History
Inauspicious Beginnings: Legend of the Crimson Lightweights
In the Spring of 1921, a group of eager lightweight freshman, coached by H. Herbert "Bert" Haines (pictured at left), competed against Exeter, losing by one length over the three-quarter-mile course. Such were the inauspicious beginnings of Harvard Lightweight Crew. While lightweight rowing was recognized as a sport in 1919, Harvard's lightweight program spent its early years in the shadow of the heavyweights. Rowing with borrowed equipment or cast-off 3rd varsity shells and oars, the early Crimson lights battled such squads as Princeton, Yale, MIT, and Cornell.
The modern era of Harvard Lightweight Rowing dates from 1936, when Tom Bolles and Harvey Love took over as coaches of the Heavyweight Varsity and Freshmen, giving then-freshman coach Bert Haines the reins of the entire lightweight program. Incorporating Bolles' ideas on conditioning into their training, Haines's '38 and '39 crews set the standard against which future Crimson Lightweight oarsmen would judge themselves. Harvard dominated interscholastic lightweight rowing until 1942, when competition was suspended for the Second World War.
Racing resumed in the Spring of '46, with Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, Navy, Rutgers, and MIT competing with Harvard for the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) Championship. The Eastern Sprints, as it is more commonly known, has gone on to become one of the premier intercollegiate races in the country. The Crimson Lightweights have a strong record of success at the Sprints; Harvard has 24 Varsity Lightweight Sprints titles, more than the next two schools combined. The Crimson JV has fared even better, with 26 titles; the freshmen have 19.
Recent years have seen a very high level of
intercollegiate lightweight competition in the US. The EARC has taken this
into account, adding the Georgetown Lightweights to its field in 1995. New
dynasties have arisen; the Princeton Freshmen, for example, have won 4 sprints titles in the last ten years, whilst their
varsity is always a fearsome opponent. Nonetheless, the challenges faced by
Crimson Oarsmen today are similar to those faced by their predecessors in the
1920's and '30's. Nine men still make the shell move, the Charles River is
always unpredictable, and anything can (and often does) happen at the Sprints.
Shades of Crimson: Origins of the Harvard Henley
The origin of Harvard's Crimson racing shirts dates back to June 19th, 1858. The Harvard Heavyweights were to face a number of collegiate crews at the first college regatta in Spingfield, MA. These oarsmen made a decision that would color all future Crimson athletes:
"'When we heard that a large number of boats had entered for the regatta, and that the crews of most of them were to wear uniforms, we agreed that we must have some distinguishing mark on the Harvard crew.' Thereupon Crowninshield and Eliot went to the store of C.F. Hovey & Co. and bought six Chinese silk handkerchiefs of many hues - blue, orange, green, yellow, red - 'but we two chanced to prefer the red ones.'"
And so, upon taking to the river that day, Charles W. Eliot (later president of the college) and Ben Crowninshield determined the colors of the Harvard Henley. We can only be thankful Msrs. Eliot and Crowninshield did not take a fancy to blue instead.
The Lightweight Henley was traditionally white, with crimson piping,
featuring the number "150" on the left breast. The number originally stood for
the average weight class of the boat. Today the weight class has been increased
by five pounds but the number "150" has been retained for tradition's sake. By
the late 1950's, the Henley was inverted to Crimson with white piping, a design
which is still worn today. The Harvard Henley, both Lightweight and
Heavyweight, is consistently voted the most coveted racing shirt in the
country.
Special Feature: Low Rider #15
In 1929, the Harvard Varsity Lightweights were coached by Frederick R. Sullivan '27, coxswain of the heavyweight varsity crew which had broken Yale's long winning streak in 1927. Around this time a lightweight style of racing had evolved; the crew would take a blistering start to gain the lead, and then hope not to succumb in the home stretch.While honing his oarsmen's technique, Coach Sullivan noticed to his dismay that the lightweights had their hands near their throats at the finish, a result of rowing in cast-off heavyweight shells. (The displacement required by the lightweight oarsmen was much less than that of their larger counterparts, so the old heavyweight shells would sit too high in the water.)
The problem was solved by rigger Edgar Dennison and boatbuilder "Wild Bill" Lutz. Both men remembered Harvard's old Henley Boat #15; it was a low rider Davy shell gathering dust in the bays of Harvard's Newell Boathouse. Because it sat lower in the water than standard shells, it was a much better fit for the lightweight oarsmen. In this sense, it was the first 'lightweight-specific' hull. The boat had an enormous impact on the '29 crew;they subsequently went undefeated, setting two records on the Charles in the process.
The following year at the Goldthwait Cup race at Derby - Harvard, Yale, Princeton - Harvard finished second. The real tragedy, however, occurred after the race. While backing the oars in an attempt to avoid going over the dam, the ribs on the old Davy shell cracked. Low rider #15 had to be retired forever. lt had become a source of confidence to the crew, and the replacement boat simply never felt right.
Thanks to Andrew Wilson '96 for gathering this information about H150 history. We are always interested in hearing anecdotes from alums, please feel free to contact us if you have stories to share.