One for the Alumni

CREW One for the Alumni The first thing most athletes do when they get out of college is to order a heavy meal, wash it down with a cold beer, take a deep drag on a cigarette --and gleefully go to pot. But not if they live in Philadelphia and know how to pull an oar. Philadelphia's 99-year-old Vesper Boat Club awards no letters or athletic scholarships; its members work out six days a week, row as much as six miles each practice session. Why? "Because we like it," says Secretary-Treasurer John B. Kelly Jr., onetime Olympic sculler and brother of Monaco's Princess Grace. "We even like it enough to go out and be good at it." Very good, even.

Last week at New York's Orchard Beach Lagoon, the smooth-stroking Vesper eight trounced 15 of the country's finest crews -- and thereby became the first club crew to represent the U.S. at the Olympics since another Vesper crew did it in 1904.

Vesper almost did not get into the trials at all, thanks to a mix-up in the mails. Their registration arrived after the deadline: only a last-minute decision by the U.S. Olympic Committee allowed them to compete. Seeded fourth, be hind California, Harvard and Washing ton, Vesper did not figure to offer much competition to the younger col lege crews. Their average age was 26, and only the presence of two under graduate ringers from La Salle College kept it that low. The part-time coach, Allan Rosenberg, is a Philadelphia law yer. The coxswain, Robert Zimonyi, is a 46-year-old Hungarian refugee. The captain, Bill Knecht, is 34, a plumbing contractor, the father of six. But in the semifinals, Vesper shocked the experts by beating Harvard, the undefeated Eastern champion, by two lengths and 7.5 sec.

That was nothing compared to the surprise Vesper pulled in the finals. California was now the heavy favorite; the high-stroking Bears had rattled off seven straight victories. At the starting gun, Cal spurted into the lead, stroking at a phenomenal 44. Harvard was second, Yale third--and Vesper was left at the line. But then Harvard sliced out in front of Cal, and Vesper began to move up. At the 800-meter mark, with 1,200 meters to go, the Philadelphians drew even with Harvard, edged ahead--and never looked back. Eight tulip-shaped oars swinging as one, they took the stroke up to 40 at the end, swept to a one-length victory in 6 min. 1.3 sec.--fastest time of the entire Olympic trials.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.