The Rebirth of Marietta Rowing: the J
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THE REBIRTH OF MARIETTA ROWING: THE J. ELLIS MACDONALD ERA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CONNECTION by Brent Haney ’76 student and community-wide desire to bring rowing to Marietta College was accomplished in 1871. Over the course of that decade, Marietta’s entry into the sport had its ups and A downs. Some years, the all-male student body embraced the sport, fielding up to six four- oared shells; in other years, it was hard to find enough students to field even one. Suddenly, there were these new sports popping up on campus, namely football and baseball, that were easy to form, had local competition, and were more social and less rigorous. By 1892, rowing at Marietta had ceased. This wasn’t right; everyone who lived in Marietta or was connected to the College knew that Marietta was the ideal place to have a top-flight rowing program. Similar to what we are facing in today’s times with COVID, there were just too many factors to keep the program going. But the desire and goal to establish rowing in Marietta was always there. It took a great deal of effort by many dedicated people at the College, as well as alumni and civic leaders who worked behind the scenes to re-establish the sport. There was great optimism during the 1920s. EDWARD M. HAWES TO THE RESCUE The Kiwanis Club of Marietta was very active in civic development for the town, with efforts primarily focused in unusual civic improvements to attract tourists to the city. In 1925, a committee was appointed to evaluate the prospects of establishing shell racing as a Marietta College sport. The Committee was led by Edward M. Hawes, a local Marietta businessman; his connection to rowing was being a student manager of the crew at the University of Washington in the 1920s. Right at the start, the initiative to resurrect rowing hit a rather large obstacle — money. With the popularity of rowing increasing, the cost to purchase a “second-hand” shell was in the $8,500 - $10,000 range. This pretty much put the enterprise on hold; it was clear the committee would need an unusual break in order to move forward with establishing a program. As destiny would have it, during a vacation, Mr. and Mrs. Hawes happened to be in Philadelphia driving on the River Parkway and saw some eight oared shells rowing; Mr. Hawes remembered that Rusty Callow, who rowed and subsequently coached at the University of Washington, was now in Philadelphia as head rowing coach at the University of Pennsylvania. Russell “Rusty” Callow, during his first-year as coach in 1923 (left) at the University of Washington. Callow captained the 1915 U. of Washington Crew (right). George Pocock said in his book Ready All! “Rusty Callow had a rare ability to retain the respect of his crews and maintain the rigorous discipline needed for a successful team effort without killing their spirit; rather, he raised it. I know it’s an overworked term, but Rusty Callow was in truth a real leader of men if ever there was one.” Mr. Callow coached at Washington from 1922-1927. In 1927, he went on to coach at the University of Pennsylvania until 1950. He then went on to lead the U.S. Naval Academy’s Program from 1950-1959 when he retired from the sport. His 1952 Annapolis crew won Olympic Gold. So,, the couple found their way down to the Penn boathouse to find Mr. Callow and talk about the predicament Marietta was facing with its program. It so happened that Rusty was just getting out of his launch when the Hawes’ showed up at the boathouse. Mr. Hawes did not really know Rusty that well, he was closer to his older brothers and sisters. After opening pleasantries, Mr. Hawes told Rusty the cost to purchase the shells and Rusty said “Go ahead, Ed, and do it.” Mr. Hawes responded “going ahead and having $10,000 to go ahead were two different things.” Rusty then said “Go ahead — if you can get by with it — I’ll give you a boat.” After some further discussion, Rusty also threw in a set of oars. From there, they went over to Rusty’s house and talked about rowing until 3 in the morning, where he also promised to loan the College plans for a shell barge the they could build locally in Marietta. Perhaps that was the break the College needed to get back on the water. The next step was to get College leadership approval. Upon returning from Philadelphia, there were discussions with William W. Mills, chairman of the College’s Board of Trustees and an “angel” to the College. He was a quiet man who held his cards close to the vest, but was enthusiastic and supported the plan. Mr. Hawes and his committee then presented a proposal to Dr. Edward Parsons, President of the College, in which the committee offered the College one shell, two small training barges, a launch and a boathouse. There was no long-term obligation to the College to support the rowing club. The meeting went well, President Parsons agreed to hire a coach and to set up a budget of $350 per year until the sport proved itself. Finally, there was a contract signed between the College and the Club. THE SEARCH FOR A COACH Next, Marietta College began negotiations with the University of Washington for a crew coach. The College felt it would follow the best practices at the time of colleges hiring former Husky rowers to coach their teams. In fact, nine of the 13 rowing coaches at the collegiate level were graduates from Washington’s rowing program. The Washington powers that be recommended to Marietta they hire J. Ellis MacDonald, the current stroke of the 1928 Washington Varsity. After the 1928 Poughkeepsie regatta, MacDonald visited Marietta where he was officially hired by Dr. Parsons. J. Ellis worked all summer on the new boathouse that was being constructed at the time. J. Ellis MacDonald, Captain and Stroke of the 1927 University of Washington Varsity Crew took 2nd Place in the Poughkeepsie Regatta. He was hired as Marietta’s first coach in 1928. The official announcement of the hiring and restoration of Marietta Rowing was published nationally on August 4, 1929. After the summer of 1928, MacDonald traveled back to Seattle for his senior year at Washington and stroked the Varsity for his final year. In 1929, after his final race as a Husky, he was back at Marietta and went to work to start the program, create excitement, and most importantly, find willing and able men to become part of his team. The 1929-30 season would be inter-class and intramural racing. MacDonald had his sights set to field a crew that would be competitive with the Goliaths of college rowing. The “Little David of College Rowing” was ready to go. The reinstatement of crew was the big news in the 1931 Edition of the Mariettian: 1931-THE “LITTLE DAVID OF ROWING” EMERGES On May 15, 1931, Marietta sent a delegation of eight oarsmen, a coxswain, a couple of substitutes, and Coach MacDonald to Philadelphia. It would be the College’s first intercollegiate rowing contest in more than 40 years. The race was against both Harvard’s and Pennsylvania’s JV boats. It was an inauspicious start for the MC oarsmen; the race was delayed over three hours. Like all novice oarsmen, they had a case of the jitters. It did not help that they caught a crab at the start causing the boat to come to a complete halt. The crew fought hard and closed the gap and lost to Penn by 1 length to place third. Harvard won the race easily by nearly 4 lengths. The race was rowed over one and a half miles. Three weeks later, the University of Washington stopped in Marietta to race both the Varsity and JV boats. The Varsities went head-to-head while the Marietta JV raced Washington’s freshman eight. This race was national news as it pitted coaches who had both rowed at Washington and were their respective strokes and captains of their crews. Al Ulbrickson was a 1926 graduate and MacDonald a 1929 graduate. Moreover, this was the first intercollegiate race held on the Ohio River. More than 10,000 persons lined the Ohio and West Virginia banks of the Ohio River to catch their first glimpse of eight-oared racing. An observation train carried at least 2,000 fans down the river during the event. Washington scored a double victory when its freshman crew finished two and three-quarters lengths ahead of Marietta’s Jayvees. Marietta’s varsity made a brave showing, forcing the Husky eight to boost the beat to forty strokes a minute to win. The Pioneers caused the race to be held up several minutes after Marietta broke an oar at the 1–16-mile mark, and starter George Varnell of Seattle called for another start. Both crews rowed 38 strokes per minute from the starting line. Marietta took the lead as the Westerners settled down to a 32 beat and at the mile mark led by a full length, almost showing open water. Only In the last 100 yards did the Western crew show its superiority, pushing up the beat to 40 strokes a minute. The race was actually won by a couple of feet. It was the first of many “photo finishes” Marietta would encounter in racing. It was a great day for Marietta rowing, and newspapers all over the country praised the “Little David” of rowing on their gallant effort.