Brooks School - Bishop Yearbook (North Andover, MA)

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Noble's sprint at the finish, and lost by one second. The same day, the first crew defeated Noble's by one second. Despite its narrow defeat, this crew ap- peared to be definitely faster than any other second crew that could be boated so it was kept intact for the rest ofthe season, and won all its remaining races. After the Noble's and St. Mark's race, we rowed Groton and Belmont Hill, both of whom were rowing in fours for the first time this season. That race was at home and should have been rowed over our regular three-quarter- mile course. However, by the time the crews were ready to start the water was so rough that the course was unrowable. After chasing all over the lake in an effort to find some smooth water, the race was finally rowed over a half-mile course. Both our crews won decisive victories. St. George's came up here the following week. They had had very hard luck all season owing to the prevalence of east winds and had been able to get out only twice during the ten days pre- ceding the race. VVe easily defeated their crews. Our last race was the lnterscholastic Regatta, which was held on the Charles River. In this, the second crew rowed against Exeter, who had been very kind about entering the Regatta instead of holding our annual dual race, and St. George's. The Brooks crew defeated Exeter by about a length, with St. George's third. When the first crew race was rowed, the water over the last quarter mile of the course was quite choppy, but the first half mile was very good. The entrants in this race were Brooks, South Kent, Exeter, St. Georgels, and the Riverside High School of Buffalo. For the first half of the race all the crews were very well bunched, with South Kent holding a slight edge. Then, as the water got worse, Brooks made its real effort and pulled away to a three- quarter length victory. The third crew had two races during the spring. It defeated Roxbury Latin and was beaten by an Exeter club crew. The entire second crew and two members of both the Hrst and third crews will be graduated this spring, so there will be less veteran material available next year than is usually the case. However, there is a lot of enthusiasm among the boys on the club crews and there should be a lot of competition for places in the second crew. In the clubs, the Persians won both races quite handily. I am sure that the most important single factor contributing to the success of the school crews is the existence of a very real rivalry among the club crews and the excellence of the coaching that they receive. By the time a boy gets on the second crew, he has always had one year of club crew rowing and usually two, so he is well acquainted with the fundamentals of rowing. He has also had to compete for his place and he has to remain consistently better than some- body else in order to retain his place. In closing, I wish to congratulate Captain Danforth on the splendid record the crews have made this year under his leadership, and to thank Man- ager Hasbrouck for his able assistance, and to wish Captain-elect Chace the best of luck next year. H. T. K. 20

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THE CREW SEASON S this year rounds out the tenth year of rowing at Brooks, it seems ap- propriate to summarize the development of the sport during that time. We began rowing in the spring of 1930, with two new Davey barges and a tub. All of these boats are still in service, though somewhat patched and bat- tered. That year we raced the lower crews of several other schools and fared only indifferently. The following year we bought two old shells and succeeded in turning out an undefeated crew. This so encouraged us that the following year we started rowing against the first crews of Noble's, St. Mark's, Exeter, and, about a year later, St. George's. These have been our regular rivals ever since. That first year, and the following one were not at all successful, and we won practically no races. It was in 1934, I think, that we were given a pair of new Williams boats and we began to provide some of the older rowing schools with real competition. We lost only to Noble's that year. For the following three years, the first crew was undefeated. In 1938 several members of the first crew had some trouble with crabs and we lost two races, but this year the first crew was again undefeated. ln 1937 and again this year we were presented with a pair of Valentine boats which have been very satisfactory and for which we are extremely grateful. During the past ten years, Brooks crews have met 91 other crews and have defeated 72 of them, and during the past five years the first crew has de- feated 33 out of 36 opponents, winning the Interscholastic Regatta on the three occasions that it has been entered. The 1939 season began with work on the machines commencing shortly after Washington's Birthday and continuing until the end of the Winter Term. VVhen school reopened after the Spring vacation, we were distressed to find the lake still frozen over. However, we were soon able to get the float set out in its proper place and began dodging ice Hoes in one of the barges. This went on for several days, and it was not until nearly a fortnight had elapsed that we were able to go out in shells. The material was very good, bow and three were back from last year's first crew, and stroke and three from last year's second crew, as well as a number of promising oarsmen from the club crews. Chace went in at stroke, Carhart and Danforth kept the same positions they had held last year, and Glass was changed from a three man to a two. The first crew, with Jane- way at cox, rowed together in that order for the rest of the season. The problem of choosing a second crew was far more difiicult. There were eight oarsmen, all of whom seemed to be very nearly of equal caliber who were competing for places in the second boat. For the first week or so a large number of the six hundred odd possible arrangements were tried, bnt none seemed to be outstanding. Finally the best line-up seemed to be Tyner, Rackemann, Turner, Shrigley, and Merle-Smith, cox. This crew rowed against Noble's and St. Mark's, and, after leading for the first half mile, was unable to meet the 19

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MEDE-PERSIAN CREW SERIES HE Mede-Persian crew season got under way with two virtually new crews, both of last year's boats having gone up to the school crews. After a few changes the first club crews were as follows: PERSIANS MEDES Bow VVhite Bow Thayer 2 Hobbs 2 Converse 3 J. P. VVare 3 Rogers 4 Spencer 4 Schell Cox B. Norris Cox W. Rackemann On May 19th, before the Brooks third crew race with Roxbury-Latin, both of the Mede-Persian crews had their first race. In the seconds, E. Norris stroked his crew to victory over the Mede four, by one and one half lengths in three minutes twenty-five seconds. The first club crew race started shortly afterwards with the Medes a decided favorite, but several bad crabs in their boat ruined any hope of a Mede victory, and Spencer stroked his crew over the line almost two lengths ahead of the Medes in the very good time of three minutes and five seconds. The next race came almost a week later on May 25th. As the second Medes were getting their boat out R. Sturgis hurt his leg, and proved unable to rowg the race, therefore had to be cancelled. After several Persian mishaps, the first crews managed to start. Schell jumped the Persian boat at the start, but at the Rock, Spencer's crew managed to fill up the gap and the crews re- mained practically even up to the last four hundred yards when the Persians began to forge slowly ahead. At the finish an oar came out of a lock killing any chance of a last minute Mede sprint, and the Persians crossed the line several seconds ahead of the Medes in three minutes seventeen seconds. Mr. Spock and Mr. Holcombe are to be congratulated for making up two such crews from boys who were entirely new at the sport. W. R. SHRIGLEY 21