The Wizard of Ugh

"If I ever have to hide from the cops," a fellow once said, "I have the spot picked out. I will try to win a position on a college crew, preferably in the center of the boat."

You can't even hide there any more, pal -- at least not at the University of Pennsylvania. John McGinn, an old Penn coxswain and now a scientist in General Electric's laboratories at Valley Forge, Pa., has invented an electronic gizmo that enables Penn Coach Joseph Burk to tell at a glance in practice which of his oarsmen are pulling their weight -- and which aren't. Attached to the oarlocks, miniature dynamometers measure the pull on each oar, flash the results on a board of 32 lights -- four for each crewman. If all four lights flash on, the oarsman is exerting 280 Ibs. of pressure. Three means 265 Ibs., two means 240 Ibs., and one means a bawling out. Burk calls the machine "the Wizard," credits it with much of his crew's success. Last year Penn's varsity eight failed to win a single race; going into last week's Eastern Sprint championships at Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass., their 1966 record was two for three.

Wizard or no wizard, the crew to beat at Worcester was Harvard -- although Coach Harry Parker was as surprised at that as anyone. Parker had lost seven out of the nine men (including the cox) who rowed the Crimson to seven straight victories last year before losing to Germany's Ratzeburg eight in England's Henley Regatta. This year Harvard's largely sophomore crew was unbeaten in three starts. Still, Parker complained, "My boys need time to develop. We have a long way to go."

To be precise, they had exactly 78,740 inches to go at Worcester--and they stayed in front most of the way. There were five other college crews in the race, and all of them had a shot at the Harvard eight, which began rowing at a steady beat of 39 strokes a minute, abruptly upped the count to 41, and opened up a 12-ft. lead at the 500-meter mark. For the rest of the race, the Crimson cox spent his time mostly looking over his shoulder. Harvard's final margin of victory was 70 ft. over Brown, followed by Cornell, Yale and Princeton in that order. The wizards from Penn finished last. Back to the drawing board, McGinn.

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