Harry Parker was probably the most important figure in American
rowing of the past century. His heavyweight crews at Harvard topped
the leagues more consistently than any other team (they won the
Eastern Sprints regatta, against most of the top college crews,
more than three times as often as their nearest rival). From the
time they miraculously won the 1963 Harvard-Yale Race at the end of
his first year at the helm, his varsity didn't lose a race for six
years, and they didn't lose to Yale until the Reagan
administration. He was the first US National Team coach, and
oversaw five Olympic teams. He coached the sons of his great
oarsmen from the 60's and 70's, and at age 70 was still putting the
sons to shame on a bicycle, or running the steps of the Harvard
Stadium. He was respected by all, revered and adored by his rowers,
and yet no one seemed to know him. The persistent myth was that he
hardly said a word, and that his powerful mystique alone made his
oarsmen great and their boats go fast. Though a fundamentally
compelling figure, Parker's famous reticence means that few managed
to spend much time close to him. Since he made no attempt to
explain himself, legends abound: he never got older; he could
control the weather; he could walk on water. The Sphinx of the
Charles: A Year at Harvard with Harry Parker takes the reader not
only inside the Harvard boathouse, but into the coaching launch
with Parker. We see how he coached-how many words he actually
uttered-as he guided his team through a year of training, and hear
about his life in the sport. We see a paradox: Parker remained
remarkably constant over the last forty-five years, yet he
constantly evolved, changed his style, and used every means at his
disposal to build champion crews. The Sphinx of the Charles goes
inside the rowing world in a way hasn't been done before, putting
the reader in the passenger seat next to one of the most successful
coaches of all time. Parker is a historical icon, part of a
tradition that goes back to the beginning of intercollegiate
athletics in America. His story needs to be told. The Sphinx of the
Charles is fundamentally a chronicle of a year with the Harvard
team and a profile of Harry Parker as he was, five years before his
death: comfortable in his position as elder and master of the
sport, reflective but not nostalgic, aged but nearly impervious to
aging. It is driven by Ayer's own observations of Parker from his
seven years of coaching and training at the Harvard boathouse, but
especially from one academic year, 2008-9. he shadowed him for a
few days every week from September to June, observing practices
both on and off the water, and interacting with the team. The
present tense of the narrative reflects this immediacy, but also
the sense that Parker has endured and continues to endure. And
though The Sphinx of the Charles is not a biography in the usual
sense, Parker's life and career were rich and extraordinary and
they must be explored. Thus, each chapter carries the reader
another month through the training year at Harvard, with vivid
descriptions of team practices and a sense of progress towards the
spring racing goals. From the passenger seat next to Parker we
watch the rowers tackling the daily workouts, honing their mental
and physical stamina along with their bladework, always trying to
beat their teammates in the crew next to them, under Parker's
watchful eye and ever-present megaphone. Parker makes asides in the
launch that the rowers will never hear: remarks about the crews and
their progress, passing wildlife, memories of his life in rowing,
the river and its history, the sunlight on the water. Intertwined
with the narrative are historical perspective, descriptions of the
boathouse and the river, profiles of other coaches at Harvard, and
impressions from rowers and coaches who worked with Parker over the
previous forty-five years. Newspaper and magazine articles reveal
how Parker was depicted, and how he revealed himself, to the rowing
world and the public. The reader sees how Parker evolved and yet
remained consistent. Parker was responsible for turning college
crew into a three-season sport: varsity rowers now practice every
day from September to early June. There are long "head" races in
the fall, including the famous Head of the Charles in Boston. The
winter months are a period of tough training on rowing machines and
indoor "tanks," lasting until the ice breaks up on the river. The
official season of "sprint" races doesn't start until April, and
includes two championship regattas, the Harvard-Yale Race, and (if
they win one of the championships) the Henley Royal Regatta in
England.
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