THE Harvard crew not only faced the five fastest crews in the world in Mexico City--they also had to do battle with United States and International Olympic officials.

In the process of supporting the black protests, the Harvard crew became the "shaggies," the "hippies," and the scapegoat of Olympic officialdom.

The United States Olympic Committee attempted to curtail their "political" activities during high altitude training, accused them of trying to "disrupt the team," and then planned to send coxswain Paul Hoffman home for alleged complicity in the Smith-Carlos black power protest the night before the final race. If Hoffman had been judged guilty of conspiring, it is probable that the U.S. would not have entered a boat in the finals since individuals on Harvard's crew were not willing to row without him.

Harvard's involvement with the black athletes dates from even before the "Act of Conscience in support of the Olympic Project for Human Rights" (OPHR) issued by six members of the crew in July. Immediately after the trials in Long Beach, Cleve Livingston and Paul Hoffman had traveled up to San Jose to speak with Harry Edwards, a co-founder with Martin Luther King of the OPHR and advisor to Tommy Smith and Lee Evans.

"We half expected Edwards to say, 'Get the hell out of here. We don't need you,'" Hoffmann said. "But the reaction was just the opposite. He welcomed our help and told us we were the first white athletes to express interest in the blacks' grievances."

Edwards came to Cambridge to speak to the entire crew at the boathouse. Edwards stressed to the group "how this is one of the few non-violent avenues left for the Negro" and described the drawbacks they would have since they were white, Harvard, and a team.

In high altitude training in Gunisson, Col., the crew wrote letters to other members of the U.S. team explaining their position and urging them to think over the issues.

"We wanted to make sure that they (the members of the U.S. team) would have done most of the mental footwork before they got to Mexico City so that they would have some idea where they stood if a demonstration did occur," Andy Larkin explained.

Douglas Robie, president of the USOC, called Coach Harry Parker in to ask about the purpose of the letters. One committee member, Arthur Whattle, wanted to send the crew home from Colorado for these letters, but the committee limited itself to advising the crew that they were violating rule nine of the Olympic constitution by "disrupting the team."

The crew members examined the rule and found that it referred only to the duty to "behave as Americans" so they rejected the committee's restrictions.

It was in Gunisson that it became apparent that the blacks did not wish to work with Harvard athletes. "Maybe they were afraid we would try to take the initiative," one crew member said. "I'm sure they distrusted our motives."

As far as Harry Parker was concerned, "the issue had just about died when they reached Mexico City." The blacks had refused to inform the Harvard activists what they were considering and there was a total breakdown in communications between the white and black athletes. Hal Connolly, the veteran hammer thrower, was the only white invited to the blacks' meetings so it seemed that Harvard's role as a link and source of information was dead.

The protest by Tommy Smith and John Carlos threw Harvard's Paul Hoffman into the limelight. Hoffman, who had been threatened by the white manager of the boxing team for giving an OPHR button to a boxer, was the most active Harvard individual. A week before, Pat Duffy, the manager of the boxing team, had warned the 5 ft. 9 in., 110 pound Hoffman that he would "knock his head off" if Hoffman continued to "intimidate" his boxers.

AT THE medal ceremony in which Smith and Carlos bowed their heads during the national anthem and raised clenched fists, Hoffman happened to be sitting with Smith's and Carlos's wives. According to Hoffman, Pete Axthelm, a Newsweek correspondent, had invited the two wives over to sit with them during the race.

"After the race we went down to the gangway where the runners were, to see them," recounted Hoffman. "Carlos had run with an OPHR button, but Smith had not, so he asked for one. I gave him Axthelm's and then (Peter) Norman, the Australian who finished second, asked for one to wear. I gave him mine."