Devin Mahony

It's no accident that one of the best coxswains in men's intercollegiate crew is at Harvard. The Crimson has one of the oldest and finest crew traditions in the country.

In the midst of this long-standing program, junior Devin-adair Mahony fits in perfectly.

The first woman in Crimson history to cox a men's varsity boat is forging her own tradition of excellence.

Mahony, a two-year varsity veteran, will steer the heavyweight fours in tomorrow's Head of the Charles Regatta.

Mahony first entered the rowing ranks as a ninth grader at Philips Academy, Andover, she says, when a friend told her, "You should be a cox, because you're short and loud."

After coxing girls for two years, she switched to boys, she says, "because the guys on the boat asked."

"I always found she worked much better with guys than with girls," says Andover Coach Peter Washburne. "I think she found it more competitive working with the guys. She could push both them and herself harder without hurting anyone's feelings."

Coxing through four years of high school and at different boat clubs in the summer earned her a place on the 1980 girls' national team and recognition from Crimson Head Coach Harry Parker.

As a prospective Harvard student, she recalls, she was approached at the Head by the legendary Parker, who said, "You're Devin Mahony. I know who you are, but you don't know me."

Needless to say, she had heard of him, and says now that her friendship with Parker was instrumental in easing the transition to Harvard's crew program.

A 22-year veteran of that program, Parker describes this dainty dynamo as someone who "works very hard, makes an effort to understand and knows what is going on."

It was largely the coaching that led her to men's programs, says Mahony, adding, "I liked the way that Harry encouraged me to come here and told me that I would be welcome on the program."

Although team members like senior Co-Captain Chris McDougall are quick to say that "she is very well liked," and "we don't notice her as a girl anymore," Mahony still remembers her first day coxing the Harvard varsity.

One Friday race day, she was switched from a good freshman boat to a varsity boat that included the team captain. She remembers thinking, "If I don't do a good job today, then the people here will think I'm here only to date crew guys.

"Well, we were whaling and did well. After the race the boat, surprised, said, 'this girl knows what she is doing!' and I thought to myself 'you don't know what you're getting into when I'm on your boat.'"

She quotes from Steven Keesling's book on crew, "The Shell Game": "A good coxswain has audacity, a lot of audacity." Mahony says, "I think that sums it up pretty well."

Coupled with technical skill, Mahony's audacity has earned her the respect of teamates and coaches, not as a woman coxswain but as a good coxswain.

One novice cox for a men's freshman boat, Yardling Caroline Hunter says of Mahony, "she's the most respected cox in the boathouse."

"It must be a very complicated situation, but she handles herself quite well," says Radcliffe Head Coach Lisa Stone.

Even the initial reservations that teammates harbored are gone.

"I always thought it was peculiar that Devin was surrounded by reporters and was resentful of the reporters for trying to create a controversy that isn't really there," says McDougall. "But in the long run, it's nice having an attractive girl around the boathouse."

Teammates seem to agree when McDougall says, "as a member of the boat, now, she's kind of asexual." Even crews from other colleges don't seem to notice, the senior observes, noting that a Penn boat last year found out only after the race that Mahony is female.

Her deadly serious approach to crew has necessitated "staying away from any romantic relationship with someone on the team," Mahony says.

She says she envisions the role of cox as part coach, part cheerleader and part sports psychologist. "A cox has to play the role of ego for the boat. You're its mouthpiece and by articulating its goals and how it feels about them, it is a constant reminder," says the Eliot House resident.

"Some coxes work under negative influence and their crew hates them," says Mahony. "Most of the people who do crew are incredibly competitive, but everyone has a heart as well as a killer instinct. That's the element of positive influence in coxing--tapping both the heart and the emotion."

Doing this presupposes a certain understanding of one's crew, because "everyone is driven by a unique thing," Mahony explains. Her sex, though, sometimes cuts her off from team activities.

"There's only one difficult area, if there is one," Parker says. "That is, there is a certain amount of training done upstairs in the exercise room, also the men's locker room. I think it bothers Devin, because she'd like to be a part of everything."

When asked why she does crew, the English concentrator credits the sport's discipline. "I'm not a naturally organized person," she explains, "but crew disciplines your mind to be organized and it disciplines your emotions."

"I never get nervous before a race," she says. "I greet that type of pressure with a lot of positive feeling. I revel in it."

Naturally, she is looking forward to tomorrow's regatta, describing it as "a huge party where you never know what can happen to you."

It combines two great things, she sums up, "competition and a convention place for crew aficionados from all over."WILLIAM P. REIMANN, a senior preceptor in Visual and Environmental Studies, prepares for tomorrow's stiff competition. The Head of the Charles veterans' singles competition, open to those over 50 years of age, draws entrants from all over the country.