Paul Costello: The Triple Olympic Champion

Paul Costello, three-time Olympic Champion.

One of America’s most famous oarsmen is without doubt Jack Kelly Sr., father of Jack Kelly Jr., ‘Kell’, and actress turned princess, Grace Kelly. Kelly Sr., took altogether three Olympic gold medals, in the single sculls and double sculls in 1920, and again in the double sculls in 1924. His partner in the double was his cousin, Paul Costello. In the grand book about Kelly, Kelly: A Father, A Son, An American Quest (2009) author Dan Boyne writes about Costello:

“He was a dark-haired, dour-faced young man, with sloping eyebrows that made him look like he was always wincing. Unlike Kelly, Costello wasn’t always comfortable in the public eye, and most of the photographs taken of him were less than flattering. He had one of those sad, serious faces that had probably always made him look old, despite the fact that he was actually two years younger than Jack. […] In reality he was an amiable man with a generous heart, but his modesty prevented him from playing to the crowds as his cousin did. When reporters asked Costello how he would do during a race, or how he had done afterwards, his standard response was, ‘I let my oars do the talking.’”

In August 2009, a local newspaper in Philadelphia, The Fallser*, published under the header ‘East Falls Past’ a piece about the Olympic oarsman, Paul Costello, where he seemed to have opened up during an interview in 1983 by gerontologist Cherie Snyder. The article, which was some excerpts from the interview, states that Costello, then 89, “an East Falls native who rowed for Vesper Club, was understandably proud as he remembered his athletic achievements”. The article goes on:

When did you start rowing?
My early 20s. I started out like anybody else—a nobody. I won one race the first year. After that, it was rather discouraging to think you’re going to go back and try to win some more.

What happened?
The next year I won three or four. I was motivated terrifically by that. I had a beautiful physique built up from gymnastics and I had the right type of ego that I was going to win.

Was the 1920 Olympics your first?
1920 was in Antwerp. Jack (Kelly, Costello’s cousin) won the singles, and Jack and I won the doubles. In 1924 in Paris I won the doubles with Jack. I was scheduled for the singles the same day so I told Jack “I’m going to scratch it...We can always challenge the champion to rowing.”

Didn’t you also break the world record in single sculling—the 2000 meters?
I rowed a challenge race on the Schuylkill for 2000 meters (5/26/24). It went down as a world record. I won the Gold Cup – the (solid gold) cup was beautiful and was under strict bond. We drank champagne out of it. I had it a couple of days before it went in the vault. I am the only American athlete to win the gold three times and I could have made it four. Could have gone to California [1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles]; Kelly and I would have won out there. (Costello was the first person to win the gold in the same event – the double scull – at three consecutive Olympics).

Why didn’t you try for four?
I fell in love. I had to get some money together to get married. When you’re an athlete you don’t care.

What work did you do?
I was the leading Ford salesman in Philadelphia.

What made you win?
I shouldn’t say this but, as a competitive sport, rowing is one of the toughest. You’re rowing with all your body. You get a terrific amount of power from your legs. Naturally, your arms. Some people, I guess, they never really get the proper timing, they get discouraged and they stop.

It was a tremendous thrill. In the third Olympic (Amsterdam, 1928), we won as though we owned the canal. Charlie (McIlvaine) and I, weight-wise, were the lightest double. We heard the Canucks were hoping to get us in the finals so I said to Charlie: “When the gun goes off, we’re going up the line like as though we’re rowing 100 yards. We’re never going to be second. When we get out in front we’re going to stay there. That means we’re going to bang it all the way down. So we won the finals by 10 boat lengths. The Canadians were second.”

I fell in love with rowing. The Schuylkill River is one of the outstanding rivers to row on.

*Warm thanks to The Fallser newspaper for allowing HTBS to republish this article, which was first published in The Fallser, August, 2009.

Prestigious Cup Is Back!

Today, 21 December, Row2k is posting what they call an "exclusive" story by Janit Stahl, "The Philadelphia Story: Gold Cup Shines Again" about the Philadelphia Challenge Cup, also called the Gold Cup. This 18-inch Cup, crafted of gold, had been missing for more than 35 years when it was found in an antique shop on 8th Street in Philadelphia in 1996. The ownership of the Gold Cup became a legal matter, which ended last month when Herb Lotman, founder and CEO of Keystone Foods, bought the Cup which is now to become, again, one of the most prestigious sport trophies in the USA. There will be a press conference this morning where many questions about this beautiful Cup hopefully will be answered. Row2k has promised to keep its readers updated with more news about the 'pot'.

Of course, frequent readers of this blog maybe will remember that HTBS already on 12 November broke the news that Herb Lotman had purchased this trophy to give back to the rowing community in Philadelphia.

Click on the following links to read what The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Daily News are writing about the Cup.

The photograph by Todd Rothstein is from Row2k.

Herb Lotman Buys The Philadelphia Challenge Cup

One of American rowing's most prestigious cups, The Philadelphia Challenge Cup (for the Amateur Single Sculling Championship of the World), which was first given to Jack Kelly Sr., in 1922, after his victory at the 1920 Olympic single scull race, will again by handed out, thanks to philanthropist Herb Lotman (seen on the right), founder and President and CEO of Keystone Foods in Philadelphia. (Yes, that is the company that gave the world McNuggets!)

The Philadelphia Challenge Cup, also known as the Gold Cup, mysteriously disappeared in the beginning of the 1960s. Read more about the mystery here. Later on, the Cup was actually found in an antique store in Philadelphia in July 1996. The owner of the store had obtained it at an estate sale. Schuylkill Navy's claim to get it back from the store led to nothing.

In an e-mail to me sent earlier today, Mr. John Hogan of The Mariner Insurance Group in Philadelphia confirms that the Cup has been purchased by Herb Lotman. It is not known how much Mr. Lotman paid for the trophy, but in his little cryptic e-mail Mr. Hogan says that it is Mr. Lotman's intention to "re-institute the challenge race at Dad Vail, and a women's race, too."

The Philadelpia Challenge Cup is 18 inches tall and solid gold and estimated to a value of $10,000-$20,000 according to a web site. Besides Jack Kelly Sr., (Vesper BC), other winners of the Cup are: W.E. Garrett Gilmore (Bachelors Barge Club), Paul V. Costello (Vesper BC), Jack Beresford Jr., (Thames RC, Great Britain), H.R. Pearce (Australia), Charles Campbell (Winnipeg BC, Canada), Gustav Schafer (Germany), Joseph W. Burk (Penn A.C.), Mervyn T. Wood (Australia), Vladimir Ivanov (USSR), and Don Spero (USA).

Rowing Trophy: Lost And Found, And 'Stuck'...

What I should have mentioned in my previous entry about lost and found rowing trophies is the remarkable story about the Philadelphia Challenge Cup. As a matter of fact, I have briefly talked about this trophy in an earlier entry on 15 November 2009, "The Philadelphia Challenge Cup". Click on the date above, and then follow the other links to essays and newspaper articles on this Cup and its fascinating story about being lost, found, and 'stuck' in a shop, which owner refuses to part from it!

The Kellys & Jack Beresford At Corbis

To continue on Tim's marvellous find, corbisimages.com I went through a lot of images searching both this and that. I found some great photographs of Jack Kelly, Sr., and Jack Kelly, Jr., ('Kell'), and some pics with the most beautiful member of their family, Grace Kelly. In one of her first stage performances, in the theatre programme there was more facts about her brother Kell's first victory in the Diamonds at Henley Royal Regatta 1947 than about her. (Well, that would change a couple of years later.)

The three famous Kellys, pic No. 1 No. 2

I found a few photographs of Kelly, Sr's British rival, my rowing hero, Jack Beresford, Jr., too. Here is one from 1925. To see the photograph, click here.

The Philadelphia Challenge Cup

At the 1920 Olympic rowing event, John “Jack” B. Kelly of Vesper Boat Club, Philadelphia, won the single scull race defeating Jack Beresford Jr., of Thames Rowing Club, London with one second. To celebrate the first American to take an Olympic gold medal in the single sculls, a group lead by J. Elliot Newlin, the Commodore of the Schuylkill Navy, raised $2,500 among the rowing community of Philadelphia to establish a prize, the Philadelphia Challenge Cup. The Schuylkill Navy wanted the Cup, which sometimes has also been referred to as the Philadelphia Gold Cup, to be regarded as the Amateur Single Sculling Championship of the World, and the first sculler being awarded the title was Jack Kelly.

For the years in between the Olympic single sculling races, the Schuylkill Navy would authorize a challenger to race the champion for the title. This happened in 1922, when Walter M. Hoover, of the Undine Barge Club, won a match race for the Cup in Philadelphia, overpowering Paul V. Costello of Vesper BC. Costello was Kelly’s cousin and they had won the gold in the double sculls in the 1920 Olympics (and they would do so again in 1924).

The year after, in 1923, W.E. Garrett Gilmore of the Bachelors Barge Club, beat Hoover, now of Duluth Boat Club, at Duluth, Michigan. Back on the Schuylkill River, on 26 May 1924, Costello defeated Gilmore in a race for the Cup. Later that year, at the Olympic rowing races at the Argenteuil, Paris on 17 July, Jack Beresford became the holder of the Cup by beating Gilmore in the final of the single sculls. The following year, on 13 July 1925, there was a challenge race on the River Thames between Putney and Hammersmith where Beresford successfully defended the Cup by easily overcoming Hoover.

By clicking on the following link, you will be able to watch one and a half minutes of this race on the Thames. Please click here.

Later in July 1925, Beresford returned the Cup to the Schuylkill Navy as he did not want to defend it. After that the world’s top scullers have been holders of the Philadelphia Challenge Cup, the last one being the Russian sculler Vladimir Ivanov in 1964. Thereafter, the Cup mysteriously disappeared, but was found in June 1996 in an antique store in Philadelphia. You can read the story about the Philadelphia Challenge Cup, its disappearing and re-surfacing, on the following link, please click here (there you will also find a list of all the holders of the Cup).

The photograph above, showing Beresford and Hoover, is from the Thomas E. Weil Collection of the National Rowing Foundation. It is now on display at the rowing exhibit "Let Her Run" at Mystic Seaport Museum. Below the photograph is Beresford's famous saying: "There is no disgrace in being beaten when you are trying to win."