June, 2017
Somebody had to put it together. This reunion thing. Someone
had to do it. It’s been forty years.
The scene of the crime.
They shine in our memories, those nine boys, up there on a
podium drenched in the late afternoon brilliance of an English countryside in
1977. They’re up there, breaking musty British propriety in their Husky racing
shirts because there just was no time for stuffy coats and ties, all grins with
their trophy, surprise and joy and triumph and exhaustion etched in their
smiles. In those old photos we can even feel the power in their grips as they
shake hands with the officials, the officials who can’t believe these young American
bucks crossed an ocean to take victory in a race they weren’t expected to win.
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| Jackman, Sawyer, Parker, Miller, Umlauf, Fisk, Franklin, Hess. Stillings at cox. |
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| Well rowed, gents. Next time bring a coat and tie. |
These boys came from nowhere -- "we weren't really that
good," Mort said -- to take the Henley Grand Challenge in 1977. It was a
Grand Theft really, stealing the hardware from a heavily favored Leander Club
to write their names in Husky history.
