A crew that has been called the greatest ever assembled, races Yale at New London Saturday in the climax to a big week of sports for Harvard teams.
In other events, the Crimson baseball team faces Yale at Soldiers Field Wednesday afternoon, and eight members of the Heptagonal champion track team travel to Berkeley, Calif., for the NCAA track and field championship.
But most eyes will be on the Harvard eight, prohibitive favorites in the 100th renewal of the Harvard-Yale regatta, America's oldest college sports rivalry.
The crew that has smashed records for the Charles and Lake Carnegie courses is in excellent shape for its meeting with a Yale eight that still has not reached top form this year. The Elis lost two early-season races, won only one, and failed to reach the finals of the Eastern Sprints, Harvard won the Sprints by a record margin and led Yale in the morning heat by three-and-a-half lengths.
Standard Shell
Harvard will be racing in the standard American Pocock shell instead of the Swiss Stamlli it has used in all but one of its races this year. The Pocock will be rigged in the German style, however, with the two, four, five, and seven oars on the starboard side.
The Swiss shell is being shipped to England for use at the Grand Challenge Regatta at Henley, perhaps an indication of coach Harry Parker's confidence about the Yale race.
Eli coach Jim Rathschmidt still Isn't certain which eight men will row for him. Injuries and Illnesses--three men became sick on the morning of the Sprints-have forced Rathschmidt to juggle his boat all season long.
The baseball team, like the crew, has already beaten Yale once. That came on May 15 when Jim McCandlish, a left handed sophomore, pitched the Crimson to a 3-1 win over the Elis.
This year's Harvard team, however, isn't the same as the one last year's reunion class saw hammer out a 3-2 win over the Bulldogs in a game called after six innings on account of rain. That team won 21 games, lost two and tied one, and went undefeated in Eastern League play, for Harvard's best baseball record in 80 years.
Not Last Year
But the pitcher who won that game, Paul Del Rossi, has graduated into the Yankee farm system. Del Rossi, who compiled a 29 % record in three seasons of pitching, beat Yale five times in a row after losing one game to the Elis. McCandlish's win in April has given Harvard a six-game win streak.
This year's Crimson team has a 6-4 Eastern League record and was 10-9 overall. The team tied for first in the Greater Boston League.
The track team, undefeated in dualmeet competition, won the Heps in a runaway and took third place in the ICIA Games--the Eastern championship--although only eight runners could make the trip in mid-exam period.
Croasdale Took Third
Read more in News
Netmen Triumph In Two Matches