50th Anniversary of Vesper BC's Triumph

The Vesper 1964 Olympic eight. Photo: Vesper BC.

This Saturday, January 25, Vesper Boat Club, Philadelphia, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, where oarsmen from the club took the gold medal in the eights. More than 23 athletes, with their families, who represented Vesper Boat Club and the United States Olympic Team, will be present. Read more about these Vesper oarsmen in a great article on USRowing’s website, here.

Below is a short video from the U.S. Olympic trials at Orchard Beach Lagoon, New York, where the Vesper eight beat Harvard University and the University of California.



Below is 26 seconds of Vesper’s 1964 Olympic glory:

1936 Olympic Trial Video - Washington Winning by a Boat Length

Daniel James Brown's great book The Boys in the Boat is still on many rowers mind, and non-rowers, too, if I understand it right, this week being on the 17th place on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list. HTBS wrote a book review about the it on 19 August. That post has got some interesting comments, and yesterday 'bob' sent along a link to a newsreel showing how Washington beat Penn by a boat length at the Olympic Trials at Princeton. Watch it here. Rumours have it that it was a photo finish race, but alas, it was not.... Now we know for certain, thanks to 'bob'!