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Ancient sport revived
on University campus
by WARREN OBR
Assistant Sports Editor
Crew, one of the oldest sports in history (ranking in
longevity with horseracing) has made its way to the University
of Nebraska. Bill Brush, a junior, is coach of the newly
organized team.
"The idea to form a team came from Allyn Maybee," said
Brush. "Maybee is a social worker who is in no way connected
with the University. He just had an interest in rowing and took
it upon himself to do the initial public relations work."
Brush has been interested in crew since he participated in
the sport in high school at Andover, Mass. He became coach of
the team because "I was probably the only person Maybee
could find who knew how to row."
When established, Nebraska will join Kansas State as the
only other Big Eight school competing in the sport. Races have
been scheduled with Kansas State, Washburn, Minnesota, and
Notre Dame. In these races, sophomores and upper classmen
will compete with junior varsity crews. One race with
Washburn is scheduled for the home waters of Capitol Beach
in April,
"Invitations have been received to national regattas from all
over the country," Said Brush. "Apparently they want a shot
at Nebraska one way or another. At our scheduled races away
from home, we'll probably use the other schools shells."
The crew team works out every afternoon in the Coliseum,
and anyone interested is invited to join the squad.
"1 want to emphasize, though, that there is still a long road
ahead," Brush concluded. "Success only comes with a lot of
work and hard training."
Crew, or rowing, traces its origins back to Christian slaves
who rowed in galleys. Modern rowing began in England in the
16th Century with ferrymen racing across the Thames River in
London.
The first formal racing event was held in England in 1715
while the United States was still a group of colonies, and the
race has now been held annually for more than two centuries.
The first intercollegiate race in the U. S. was held in 1852
between Harvard and Yale.
Modern crew has developed into races of long (up to 63
ft.), thin shells at distances up to 2,000 meters, a little more
than a mile. The shells begin from a dead stop and at the end
of the race the oarsmen are physically exhausted.
In England, crew has survived as a "gentleman's sport."
Varsity crews in England frequently arrive at races in Rolls
Royces and with top hats.
Crew is divided into classes of eight-man shells, four-man
shells, two-man shells, and one-man shells or skulls.
Crew squads usually consist of tall, lean men and small,
vociferous coxswains, that tali men have an advantage is a
matter of physics. Tall men are usually more powerful and in a
shell have a longer, more powerful oar stroke.
A coxswain is defined in a dictionary as the person who
steers a boat. But in crew he is defined as a " 1 20 lb. boss. "It is
the Coxswain's job to organize his men, I get them
psychologically prepared for a race, judge what it takes to beat
the other team in terms of strategy and as a side light, steer the
shell during the race. A single coxswain is essential for each
shell.
Nebraska is going into this sport with donated equipment.
"We've had three shells given to us, two four-man shells from
Purdue and an eight-man shell from the National Amateur
Athletics Organization," Brush said. "We've also gotten other
equipment such as oars from other schools around the
country. This was the result of a massive number of letters
sent to every school that has crew.
The move was necessitated by the fact that the rew club as
yet receives no money from the athletic department, and a
new shell osts approximately $4,000
This competitive sport demands a great aeai oi pnysicai
conditioning. "You can't teach a person how to row a shell
until he is in very good shape," commented Brush. "Weight
lifting and running are especially good for a crew squad. Our
squad will train for two months before ever getting into a
shell."
High school players
sign letters of intent
Nineteen high school
football players have signed Big
Eight Conference letters of
intent to attend the University
of Nebraska.
The conference letter is no
guarantee that the athlete will
attend Nebraska, but it does
prohibit his signing with
another school in the Big Eight
or Southwest Conferences.
National letters of intent
may be signed May 5.
Those signing Big Eight
letters with Nebraska are:
Ken Adkins, Lincoln High
end; Lynn Finney, Pius X
back; Archie Gray, Omaha
Benson end; Jerry Lloyd,
Omaha Central guard; Randy
PAGE 8
Ross, Omaha Tech back; Tim
McGuire, Creighton Prep
guard; Tom Kropp, Aurora
back; Ritch Bahe, Fremont
back; George Mills, Omaha
Bishop Ryan tackle-end; Larry
Honke, Columbus Scotus
tackle.
Chuck Jones, Beatrice back;
Bob Rutan, Blue Springs
(Wymore Consolidated) back;
Tony David, Tecumseh back;
Mike Offner, Red Cloud back;
Dave Redding, North Platte
end; Rod Norrie, Geneva
tackle; Ron Lowenstein, Grand
Island back; Edgar Farris,
Toledo, Ohio, defensive end
and John Jones, Toledo, Ohio,
back.
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Mottley . . . receives baton from Pierce in mile relay.
Thinclads to compete in Houston
Husker track coach Frank
Sevigne has a squad of fifteen
to compete in the United
States Track and Field
Federation Meet Friday and
Saturday at the Houston
Astrodome.
Fifteen world indoor
records have been set at this
meeting during the past two
years and it's a safe bet that
more standards will tumble this
weekend. The biggest reason
for the record book assult is
the Astrodome oval itself
billed by most as the fastest
track in the world.
"It's really faster than an
outdoor track," said Assistant
Track Coach Dean Brittenham.
"It's 330 yards a lap and has
banked curves. This should
especially benefit the 440
races."
One of the brightest hopes
for Nebraska is the mile relay
team composed of Garth Case,
Bob Pierce, Leighton Priestley
and John Mottley. This is the
same quartet that won the Big
Eight indoor and outdoor mile
relay titles last season but they
should be pressed by
Oklahoma State who has a
3:16 clocking already this year.
. Hopes are also riding on the
two-mile and distance medley
relay squads.
"It's very difficult to
evaluate our chances in these
events," said Brittenham,
"because we don't know which
schools are entering. As for the
teams in our conference we
just haven't seen enough of
them this year to know who's
strong where."
NU miler Greg Carlberg will
get his first competitive
challenge of the season when
he matches strides with Marty
Liquori, Chris Mason and Dave
Wottle - all sub four-minute
miles. Kansas' Mike Soloman
and Bowling Green's 1970
NCAA steeplechase champion
Sid Sink are also expected to
be factors in the race.
"We qualify Friday morning
and getting into the finals
won't be an automatic thing,"
Carlberg explained. "It'll
probably take a 4:12 to
qualify." Carlberg will see
additional duty as anchorman
on the distance medley.
Freshman Bob Unger will be
aiming for a new school record
in the two mile run. Unger
turned in a personal best of
9:05 two weeks ago against
Indiana and should sneak
under Carlberg's mark of
9:00.2 on the huge Astrodome
track.
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
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World in Revolution
Special Films
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Recreation Drama
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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1971