs and Distance Runners . .321

VII. Cross-Country Running in America . . . 346

VIII. Hurdling and Hurdlers . . . . . 354

IX. The Jumps and the Pole-Vault .... 360

X. The Weights and Weight-Throwers . . . 377

XI. The All-Round Individual Championship . . 390

XII. Competitive Walking 398

XIII. International Games — English and American

INDEX 429

ILLUSTRATIONS

Edward H. Ten Eyck Frontispiece

Who won the Diamond Sculls in 1897.

FACING PAGE

Columbia Crew of 1878 64

That won the Visitor's Cup at Henley.

Edward Hanlan .198

The Fastest Professional Sculler.

The Race in which Arthur Duffey made the Record

OF 9f Seconds 312

G. W. Orton 332

George X. McLanahan . 358

Alvin C. Kraenzlein 358

John Flanagan 388

Malcolm Ford 396

Ellery Clark 396

Ray C. Ewry 412

PART I ROWING

Chapter I

The idea that sport may be had out of propelHng a boat with an oar is modern ; the heavy craft of our forefathers made rowing the hardest of labor, and it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that it occurred to any one that a rowing boat might be made lighter and designed for racing. From then dates rowing in England as a sport, but another half-century had gone before the lighter barges found their way into American waters.

In the period following the Revolution a number of these barges were owned about New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. They were great, heavy boats, and rowed by 'longshoremen ; gentlemen did not row, but, sitting in the stern, satisfied their sporting instincts by making up scratch races with the barges that they met in the course of their excursions. The New York men had many a brush with the Long Island sweeps, and the rivalry between these sections became so bitter that at last a challenge was given and a match made for the best four men of New York to row the best of Long Island from Harsimus, New Jersey, to the Battery ; and this is the first race in America of which we have a record. A day was set in the fall of 1811, and both sides went about having especially light and fast barges built. John Baptist was the leading New York builder, and he turned out the Knickerbocker, while Long Island relied upon John and WilUam Chambers, who constructed the Invincible. There is no account left of these boats, but they were lighter barges than it was then usual to build — although heavy enough to our eyes.

On the day of the race half a gale was blowing ; the big boats started up against the wind, but the Knickerbocker was the better sea boat, and soon left the Long Island crew far behind. The crew from New York were William Cracker, John Burt, Thomas Dixon, and Thomas Palmerton; while the Invincible was manned by John Chambers, James Rush, Peter Snider, and John Swinburn. John Palmerton steered the first boat, and William Chambers the second. The Knickerbocker became a famous boat, and drifted about from club to club, finally ending in a museum, where it was burned during a fire in 1865.

This race was the first of a long series in barges about the Hudson and in other parts, the most famous of which were those of the American Star — for the crews at that time and for many years afterward were known by the name of their boat. The Star was another production of the Chamberses, and it had a most honorable record. It was defeated in its first race with the New York over a course from WilHamsburg, Long Island, to Castle William. The Star for a time had the lead, but the New York closed up at the finish and won with a gallant spurt. Then came the great match between New York and Staten Island ; New York in the Whitehall, with Cornelius and Alfred Cammeyer, Charles Beaty, and Richard Robbins, and John Palmerton, coxswain. Staten Island had the Richmond, but the Whitehallers were too fast, and won by about two lengths: the course was from Robbins Reef light to Castle Garden.

In the summer of 1825 the English frigate Hussar visited New York, and her captain, hearing of the skill of the Whitehall crew, challenged for a race with four Thames watermen that he had in his ship. The course was to be from the frigate off Bedloe's Island to a stake-boat at Hoboken and back to the Battery. The whole countryside turned out for this, — the first international race, — and the old accounts floridly describe the cheering as the Whitehallers in the American Star rowed down to the start in their white Guernsey frocks and blue handkerchiefs.

The Englishmen were already on the line clad in the regular man-of-war dress ; their craft — a London-built gig — was modestly named the Certai7i Death, Each boat had its national colors. The Star was off with the smoke of the cannon, raced away to the stake-boat, and straightened down the Hudson far in the lead. When they had passed the flagstaff, the Death was over a quarter of a mile in the rear.

The fame of the Whitehallers and of the American Star spread, and, when General Lafayette was leaving New York, in 1825, the Star, fitted with costly carpets and silver-mounted oars, w^as esteemed the fittest barge to carry him on an excursion down the river. The boat was later sent to him in France.

During the next ten years there was but little racing, though the sport was growing throughout the country, and the New York barges were finding their way up the Hudson and down to Philadelphia. The Imp and Blue Devil were brought to the Schuylkill in 1S33, and in September of that year the two raced from Belmont to Fairmount, a distance of three miles. The Imp won in eleven minutes, according to the old account, which shows the prevailing playfulness in dealing with the times of races. A number of other clubs were organized during the same summer, and in the first regatta given in November there were seven eight-oared boats and four four-oars. The Ariel won the fours, while the champions were quite upset in the eights, the Cleopatra winning, with the Devil fourth and the Imp last. The rowing spirit grew steadily, and many more clubs were formed in the next couple of years ; their life was not long, but they were the foundation of the present boat clubs of the Schuylkill and of the Philadelphia boating spirit.

Many clubs were being organized in New York, such as the Wave, Gull, Gazelle, Cleopatra, Pearl, Halcyon, Ariel, Minerva, and Gondola, and they, in 1834, formed the Castle Garden Amateur Boat Club Association, with a boat-house at Castle Garden; this was the first association of the kind in the United States and it had as objects both racing and recreation. Among the members were many of the fashionable young men of the time, and the barge parties from Castle Garden were reckoned among the pleasures of New York. But they were famous racing clubs as well, and the Wave was known to all oarsmen. It was their custom to have a new boat made every year by Crolius; and so celebrated were their craft that the discarded ones were bought eagerly in distant cities ; Mobile, New Orleans, Savannah, and other Southern cities all started their rowing with Wave boats. The Rollins brothers were members of the Wave crew and had a considerable reputation as amateurs. The Gazelle and the Gull were other noted clubs, the beautiful blue Gull finishing second to the Wave in several regattas ; it was the first barge to row to Philadelphia.

The earliest of the Newburgh regattas, which came to occupy a high place in rowing for many 3^ears, was given on June 27, 1837. At this time there were some barges on the Hudson, and that rowing skill, which later gave the upper Hudson men so many championships, was in its infancy. In the race at Newburgh for six-oars were entered the Corsair and Highland Wave of Newburgh and the Gazelle, Git II, Wave, Halcyon, Pearl, and Minerva of New York. The Wave won with the Gtill second, the Corsair third, and the Highland Wave fourth. The Washington of Poughkeepsie started with them, though not entered, and came in ahead. The prizes were sets of colors.

A rival to the Castle Garden Clubs had arisen in New York, — the Independent Boat Club Association ; they had many beautiful boats, such as the Disowned and Triton, but their object was pleasure rather than racing, — though the latter does not preclude the former, — and they did not have many fast crews.

The four races between Stephen Roberts and Sidney Dorian of New York aroused much interest at the time and were the first of the famous championship races in singles. In 1837 Roberts, the champion, challenged any man for a race in seventeen-foot working boats, and he was accepted by Dorian. The stake was ^200 and the course from Castle Garden to Bedloe's Island and return. Dorian won the first race and then, a short time afterward, Roberts won. The third race was in 1838, and Dorian, after going a few hundred yards, was taken with cramps ; Roberts rowed on and took the prize. In their last race, Dorian was ahead all the way, but nearing the finish was run into by Roberts's friends and prevented from finishing. The referee decided that the race should be rowed over, but it was never settled. It was customary in those days to have your friends out in boats on the course and to impede the other crew as much as possible: the race was not always to the swift — if the home man happened to be the slower.

In 1837, Poughkeepsie gave its first regatta with but one race, and that for six-oars for a purse of $200 dollars. It was now becoming more general to give money prizes instead of the former trophies, and amateurs and professionals contested for them alike. Amateur meant only that the oarsman did not make a business of rowing; there was no real definition. Several celebrated barges entered the Poughkeepsie race : the Washlo Rowing

ington of Poughkeepsie, the Bachelor of Fishkill Landing, the Robert Bache of Brooklyn, and the Gondola, Sylph, and Erie of New York. The Erie had the best start, but the Washi^igton shot out on the way home and won with the other boats all lapping with the exception of the Bachelor, which, as a possible victor, was cut off by a steamer.

The Washington challenged any boat in New York for a five-mile race for ^500; the Disowned was the first to accept, and won easily. Then the Spark challenged the Disowned for a similar race, and the former victor was beaten. The Washington barge rowed the Victoria, Edwin Forrest, and Daniel D. Tompkins, — the three last of New York, — on the Harlem ; the Poughkeepsie crew won by two hundred yards, making four and one-half miles in 27.15. A few weeks later, at Poughkeepsie, the Tompkinses beat out the Washington for a prize of a boat.

In the years 1838 and 1839 two boat clubs were formed which still exist to-day and are thus the oldest in this country, — the Narragansett Boat Club of Providence, Rhode Island, and the Detroit Boat Club of Detroit, Michigan. The Narragansett Club has the distinction of being the first of the present-day clubs ; they organized on March 6, 1838, with George G. Nightingale president. The leaders in the formation were William A. Greene, Henry Lippitt, Rufus Wat-

The Beginnings of Rowing ii

erman, Sullivan Dorr, Jr., William C. Allen, Charles Arnold, Horace A. Manchester, and Tristram Burgess, Jr. They owned a barge Narragansett, which made frequent trips, and in their old log is recorded under the date of July 19: " The N'arragansett arrived this morning about half-past six o'clock from Newport, having performed the voyage of thirty miles in three hours and fifty minutes. She was detained some time in consequence of a very thick fog, which they met off Nayatt Point. The crew looked fresh and hearty after their morning's row, and thought they should not be afraid to engage to perform the distance in three hours, in a favorable time."

The Detroit Boat Club came into being nearly a year later, through the efforts^ of E. A. Brush, James A. Armstrong, John Chester, J. H. Farnsworth, A. T. McReynolds, Alfred Brush, Alpheus S. Williams, and S. H. Sibley. They brought a four-oared clinker from New York, and in the next year bought a Crolius boat and got it around through the Erie Canal. With these craft a two-mile race was pulled from Hog Island (now Belle Island) to the boat-house on May 24, 1842 — the first race in Western waters. The fire of 1848 destroyed the house and all but one boat ; the club was later reorganized.

There are no records of the 1839 regatta at Newburgh, and in 1840 the regatta was omitted, but in 1 84 1 the races brought together the leading crews of the time ; there was the Washington of Poughkeepsie, the Anne of Peekskill, New Jersey of Jersey City, Galatea of Newburgh, Dutchess of Hyde Park, and the Spark and Eagle of New York. The distance was two miles and repeat ; the Dutchess won, with the Spark second ; and according to the rule these two boats raced again, and again the Hyde Park gig won. It was the custom in these regattas for the first and second crews in the first race to row again for the first two prizes, the third and fourth crews for the next two prizes, and so on. The second race was always rowed a short time after the first, allowing a brief breathing spell. The 1842 regatta at Newburgh was the finest that had up to that time taken place in America, and the prizes, all of money, were of a considerable amount. The New Jersey won the sixes with Galatea second, Dutchess third, and Eagle fourth. The Hooke7nsnivey of Jersey City, a celebrated double scull, was beaten in the double race by the Crolius of New York, and the George Washington of New York won the fours. It is remarkable that in nearly all of these crews are to be found two or more members of the same family ; on the Hudson, rowing seems to be a family affair.

The Castle Garden Association had been giving annual regattas all this time; but the interest was waning, and in 1842 they gave their last regatta and went out of existence, but in that same year a large regatta was given at Castle Garden by the American Institute Fair — for regattas thus early had attained a certain financial status and were good advertisements. The Chapman, a four, rowed by the Roberts brothers, beat the champion George Washington.

The rowing interest of Boston was steadily increasing, and on August 3, 1842, the first regatta was given over the Chelsea course ; there were four eights, — the Red Michael, Star, Washington, and Bunker Hill, — all crack barges. The Red Michael won after a hard fight, and also won the second trial. The Star and Washington rowed with six oars for the second prize, and the former won ; there were three other boats which went over the course on time, — the Exchange, four-oars ; the Dart, two-oars, cross-handed ; and a skiff, cross-handed. A number of New York boats came up for the next regatta in the following year, and they took away most of the prizes. The Spark of New York won the eights, with the Red Michael second ; the Curtis Peck of New York won the sixes ; and the Wave, the New York crew, won the fours. The Curtis Peck issued a general challenge after their race, but no crew was willing to test them further.

Harvard and Yale were in this zone of active racing, and, second-hand barges being rather cheap, several were purchased at each institution during the years 1843-1844, and the foundations laid for the racing clubs that followed within a few years. It was on May 24, 1843, ^^at William J. Weeks, '44, purchased a four-oared Whitehall boat in New York, and bringing it to New Haven formed with Henry W. Buel, John W. Dulles, John McLoud, Virgil M. D. Marcy, John P. Marshall, and William Smith the first boat club at Yale, and which was also the first rowing organization at any American college. They called themselves the Pioneers, but lasted only a year. A month after the formation of the Pioneer Club, Edwin A. Buckley, '44, bought a four-oared Whitehall in New York, called the Nautilus ; with him were associated Henry C. Birdseye, James S. Bush, Henry Byne, Charles H. Meeker, Howard Smith, and Hannibal Stanley. In the same 3^ear Josiah B. Crowell, '45, bought a big dug-out on the Susquehanna ; it was forty-two feet long with a beam of twenty-four inches, and cost but $45. They called the cranky and ungainly craft the Centiped, and the fifteen members of the class of '45 who owned her — among whom were J. S. Bacon, William B. Bibbins, Daniel Chadwick, C. C. Esty, John A. Harding, G. D. Harrington, A. P. Hyde, Thomas Kennedy, and William T. Reynolds — arranged a race with

I the Nautilus, the crew of which had been making game of the more primitive creation of the lower classmen. The Centipeds were a canny lot, and, taking the precaution to lash a stone to the keel of the Nautilus, they won. The writer who gives the story of the race gravely remarks : " The Nautilus crew labored under a disadvantage certainly, inasmuch as the Centipeds had strapped a huge rock to the keel of the Nautilus the night before ; but they would have won the more honor thus had they beaten."

The first real racing boat at Yale was bought in 1844 by the memibers of the class of '47; this boat, the Excelsior of six-oars, was the foundation of the racing spirit, and her crew were exceptional oarsmen for the time. In 1847 another famous boat was added to the collection by the class of '48, — the Shawmut, eight-oars, thirty-eight feet long. It had seats for six passengers and a coxswain's seat high in the stern, so that the captain could look over the heads of the oarsmen, but it was a most uncertain perch in rough weather. During a storm in 1852 the Shawmut broke loose and was carried over to Long Island, where she was left until she rotted. From 1844 to 1854 there were fifteen boats owned at Yale: six eight-oars, six fours, and three sixes; they were mostly stored in Riker's loft near Tomlinson's bridge.

The Chelsea regattas of 1842 and 1843 ^id much to create a boating interest at Harvard, and in the autumn of 1844 a barge, Star, was purchased by thirteen members of the class of '46 and rechristened the Oneida, because one of the members of the club happened to have a set of colors with that name on them. It was a low black eight, thirty-seven feet long, and of such an excellent model that it sold from class to class for nearly a decade, and occupies a leading place in the history of Harvard's rowing. Hardly had the Oneida Club been formed when '45 bought the famous Red Michael in Boston, subdued the name to Iris, and challenged the Oneidas. The race took place one evening after tea from the Winchester House ^"O the Brighton bridge, a distance of about two miles. The whole university turned out and saw the new boat beaten by the Oneida by about five lengths. As yet the Oneida was the only club that had a house for their boat, but, several other clubs forming, a boat-house was built in 1846 where the Oneida, Iris, and the newcomers — the Huron and Undine, — kept their craft. The Oneida, in a series of races that roused the students, separately defeated all of these barges ; the Oneidas adopted crimson shirts as their uniform, which probably explains the Harvard colors.

Then the boating of Harvard began to decline;

some of the clubs graduated, and in 185 1 the Ariels, " having been guilty of some irregularities in Boston/' were disbanded by the Faculty, and they refused to allow other clubs to be formed. Thus from 185 1 to 1854 the Oneida was the only club in the university.

The Yale oarsmen had their eyes on the progress at Harvard and, largely through the efforts of James M. Whiton, '53, a challenge was sent to Harvard to " test the superiority of the oarsmen of the two colleges," and a race was arranged for August 3, 1852, at Centre Harbor, Lake Winnipiseogee. The training of the men may be inferred from the remark of one of the Harvard crew, that they "had not rowed much for fear of blistering their hands," and there was a pleasing absence of all that childish formality that hedges a race at the present day. The Oneida C53) came down from Cambridge, while Yale had three boats, — the Halcyon, manned by the crew of the Skazvmut, the Undine, the crew of which had to be filled out from the shore, and the Atlanta, hired in New York for the race. So eager were they to race that they had, in the morning, a try out of the crews, and the Oneida won ; but the real test came in the afternoon on a two-mile pull to windward from a stake-boat out in the lake. The Harvard boat again won the first prize, a pair of silver-mounted black walnut sculls ;

1 8 Rowins:

the Halcyon was second. Ten minutes was given as the time by the imaginative timekeeper.

There was so much fun in tlie race that the crews thought tlicy would have another go on the fifth ; but that day was very stormy, and the prize was given to the Halcyon as second in the first race. " Late in the day the storm lulled, and as a token of respect to the few visitors assembled, the uniforms were brouo-ht out, the boats manned, a little rowing indulged in, songs sung, the usual number of cheers given, and all said * Well done.' " The whole party remained at the lake for a week and left together for Concord, where they parted. Such was the wholesome little regatta of 1852.^

The rowing had thus far been by classes or clubs, but in June of 1853 the Yaie Navy was organized by members of the class of '53, who elected Richard Waite commodore. Boating was on a firm basis at Yale, but it was otherwise at Harvard, where the sport was nearly dead and only kept alive by the old O^ieida, which passed from '53 successively to '54 and '55. Early in 1855 Yale sent another challenge to Harvard, and

^ The crew of the Oneida were Charles Miles, Charles F. Livermore, William H. Cunnim^ham, John Dwight, Charles J. Paine, Sidney Willard, Charles H. Hurd, Thomas J. Curtis, Joseph H. Brown (captain and coxswain) ; the Halcyon was rowed by Albert E. Kent, Joseph S. French, William C. Brewster, Edward Harland, Joseph Warren, Arthur E. Skelding, William L. Hinman, James Jiamilton (captain), Richard Waite (coxswain).

it was agreed that a contest should take place on the Connecticut at Springfield on Saturday, July 21. The crews went down the day before to look over the course, but there was no preliminary race. Yale had in the Nereid 2ind Nautilus, six-oars, and Harvard the Iris, eight-oars, and the K K, a four without a coxswain. The Harvard boats were both fairly new and had outriggers for the first time ; they were of wood and braced like those of a wherry running from the bottom of the boat across the gunwale. The smaller boats had a time allowance of eleven seconds to the oar; the distance was three miles — one and one-half down-stream and back, the turn being for the first time introduced in the college races. The Nereid got away at the start and turned the stake-boat ahead, but the two Harvard crews were rowing strongly and soon passed the Yale crew. The times were. Iris, 22 minutes; V.V., 2247; Nereid, 24; and the Nautilus, 25. The Yale men believed that the victory was due to the Harvard boat, and they talked so much about it that in the evening three of the KK crew and three of the judges, who were members of the Union Club of Boston, took out the Nereid and went over the course in fifteen seconds' less time than the Iris had made in the race, which was doubtless gratifying to Harvard. The Harvard men were the more powerful, but they also rowed a better and longer stroke than Yale, that of Yale being '' convulsive and quick and impossible to maintain for any distance." The success of the Y.Y. without a coxswain led to the gradual discarding of the coxswain and the steering by bow.

Many of the boat clubs that have been mentioned in the preceding pages had sold their boats, but there were new clubs being constantly formed ; they held many exciting match races, such as the great race between the four-oared boats Thomas Jefferson and the Dumie for a silver goblet in 1846 from Bull's Ferry, New Jersey, to Day's Point and return. The boats were bow and bow for most of the course, now one taking the lead and now the other, but the Jefferso7^ spurted at the finish and won by three lengths. Charles A. Peverelly was bow of the Jefferson, and, though never famous as an oarsman, he became a familiar figure at races for many years as an official, and is the chronicler of our early rowing. Another race of note was that between Stephen Roberts and Robert Martin in 1848 over a ten-mile course around Robbin s Reef ; Martin was ahead nearly all the way, but Roberts passed him in the last few miles and won in one hour and twenty-two minutes. This race was in nineteen-foot working boats cut down ; they were rowed on the gunwale, but were made of very light wood and rowed easily.

The boating of New York was on the decline in these years, and in 1848, when the present Atalanta Boat Club was formed, the older clubs such as the Manahatta, Duane, George Washington, and Conover had almost disbanded, and during the few years following they had all gone, leaving the Atalanta alone ; the Atalanta Club was formed on May 5, 1848, by Messrs. Charlton, Armstrong, Livingston, Carlisle, Cameron, Bailey, Thompson, Graham, Dunlap, and Aulger. They bought the Gazelle of the old Castle Garden fleet, but there was little racing about New York for some years.

In 1850 occurred many professional sculling matches ; in this year James Lee rowed his first race, beating M. Conkling in nineteen-foot skeleton boats, then used for the first time, from the Battery around Ellis's Island and back, and later in the same year he beat the champion of the time, Charles Thomas, and again at the regatta of the American Institute Fair defeated the best oarsmen of the day, including Charles Thomas, W. H. Decker, Hugh Burns, Hugh Curran, and John Mazanna.

Lee rapidly came to be known as the leading sculler of America, and he had many contests with the other professionals who were sufficiently numerous at that time ; one of his hardest races was in four-oared shells between the George Washingion, in which Lee rowed, the Zachary Taylor^ and the Adeline, all manned by prominent professionals. The three boats were lapping throughout the whole four miles, and the Taylor won by less than a length. On that same day, Lee and Hugh Curran in the Michael Murray beat the champion double Battery Pet, in which were Charles Thomas and W. H. Decker. Then came the final struggle with Thomas for the championship in 1851, in seventeen-foot boats, from Castle Garden around Ellis's Island and return, a distance of three miles. Turning the island Lee showed his boat a half-length ahead, and by this distance won in a great struggle. The two men rowed two more matches the same year, Thomas winning both, the second because Lee grounded. A sculler by the name of Price became prominent by winning the singles at the Institute Fair in 185 1, beating all the best men; but he did not succeed in winning from either Lee or Thomas in match races.