1970 to 1974 Era
Full History and Team Photos
Please enjoy the history narratives and photos of the NU Men's Rowing teams from this era. In the written narrative, click on the Read More... button to expand the narrative
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The 70's - "off to the races"
NU Challenges the established Leadership
Thanks to Tom Gates '73 and Chris Meehan '75
NU’s five years in the late 60’s of developing a major rowing program, established a great foundation and momentum for the 1970’s era. With that great foundation, NU was able to attract some top rowing talent and top new athletes to the sport that would build NU into a nationwide top competitor and a surprise to the long term established programs that now were focused on NU as the new team to beat. Ernie Arlett, as Head Coach, proved he could build a top program and motivate teams’ year in and year out to compete at the highest level in the sport until his retirement in 1977.
1970 History
1970 varsity started off in a lackluster fashion with losses to Yale, BU, Brown, and Columbia. They did manage a ½ length win over BU in the last race before the Eastern Sprints where they did not qualify. The JV and Freshman crews each only registered one loss, JV to Penn and the Frosh to Brown. And each made the finals of one of the large regattas, JV 4th at the IRA and the Freshman 5th at the Eastern Sprints.
1970 finished on a high note with a first-place tie with the Union Boat Club in the Senior 8 event at the Head of the Charles in October. Coach Arlett put together an all-star boat, from the previous Spring’s season, made of 3 Freshman (S-Calvin Coffey, 4-John Maslowski, 3-Pete Karassik), 3 sophomores (2-Rich Wennersten, B-Carl Nordstrom, Cox-Bill Cook), and 3 juniors (7-Jim Reid, 6-Victor Pisinski, 5-Jim Dietz).
1971 History
For 1971, having lost only two seniors, last year’s stroke Mike McLaughlin and cox Ed Jones, the varsity boat brought forth veterans Byron McKibbon, Victor Pisinski, Jim Reid (Captain) and Jim Dietz, who took over the critical stroke seat. Joining them were John Ferguson and cox Charlie Fabiano from last year’s JV and Calvin Coffey, John Maslowski, and Pete Karassik, from last year’s freshman boat.
Things go off to an inauspicious start with a loss to both Yale and Rutgers in the opening race. Things looked good from there on with consecutive wins over BU/MIT, Brown/Columbia, and BU again, before being seeded 6th in the upcoming Eastern Sprints. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and NU did not get past Penn and Wisconsin in the qualifying heat. They did put on a good performance later, winning the Petite Final for a 7th place overall finish. The JV and Freshman fared better, both finishing 4th in their respective finals, just out of the medals.
1972 History
NU’s Varsity began the season with only 3 veteran crew members, juniors Calvin Coffey, John Maslowski and Pete Karassik, having lost 5 seniors from ’71. The new oarsmen were seniors Kent MacKinnon, Carl Nordstrom and Rich Wennersten, along with juniors Bill Backman (Captain) and Geoff Marshall. New coxswain, sophomore Frank Leahy, completed the lineup. The other big change for 1972 was the move from white oar blades to black.
The racing season started off with a test of both NU’s varsity and JV against the Harry Parker coached Union Boat Club, defending national eight. The Union boat included former rowers from Harvard (5), Princeton (2), and NU (1), our own Bill Miller ’70. Union and the NU Varsity were even at 1000m, but Union prevailed by a length at the finish.
1973 History
A lot of expectation was building for the 1973 rowing season as the men came off a very successful 1972 season with the 1st Varsity winning the Eastern Sprints and finishing the fall season with a second-place finish in the Head of the Charles Elite Eight event.
Winter training was continuing to elevate the training from prior years with demanding workouts on the rowing ergometer now being used to assess performance for positions in the top boats. Stair running workouts in the 5 story United Realty Building continued to be one of the key elements of stamina and endurance. With many athletes returning, there was strong competition building for the varsity boats and a strong freshman crew developing. As many college friends were heading of on the March spring break to warmer climates, coach Ernie Arlett had his eye set for the team to be doing twice a day practices. Those spring break double sessions proved quite grueling as much of it was spent seat racing in pairs to see who might be best fit for the top boats.
