You know spring is here when the racing action begins, and we’ve had lots of it in the last few weeks. The annual Class Day Regatta (see below) kicked off the season and it was followed on successive weekends by the Husky Invitational, the WSU duel on the Snake River, and the Windermere Classic in Redwood Shores.

The Invitational hosted crews from Western Washington University, Washington State University and, representing juniors, Green Lake Crew, Pocock Rowing Center, Sammamish Rowing Association, Everett Rowing Association, Mount Baker Crew, and Lakeside School. The Husky men and women rowed well against the two Washington schools, winning six of their races.

The following weekend (April 7), a contingent of Husky women and men traveled to the Palouse for the annual WSU dual. For the women, it was the year’s first meeting between the two varsity boats and, for the second year in a row, the Cougar women won. The men, rowing in fours, won handily.

You gotta love boat racing. Just when you know what’s going to happen, it doesn’t. Congratulations to the junior men for showing the Class Day crowd what a gut check is all about. Spectators, many of whom had picked the sophomores to win, were treated to a classic rowing race from start to finish. The sophomores, juniors, and a hot freshman crew rowed almost stroke for stroke over the entire 2000 meter course. In the process, they turned the annual race for the George M. Varnell Trophy (and big-time bragging rights) into a thrilling contest. The winning margin? Five tenths of a second. The margin between the winners and the third place freshmen? Just two seconds. Those of us who knew famed sportswriter, George Varnell, know that he would have loved this race.

And speaking of bragging rights, how about those senior women? There was some serious cheering on the Goodtime II as the seniors pushed through the crowd and won the Seattle Times Trophy race for the second year in a row, winning by a five second plus margin. Setting up a great contest for next year, the juniors in second and the freshmen in third were separated by less than a length.

The racing day began with the women’s varsity-novice challenge. This three boat race saw the varsity win over the novices and a combo boat by a big margin. Following the opener, the men’s varsity-freshman challenge was won by the Freshman A boat. The order of finish had the Sophomores in second place, the Freshman B boat in third and a combo boat last.

They were joined by seven oar, Joe Rantz, from the 1936 Husky gold medal Olympic boat, and a surprised and emotional Jan Harville who watched Bob Ernst and Elearnor McElvaine unveil a bronze plaque of her that will hang with other Husky coaching legends on the entry wall of the shellhouse. Look for it the next time you visit.

A group of Chuck’s friends, twenty or so from the late 50’s to mid-60’s were delighted to renew old friendships with the extended Holtz family, and to meet Athletic Director, Todd Turner, and Executive Associate Athletic Director, Jeff Compher, who joined the coaching staff, athletes and crowd for the ceremonies.

After several brief presentations, Jon and Chuck’s former wife, Chris, poured water from the Montlake Cut finish line over the bow of the new boat.

Nine current Husky oarsmen took the boat out for a shakedown row followed by a brief social hour upstairs. And then many of the group adjourned to The Ram to share Holtz stories over lunch.

The Pocock Company began phasing out wooden shells in the 1970’s and stopped officially in 2003 when Bob Brunswick, a 54 year veteran of the company, retired. Thanks to gifts of jigs and equipment from Bill Tytus, another gift of tight grain, precision milled, cedar planks from Stan Pocock (enough for 200 singles), and the on-site help of Brunswick, the Northwest Maritime Center/Wooden Boat Foundation of Port Townsend has begun production again. The whole process is being recorded through notes, drawings, still photographs and video so that future generations will be able to learn the exacting process for building these exquisite sculls. And, through a unique branding agreement with the Pocock Company, the new boats will bear the Pocock name.

Credit Steve Chapin of the Point Hudson Boat Shop and his skill and enthusiasm for pulling this off. And thank Huskies Bill Tytus and Stan Pocock, too, for their foresight and generosity which allowed for the rebirth.

In November, 2005, we devoted our issue to the need for financial support from our alumni and we were not surprised that you responded so strongly. For the four month appeal period – November through February – you raised your participation in the program to $86,236.

Remember, we haven’t made a single fundraising call and we haven’t made a single face to face request for donations. All of this has been done through November newsletter announcements and brief reminders in December and January. So it is with a great deal of appreciation and respect for each of you that we announce the final results of the campaign just finished: $161,346. Are you the best alumni in the world? We think so.

The impact of this generosity is already obvious. Every penny goes into endowments, competitive expenses, or recruiting. Not a cent is spent on administrative costs. You have only to look at the quality of the student-athletes down at Conibear to know how much your contributions are helping to keep Washington rowing the best collegiate rowing program in North America.

Enrollment at the University of Washington was about 604 students at the end of 1901, and grew to only 631 in the spring of 1903.  The 1903 Tyee yearbook stated: “The co-eds have taken to rowing for the first time this year. They use the same boats used by the boys and under the same conditions.”

In the early decades of the twentieth century, exercise was a school requirement for the men and women. Every student was expected to take gymnasium classes or participate in a sport each term.  For women, choices included basketball, handball, tennis, field hockey, track and field, baseball - and rowing.

Legendary coach Hiram Conibear was hired … to be the Athletic Trainer for the football and track teams.  He was also asked to coach the crew and he accepted. He was a natural promoter and a determined organizer who wanted as many students (as possible) - men and women - to participate in the sport.

The women’s crew … was officially sanctioned (by) the Board of Control … and (by) 1908, … each of the Freshman, Sophomore and Junior class had a strong eight to enter in the (Junior Day) race. (But) then … the “largest co-ed rowing squad in the United States, and probably in the world” was in part “disbanded” by the Dean of Liberal Arts, and faculty manager of the Board of Control, Arthur R. Priest – in an effort to rein in Conibear.

Eric Cohen, Mischelle Day, Ellen Ernst, Shari Fisher, Al Forney, Kevin Hansen, Mike Hess, Adrienne Hunter, Sarah Lopez, Erin O’Connell, Mark Miller, Matt Minus, Bill Pearce, George Teasdale, and Dee Walker.