Preface

After the Henley Regatta in July 1962, Mark Barron, my brother Tom and I toured Europe, returning to the USA just in time for the beginning of the fall term at MIT. Dennis Buss and Chas Bruggemann joined us for part of the summer but had to return home earlier because of other obligations.

This journal, which begins in the fall of 1962, is the sequel to my story about the 1962 Henley Regatta. It was originally distributed in 2004 as a series of emails to friends, family and rowing colleagues. The 1962 Henley Regatta journal was eventually upgraded and posted on the MIT Alumni Web site as A Henley Memoir. The response to this has been such that I recently decided to “upgrade” this sequel in a similar fashion.

Unfortunately, the comparison between the two journals ends there. More by luck than design, I had carried my camera with me throughout the 1962 season. In addition, my brother traveled to Henley with the 1962 crew. His camerawork is in evidence throughout A Henley Memoir. I wish I had a similar collection of photographs to document the 1963 season but, unfortunately, do not.

As a substitute, a poor substitute at that, I have quite a collection of press clippings from The Tech, MIT’s campus newspaper. As every reader of A Henley Memoir knows quite well, MIT’s Lightweights were national co-champions in 1962. MIT’s 1962 Heavyweights also had concluded one of their most successful seasons, winning the coveted Compton Cup over Harvard and Princeton for the first time ever. As a result, interest in MIT’s rowing program was significantly heightened, and The Tech ran feature articles about both the Heavies and the Lights every week throughout the 1963 rowing season. Most of these old clippings are tattered, and the quality of the scanned versions is quite poor. Frankly, I would much prefer to have a larger collection of color photographs, but we are making do with what is at hand.

Finally, my thanks are extended once again to my wife, Alice, and to my sister, Rebecca Bostick, who provided invaluable assistance in the final editing of this journal.

Where to begin? November 1962 seems like a good place to start because of the events that took place at the boathouse that fall.