A 1936 German 'Silver Man'

Rowing historians Tom Weil and Bill Miller were at the IRA National Championships this past weekend. They were taking care of the ‘rowing history’ bit of the regatta, making sure that those who were interested in the rich history of our sport got some information about the National Rowing Foundation (NRF) and the Rowing Hall of Fame. And at the same time showing off some big ‘rowing pots’. On Saturday evening, the NRF held a ceremony for the Class of 2014, seventeen rowers who were inducted into ‘the Hall’ – all introduced by Miller.

About the weekend’s events, Bill Miller said: ‘Wow! What a great weekend. The regatta was awesome, perfect weather, the NRF banquet went smoothly. The tent display went very well. I was amazed at how excited everyone got when they viewed the trophies, cups and programs. Photographing the trophies was prolific. I think we proved that promoting NRF/rowing history/Hall of Fame is an awesome way to connect with the rowing community and is important.’

One thing that Bill and Tom had on display in their tent was yet another ‘Silver Man’ statue. Somehow, a Tweet with a picture of the ‘Silver Man’ found its way across the pond and ended up on Greg Denieffe’s smart phone. Greg and I sent some messages back and forth late on Sunday afternoon about the statue (this was before I realised that it belonged to Miller). In the evening, I met Bill briefly when he was on his way back home to Massachusetts. I mentioned the ‘Silver Man’ that Greg had seen in a photograph. Bill smiled and unwrapped a small blanket he had in his car. ‘You mean this one?’ he said. And there it was.

Bill told me that it’s German-made, of nickel-plated bronze and a commemorative piece from the 1936 Olympics Games in Berlin. He bought it from Germany a year ago, but it has no markings on it to reveal who made it. He thought it would be a nice statue to bring along to the IRA, as it had a connection to Daniel James Brown’s great story about ‘The Boys in the Boat’.

About the bronze statue that HTBS has had questions about earlier, Bill said: ‘In general, there were many bronzes made over many decades. Some with oarsmen standing, some seated in a boat.’

Many thanks to Bill Miller for sharing his statue with the HTBS’s readers.

Results from this Weekend's Regattas

European Champions in the women's pair: Helen Glover and Polly Swann of Great Britain. Photo: British Rowing.

This weekend saw some interesting regattas on both sides of the pond, which we mentioned yesterday. In the U.S., it was the NCAA and the IRA. In Europe, it was the European Championships and the Scottish Championships and the Scottish Schools’ Championships. South of Scotland, Tim Koch reminded us about Eights’ Week in Oxford and Bryan Kitch of RowingRelated about the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney. Tim promised us a report from Eights’ Week later on, while results from the other mentioned regattas will be found below (posting this Sunday evening, some results have not yet been posted, but hopefully they will be up very soon):

NACC
IRA
Scottish Championships
Scottish Schools’ Championships
Met Regatta
European Championships

All these Rowing Events this Weekend...

Photo: Ohio State.

This weekend sees some interesting regattas on both sides of the pond. In the U.S., it’s the NCAA in Indianapolis and the IRA on Lake Mercer. Bryan Kitch of RowingRelated has picked his ‘Crews to Watch’ at these championships in a well-written piece here, while you will find USRowing’s take on these two regattas here. Today is also when the National Rowing Foundation is inducting new members into the NRF’s Rowing Hall of Fame, which will happen at the Princeton Marriott at Forrestal. Read more here.

In Europe, the European Championships are underway in Belgrade, Serbia, which you can read about here. This weekend it’s also the Scottish Championships and the Scottish Schools’ Championships at Strathclyde Country Park. You will get more info here. If you are interested in finding out how this year’s Nat Schools Regatta went in Nottingham, England, then read what British Rowing wrote about the regatta on their website, here.