WINDERMERE CUP

Opening Day in Seattle is known far and wide to boaters because, on a clear day with up to 100,000 celebrants and spectators, there is nothing quite like it anywhere. But add the Windermere Cup to the mix, as the Seattle Yacht Club, Windermere Real Estate, and the University of Washington have for the last 21 years, and the day moves beyond reputation into the realm of world class events.

Honoring a long tradition, the organizers reached across the globe for competition this year. Bob Ernst, who hasn’t stopped talking about the Husky men’s trip to New Zealand two years ago, was intent on bringing the Waikato University men’s and women’s crews to the Windermere Cup. He said the Kiwis set new standards for hospitality and fun in 2005 when the Huskies participated in the famous Great Race on the Waikato River, and he was pleased to be able to return the favor.

In addition, the men’s and women’s varsity crews from Purdue University were invited to participate in the event.

On Saturday, May 5th, the crews lined up between the log booms, and among the shouts and horns and the cacophony that is Opening Day, the crews raced the 2,000 meters for the Windermere Cup. In the women’s featured event, the Huskies started cleanly and moved to an eight-seat lead, but by the entrance to the Cut, Waikato had fought back to almost even. It was at that time that Washington found another gear, and powered to an impressive one-length win.

In the men’s event, the Washington varsity put a length on the visitors in the first 500 meters and never looked back. Stroking powerfully into the finish, the Huskies won by open water, followed by solid performances by Purdue (a crew that would go on to win the Dad Vail Regatta a week later), and Waikato.

As an added benefit to our fans around the nation (and world - many fans tuned in from New Zealand!), for the first time in the history of the Cup the event was live webcast. Rowing Stewards Al Erickson and Erin O’Connell provided the color commentary, and Brian Tom (Asst. Dir. Of Communications) and the UW Athletic Department provided the broadcast. Thank you to everyone involved – it was a huge success!

An archive of the webcast can be found here - All-Access - College Sports Broadband Channel (you will be asked to sign in)

Video of the last 300 meters of the men’s and women’s featured events can be found at huskycrew.com: 2007 Windermere Cup: Women; 2007 Windermere Cup: Men.

   
Photo: Eric Cohen

CAL DUAL

California, defending men’s and women’s national champions, came to Seattle in late April for the annual Dual. This event – a tradition dating back to 1903 – carries with it the emotion and anticipation that only a long-standing rivalry can deliver.

To add to the intrigue, in the men’s varsity boats, three Canadian Huskies, who won gold at the U-23 World Championships last summer for Canada, would be rowing against three of their U-23 Canadian teammates, now rowing in the Bear varsity. Talk about races within races.

Both women’s teams were looking for something to prove. Defending NCAA champions Cal had gone 1-2 at the Windermere Classic, with the Huskies going 2-1, including a strong final day performance against 12th ranked Central Florida.

The women’s varsity four began the competition, with Cal holding onto a one-length win against an all-frosh contingent in the Washington boat (see the Pac-10’s article above for how that outcome would dramatically change two weeks later). The women’s Novice 8 then put the most lop-sided win into the books, with a powerful win over their counterparts at Cal.

The next two events would go to Cal: the men’s Frosh 8 and the women’s 2V8, leading to the nail biter of the day, the men’s 2V8. Dead even as they crossed under the Montlake Bridge, the Huskies powered into the finish to win by ¾’s of a length.

In the women’s varsity event, Cal blew out of the gates and the Huskies could not catch them, Cal winning the Simpson Trophy and setting up the final marquee match up in the men’s event. In that race, the Huskies took an early lead and held it into the Cut, where Cal put on a move, subsequently countered by Washington as the crews rowed under the bridge. The Huskies then opened it up in the sprint to win the Schoch Cup by a length.

Video of the last 500 meters of the men’s Dual can be found here - Cal/WA Dual: Men’s V8 - with three different angles capturing the intensity of the race, and the thousands of spectators that lined the Cut to cheer the Huskies on to victory. Additional video and photos can be found here – Huskycrew - 2007 Race Results.

   
Photos: Eric Cohen and Ellen Ernst

OREGON STATE DUAL

For boatings and times, check out www.gohuskies.com

Oregon State came to Seattle on an overcast, mid-April Saturday morning and discovered, once more, what a tough task it is to take on the Huskies in the Montlake Cut. A decent crowd turned out for the dual, and they were treated to nine Husky victories in ten races.

The women’s varsity eight won their race by three seconds; the men by fifteen plus seconds. In the JV races, the women won by two seconds and the men by more than twenty seconds. The freshmen boats were equally impressive, the women winning their race by two plus seconds and the men by open water. The men’s and women’s fours wins were equally impressive. Only the women’s second novice crew lost to the Beavers.

Thanks to the Athletic Department for providing bleachers for the fans. It was a nice, and much appreciated, touch.

Video and photos of the OSU/WA Dual can be found here – Huskycrew - 2007 Race Results.

 
Photo: Eric Cohen

MEET THE "2007"

Geoff and Judy Vernon lived by a strong set of values and among them was a commitment to give back to the community for the success they drew from it. So it should come as no surprise that their son, Trevor, corralled seven of his fellow ’92 graduates who, together, bought a new Pocock four for the rowing program.

Hats off to Dylan Jackson, Ray Kimbrough, Matt Minas, Bruce Paterson, Andrew Stephens, Colin Sykes, Trevor, and ’92 Captain, Paul Yount, for donating this latest addition to the Husky armada. These are young guys, just 15 years out of the University, buying homes, raising small children, and faced with years of education expenses for their little Huskies. Yet, each of them wrote four figure checks to make the boat possible, which strikes us as a particularly noteworthy gift on their part.

The “2007” will be christened Saturday, May 19th, at 8:30 a.m. at Conibear Shellhouse. All are invited. If you have never been to a boat christening, these events are special and we encourage you to attend.

PROFILE - CHUCK HOLTZ

By Dave Covey with contributions from several friends. Last month, Jon Runstad contributed an Empacher eight and named it the Chuck Holtz. It was christened by him and the Holtz family in a brief but well attended celebration on April 4. We thought you would like to know something about our friend, Chuck, and the impact he had on an era.

Chuck Holtz played football, basketball and ran the hurdles for Lincoln High School in Seattle but one day, just after the 1959 basketball season ended, a friend told him the Green Lake Crew had scheduled a trip to Hawaii. In an understatement typical of him, Chuck told Seattle Times Sports Editor, Georg Meyers: “(so) I turned out at Green Lake.”

Chuck had won just about all the honors a Lincoln student could win, including the coveted “Mr. Lincoln” title, but he had no idea that his success in the new sport would draw him beyond the Hawaiian Islands to a new and very special life.

The Green Lake “try” landed him in a coxed four with Leroy Jones, Mike Yonker and Roy Rubin, and five months later the Seattle schoolboys flew down to South America with cox, Ray Walker, to compete in the Pan-American Games. Chuck was quoted in the Seattle Times back then, saying: “We didn’t know much about rowing. Experts laughed at us when we paddled by.” But the boys returned with the last laugh, a gold medal, first page coverage in the local papers, and even a bit of national attention. It was instantly apparent to rowing fans that the young Chuck Holtz had a very special talent.

When he arrived at Washington that fall, Chuck played basketball and then joined new freshman rowing coach, John Bisset (cox of the great ’58 crew) and the class of 1963 at Conibear. He rowed in the 1961 and 1962 varsity boats, the ’62 year as Captain, but sat out the 1963 season to save a year of eligibility. Those were the days, of course, before national training camps; the top collegiate eight represented the United States at the Olympic Games every four years and Chuck wanted to be with the Huskies at the end of the 1964 season. Good friend and teammate, John Magnuson, said he was “one of those guys you never had to worry about giving his all.”

During that year off he rowed out of the Lake Washington Rowing Club and, in the summer of 1963, he won a second Pan American Games gold medal. On the way home from Sao Paulo, Brazil, after the games, John and Chuck stopped in Florida, met some coeds, got sidetracked, and had to make a wild, all night, bug spattered motorcycle ride through the Everglades’ “Alligator Alley” to make their flight home – which makes us think that some aspects of life haven’t changed all that much in the last forty-five years.

Chuck and his Husky teammates lost the 1964 Olympic trials. After two years in the U.S. Army, he returned to a teaching position at Meadowdale Junior High School but then in 1967, joined new Husky varsity coach, Dick Erickson, at Washington as the freshman rowing coach. He married, had children, but in 1980 was felled by disease far too early in life.

It is remarkable how, in the midst of so much change, so little changes. Chuck was a magnificent athlete but a quiet, thoughtful man, never pushy, never boastful, never mean. In more ways that one could count, he reminds us of nothing so much as Bob Ernst’s present athletes. He possessed the same strength, the same determination, the same quiet confidence, the same dedication, and the same pure love of competition. We can see him walking up to Jesse or B.J. or Rob or Aljosa or any one of the current athletes and fitting in with them in moments.

And make no mistake; Chuck Holtz was not just an athlete or friend, he was a leader. Why else would Jon Runstad have named the new Husky eight for him? As a young college athlete, Chuck kept a part of himself beyond the daily ebb and flow of the sport. And that part expressed itself best in the extreme moments of competition where character is measured. There was simply no room for loss in his soul. It is good to think that he might be riding along with our current athletes in the new shell that carries his name, sharing the load and, through his brilliant example, exhorting them to victory.

The 2007 Pac-10 Varsity Eight Champions stand with their new shell, the Chuck Holtz

Photo: www.huskycrew.com

YOU DIDN'T READ IT HERE

This newsletter has a firm policy against cheap commercial plugs so we are unable to tell you that Ryan Allison, ’95, has opened a new wine shop, Cellar 46, on Mercer Island. Nor are we able to mention that the store can be found at 7650 SE 27th Street, and at www.cellar46.com.

Had we not been constrained by this policy, we would have encouraged all residents of the Island, and all those making their way to or across the Island, and all those who might have thought of going to the Island – in short, all you old Huskies – to stop by, say hello, and pick up a favorite libation but, since it’s against our policy to do so, we won’t.