Frankly, in addition to being an honor, it was a bit of a surprise for us to be inducted into the Harvard Sports Hall of Fame. I always felt that winning crew races at Harvard was tradition rather than something extraordinary. The perspective of the years since has made me realize that those years were really both. I feel privileged to be a part of the great tradition of rowing at Harvard as well as two of the three extraordinary crews being inducted into the Harvard Sports Hall of Fame. It should be noted that I think all of us feel that a few parties have been omitted from our Hall of Fame inductions. They have as much to do with our winning than perhaps any of us. Harry Parker has simply dominated the sport of rowing and collegiate coaching in any sport for forty years. Since arriving at Newell in 1963, Harry has coached 18 undefeated seasons, won 20 Eastern Sprints titles and has 16 National Championships. Advanced calculus tells me that an average incoming rower able to make the varsity will have a 48% chance of winning the Eastern Sprints and a 43% chance of being undefeated. Knowing Harry’s record is sort of humbling if you row at Harvard even if you are able to win the big races. Therefore, we feel he is being inducted with our crew as a vital part if not cornerstone of our team. The second missing inductees are our jayvee crew. The Harvard jayvee crew is really a misnomer. Really it is a second varsity. Only nine people make the varsity crew which is, I believe the smallest varsity team at Harvard. Given the success of our crews most if not all of these rowers would have been on the varsity at any other school. Many if not most of the people inducted as part of the 1987-1989 crews rowed in the jayvee at one time or another. Every day our team went down to the boathouse and raced inter-squad with different mixed lineups on either ergs or in boats against all the others on our team. The guy right behind you pushing you every day in the fall is the one who actually prepared you to beat Wisconsin in the spring. “As metal sharpens metal, one man sharpens another.” In addition to having a remarkable record of their own, the jayvee honed the varsity crew on a daily basis to the high standards we rose to. Most years, the times that the jayvee posted at the sprints would have put them in the finals if not the medals of the varsity races. They were an integral and irreplaceable part of our success. And as for the crews ourselves, we are extremely proud of our achievements and to be inducted as a team. Crew is a team sport. There are no heroes. There are no winning goals. No MVPs. No Personal Bests. We won and lost as a team. For the record, the winning was a lot more fun. While I am extremely proud that many members of our crews went on to greater achievements on larger stages at both the international and Olympic levels, there was no individual who was responsible for our success. It was truly a team effort. There is an expression that there is nothing sure in life but death, taxes and the Harvard Crew in the last 500 meters (okay my wife tells me she hadn’t heard it before she met me, but other than her I am sure it is practically trite). We carried on the tradition of the crews before us by working hard, being “confident” and rowing fast if not particularly elegantly. We are proud to have carried that Harvard crew tradition of speed and grit. But these crews were extraordinary as well. The 87-89 crews beat Yale in the four mile race every year, and won three National Championships which was never done before or since. We won Redwood Shores Regatta twice and the San Diego Crew Classic as well as two Eastern Sprints titles. My most memorable race was passing an undefeated Brown in the last twenty strokes to win the 1987 National Championships by four feet. There are many great stories which we will recount for you whether you are interested or not in great detail if given the chance. But I think what makes our group different is we reached the highest achievements in our sport consistently for three years and we did it as a team. Thanks to my teammates for great memories, for pushing me to be better and for pulling harder when my blade was late. Great Day!!!