Sudduth Makes the Team; Rower Goes to Olympics

The story of Andrew Sudduth '83-5 is the type you usually see in the movies.

The rower--the first Harvard undergraduate to make the 1984 U.S. Olympic team--entered Harvard as a star athlete in 1979, but during his freshman year he was asked to leave for disciplinary reasons. Sudduth, however, has rebounded in style, using the time away from Cambridge to become one of the world's best oarsmen.

At Phillips Exeter he was recognized as a stand-out athlete in football, hockey and crew, and from there it was on to Harvard.

But the picture grew bleak as he faced trouble adjusting to college life. Within a year he had been placed on disciplinary warning and asked to take a year off.

"I was foolish," he says, speaking from Dartmouth College where most members of the Olympic crew team are training.

"I went to Exeter--a fairly strict environment where people had to check into their dorms at 10 p.m. Everyone was watched very closely.

"Harvard is a similar academic environment, but there is no limit on social life," he recalls.

His problem, he continues, involved a series of events which included a drunken night when he pulled a fire alarm and then set a fire with a home-made blow torch.

"The Ad Board especially didn't appreciate the combination," the Computer Science concentrator says. At the time, he was "pretty upset," by their decision, "but looking back," he says, "they probably made the right move."

Out of college and off the crew team, his situation did not appear especially bright.

Sudduth did not give up, but came back harder, as rowing became his primary occupation and the Olympics his goal.

"In the summer of 1982. I began to question what I was doing, the Olympics were two years away, and I wasn't sure I wanted to do all the work," he says.

Sudduth, a native of Exeter, New Hampshire, took another year off voluntarily in Washington, D.C. where he finally made up his mind to try for the Olympics.

"He's very determined and works very hard. He has a great commitment to excellence in everything he does," says his father, S. Scott Sudduth. "That's what's gotten him where he is."

"Technically he's just incredible, but more importantly, he's just great at killing himself," says one member of Harvard's crew team. "No one even comes close to him on the ergometer," he adds.

Sudduth's training began to pay off noticeably when he burst into the international rowing scene in 1981 when he unexpectedly captured a silver medal in the World Championships in Germany.

From there, it's been continued success.

The grueling U.S. Olympic team trials, in progress for the past year, included rowers from all over the country, many with more experience than Sudduth.

From a field of about 50 who attended a Florida training camp, 24 were invited to compete at Princeton, where the field was narrowed to 18.

Finally, two teams--a four and an eight man boat--were selected after five weeks of racing and training in Europe.

Sudduth, however, is only one of two college undergraduates to make the team and is the second youngest member (after Chris Penny of Princeton).

He says, however, that he was confident that he would make the team.

"It was more of a relief than a surprise. It was what I had planned to do," he says.

"Rowing isn't a sport with a lot of glory, but it's still a chance to be the best in the world at something," he says.

His making the Olympic team was not a big surprise to his family either, his father says. "I always kept an eye on him and knew how good his ergometer scores were."

But, he adds that while he rowed at Princeton during his college years, he never pushed his son in athletics.

"I've tried to maintain a good balance and keep it all in perspective," he says.

"It's a tremendous thing to have a son on the Olympic team," he adds.

Trials

While Sudduth is the only Harvard undergraduate or alumni to make the team thus far, there are several hopefuls still in the running.

One who's been there before as a rower on the 1980 team is Charles Alterkruse '80. Now at Princeton attempting to earn a spot in one of the two man boats, he evaluates his chances as "pretty good."

Labelling the 1980 U.S. boycott of the Games as "no cause for celebration," he says the U.S. rowing team this year is "alot stranger."

"It's a sort of pity" that the Soviet Union and several of her allies will boycott the Games, he says, noting that the Russians and the East Germans have fielded the world's strongest crew teams in recent years.

But, the international community "always expects a surprise from the Americans and every once in a while we really get out act to gether," he adds.

Other Sports

A number of Harvard athletes in other sports are still in the final rounds of competition for the team.

Wreatler Paul Wideman '83 won the pre-Olympic trials meet in the 165 pound weight class and is now the top seed in the final rounds. Jeff Clark '88, who will enter Harvard in next year's Freshman class, is in the finals in Greco-Roman wrestling.

In swimming, Dan Watson '86 is close to making the team as a diver and Peter Egan '86, a buttefly specialist, is also expected to make the team.

Several athletes also will compete in the games under the flags of other countries.

Jim Relle and Jamie Hanson will row for Team Canada. Mike Miao '84 will swim for Taiwan, Julian Bott '84 will swim for Great Britain, and Tim Ford for Australia.

Harry Parker, Harvard's varsity crew coach has been selected to coach part of the men's U.S. Olympic crew team.