7. The Geiger and Callow Cups

We would finish the regular season with victories over Cornell and Columbia in the Geiger Cup, and over Navy and Penn in the Callow Cup.  As I mentioned in an earlier chapter, each of these races required that we take long bus trips, first to Ithaca, NY where Cornell hosted the Geiger Cup and then to Annapolis, MD where the U.S. Naval Academy hosted the Callow Cup.

The Geiger Cup proved to be the closest race of the regular season for both the Varsity and the JV.  We had a very satisfying 3/4 length victory over Cornell with Columbia much further back.  However, we were never able to put open water between ourselves and Cornell as we had been able to do against Harvard and all of the others in the two previous weeks’ races.  The bad news for Cornell was that they were racing us during their week of final exams; the bad news for MIT was that Cornell would have the next two weeks completely free of classes so they could focus solely on preparing for the Eastern Sprints. Our academic year would extend for another three weeks.

Cornell had also been undefeated until this race, so based on the Geiger Cup results, MIT and Cornell were established at the #1 and #2 seeds for the Sprints, just two weekends away.

Here is The Tech’s report on the Geiger Cup:

The Callow Cup was a different story altogether.  We won by another huge margin, making us wonder what had happened to the Navy Crew that had tied us in the 1962 Sprints.  The only close race was for second place when Penn, surprisingly, edged out Navy at the finish. The Callow Cup competition between Penn and Navy dated back many years.  MIT, a relative newcomer to this competition, was actually rowing as the guest of Navy and Penn. Therefore, even though we won the race by a wide margin, second place Pennsylvania was awarded the Cup.  Do you suppose there is an asterisk on the Cup by their name??

This brief article on the Callow Cup appeared in the Boston Globe:

I mentioned in an earlier chapter that our Junior Varsity and Freshman crews had stayed back in Cambridge to race Harvard, Princeton and Yale in the Goldthwaite regatta. The first thing Gary did after we crossed the finish line in Annapolis was to telephone Cambridge, learning that our Freshmen had lost but that our JV had again won its race.  In just one short week, the Varsity and JV would each enter the Sprints undefeated.1

(Footnotes)

1 Jerry Manning, ‘62, was Captain of the 1962 Henley Crew. One class head of me, Jerry toiled through those lean years which led up to the MIT Rowing Program becoming a national contender. Jerry, probably wishing at this point that he had been one year younger and, therefore, enjoying one additional winning season, writes poignantly about “living the dream” as a member of the MIT Lightweight Rowing Team. Here is his response to the earlier emailed version of Chapter Seven.

“Wow - undefeated!!!

When we started rowing as freshmen, we learned to dream.  We were proud to be rowing against the
best lightweight crews in the country, but we had little to demonstrate that we could compete.  Thus,
our first dream was not to win but, simply, not to come in last.  As freshmen, when we qualified for Eastern Sprint finals, we were delighted.  If my memory serves me right we came in 5th - not great - but we were there.

As sophomores we continued to dream.  We improved over the year and continued to dream that we might
even win a race - not against Harvard, who were totally out of reach - but maybe against some of the other
crews.  I don’t remember that we accomplished that dream, but again we qualified for the finals of Eastern
Sprints.  If I remember correctly, the freshman boat (Class of ‘63) did quite well, which gave us high hopes
for the next year.

As juniors we dreamed of winning a race - not against the big three of the time Harvard, Cornell, and Navy -
but maybe against some of the others Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Penn.  We began to develop more

confidence since we were now competitive against those teams.  Our finish in Eastern Sprints was a little disappointing but the big news was that the freshmen (Class of ‘64) WON.  We really looked forward to next year.

As seniors we thought we had a good chance to win a race, but in spite of our efforts, this did not happen.
However, we got better and better throughout the season, and hoped to do well in Eastern Sprints - hoping to finish in the top three.  I don’t think any of us thought we could win - but we had the dream.  When we did win (really, a tie) it was a dream come true. We had finally beaten Harvard.

Going to Henley was a lifetime experience. When we came home our rowing days were over, but we took pride that we had accomplished a lot and the MIT lightweights could compete with the best.

Little did we suspect, though, that the following year would bring such success. Easily beating Harvard by open water. Undefeated during the regular season.  WOW!!  As freshmen if you had told me that MIT would be undefeated going into the Sprints I would have said, “Yes, and I am going to win the lottery.”

Jerry Manning, ‘62

If you would like to read more about Jerry’s senior year and haven’t already done so, be sure to download my earlier journal, A Henley Memoir, which is available at:

http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1963/AHenleyMemoir.shtml