1974: Golden Year For Crimson Crews

Without a doubt, 1974 will go down as one of the greatest seasons in the Harvard-Radcliffe crew annals. It was a year in which Crimson boats captured virtually every major collegiate crew championship.

The varsity heavyweight eight was the undisputed national collegiate champion. After trouncing all opposition en route to an undefeated regular season, the heavies captured the Eastern Sprints title. The Crimson went on to overwhelm Intercollegiate Rowing Association champ Wisconsin and handily defeat the University of Washington, the Western Sprints champ, to put to rest all claims that it was not the best in the land. The meeting between the Eastern and Western Sprint champions was billed as the first real race for the national heavyweight title. Although many critics doubted whether Harvard could hold its own against the Huskies, stroke Al Shealy, Steve Row, captain Dave Fellows, Rick Cashin, Ed Woodhouse, Tiff Wood, Blair Brooks, Ollie Scholle, and cox Dave Weinberg had little trouble in proving their claim as the best.

The junior varsity heavyweights also enjoyed success in the Eastern Sprints and at Wisconsin and Washington. The third varsity boat's winning season was only marred by a loss to the UMass varsity boat. The freshmen heavies could not quite pull out a victory at the Easterns, getting nosed out by Cornell by two tenths of a second.

Radcliffe achieved unprecedented success, as both the varsity eight and the varsity four won Eastern Sprint titles. Although both boats failed to capture national titles and the right to represent the United States at Lucerne for the world championship, they were defeated by boats made up of the best from several colleges and boat clubs. Both the eight--which last year consisted of cox Nancy Hadley, Allison Hill, Connie Cervilla, Wiki Royden, Judith Ames, Alison Hall, Jenny Getsinger, Marie Adams, and Katie Moss--and the four--Barbara Norris, Anne Robinson, Sarah Kuhn, Robin Lothrop, and cox Amy Sachs--should be strong again this year.

The Harvard lightweights regained supremecy on this side of the Mississippi by winning the Eastern Sprints in the varsity, J.V., and freshmen competition. The lightweight third varsity boat also went undefeated.

The varsity lightweight eight of stroke Ned Reynolds, Todd Howard, Leif Soderberg, Mac Heller, Peter Huntsman, Bob Leahey, Paul McKenna, John Kiger, and cox Chris Ross journeyed to England to compete in the Thames Cup competition at the Henley Regatta. The lights squeezed through their preliminary rounds, but lost in the finals.

A Porcellian Club boat comprised of four Crimson heavyweight and lightweight oarsmen captured the Wyfold cup at the Henley. Bowman George Host, Scholle, Dave Porter, and Woody Canaday brought the Porcellian Club victory in its first Henley attempt.