Perhaps I can add a little bit to the history of W-L Crew. I was the captain in 1953, but I cannot recall if we had a manager or not. I don't think so, but memory is not my best suit.

When I started on the team in 1951, they already had "The Barge" to start people out in. It was a big monstrosity, wide enough to have oarsmen abreast of each other and a catwalk between them for a coach to walk up and down. It was a great incentive to make a "boat" to get out of that thing. I will check around and see if I have any pictures with it in them.

Some time in the early 50's, we got a boat from the Naval Academy that their olympic crew wrecked by running into a buoy somewhere. The bow was shattered. Charlie set it up on saw horses in some little place by the school house, and he and the crew members put it back together with a lot of glue and scrap wood, working after school and before practice and on weekends. We got it back together, but it was one heavy sucker!

I hope this adds a bit to the history of the crew.
Grady Gothard '53