Bolles Hunts Stroke as Ice Gives Way to Shells Today

Tom Bolles saw his first robin yesterday. The next step in the Crimson's spring crew campaign will come this afternoon, when Bolles shells hit the waters of the River Charles for the first chilly workout amongst drifting ice floes.

It's going to be a crowded place. Bolles still has seven boatloads of aspirants for position in the Varsity shell, and not until vacation will he shave that total down. Then, he dismisses all but 25 or 30 of that number, who "know the honeymoon is over," and start intensive, twice-a-day workouts which often cover up to twenty miles of water.

Bolles' next worry is opposition. "Everybody is out for us," he muses, "and we can make their season by losing to them." Navy seems to be the most likely crew in the East to threaten in this direction, with an all-veteran boat intact from last year.

Cornell, the only crew to down the Crimson in 1947, is also a naval power to be reckoned with. Although they are not at their best over the Olympic distance they will race this year.

Bolles refuses to worry about Yale's powerful Freshman aggregation that downed the Harvard yearlings last June. He dismisses the threat with, "That was the slowest Freshman crew Harvard has had since I've been here." He is just as unperturbed by the extensive training program that Eli coach Skip Walz has put his charge through since last fall, and he even shrugs off the fact that every rival crew has already been in the water for several weeks. "You can only train a crew just so long," is the Bolles theory.

He qualifies all this optimism with three conditions, however. First on the list comes the necessity of finding a stroke to replace Frank Cunningham. This scams reasonably possible, as several strong contenders are at present vying for the post.

Secondly, Bolles' pupils will have to "continue improving at their present rate" throughout the season before they are ready for any wins. And thirdly, the Crimson must stay clear of any "acts of God," such as broken slides and submerged logs.

If they can do all this, the road is clear to Olympic trials at the end of June. Here, the big threat will come from Syracuse and Washington, two powerful opponents at the Seattle championships last year. Both colleges used their Freshman crews last year, and naturally both are back intact again, looming as big threats at sprint distance.

To a man, coaches and athletic directors oppose the location, but behind-scenes power lies with the rowing clubs in the Philadelphia area, and Avery Brundage. And Avery ain't moving for nobody.