Guest Writer: Tom
Tom rowed at Washington State University as an undergraduate student. He did not row again after he earned his bachelor's degree from Pacific Lutheran University, until he joined Texas Rowing Center in December 2024. Now he is hooked. He can talk about rowing for hours. He has participated in tournaments and decided to go back to Pullman to have a chance to row as alumni versus the undergraduates. He was thrilled to be back. This is his account of the trip.
Because of threatening airport delays, Tran got me to the
airport early. I breezed through security and was at my gate in no time. I
splurged on an Einstein bagel, brushed my teeth, finished reading the essay by
Jane Cruz, and boarded my flight to Seattle
I was in a back row in the middle seat, but it did not
bother me. I read, slept, and listened to a book on tape. I had about an hour
and a half in Seattle and then got on the plane to Pullman. That also went
surprisingly smoothly. I retrieved my bag and got my rental car and found my
way to my hotel quite easily even though Pullman has changed a great deal since
I set foot in the place 50 years ago.
I found the place where the first event would take place. It
was a six-minute walk from my hotel. So I struck out to walk some of the
streets that I knew. In particular Stadium Way.
I found where I lived as a grad student. It was a room in a
house, which did not look to be in good shape. Most of the houses in that area were
the same way (not in good shape).
I kept walking all the way down Stadium Way. I was curious
to see if one particular grocery store was where I remembered it. It is not,
but it is just across the street from where it used to be.
Along the way, I saw many churches that I don’t remember,
including an Islam center. I found the Lutheran Church, but it’s not where I
remember it to be. Perhaps they sold their old building and moved.
I walked back and took a shortcut past the house I lived in
and came out on the top of a big hill just as I expected. But the view from
there has changed radically. Both the football field and the baseball field
have been moved. Other buildings that I don’t recognize replaced them. At least
the Colosseum has not changed places, and I could use it as a landmark for
walking back. The baseball team had some games going with both Grand Canyon and
UW. I did not stop there and pay the admission since my own event was starting
shortly.
I went into the Student Recreation Center, which is
celebrating its 25th year. There were Cougar Crew signs all over the place and
it was hard for me to miss where I was supposed to go. I heard a familiar voice
and called out to Mike Klier who responded. We took some pictures and chatted. The
bow of the Cougar One was on display and that was pretty cool.
The undergrads took time to listen to me ramble on about
this and that and were unfailingly polite. I met some people and the typical
conversation is about when you rowed and where you rowed and what was the
equipment like. I don’t know when they moved the shellhouse from Boyer Park,
where I rowed, to Wawawai, which is where it is now.
There were talks given, and I milled around, enjoying talking to both undergrads and alums.
It was interesting that the rec center had a very nice Go
set, a chessboard, a jigsaw puzzle set out, and a shuffleboard table. Over on
the basketball court I saw somebody practicing juggling four pins. I walked
through the gym that is there and it was interesting that it did not have a
single rowing machine.
WSU is on spring break today and Ferdinand’s Bar and Ice Cream
Shop is closed so I did not go there.
The next day, the weather threatened, and we were not sure
that we would get to row. So the very loose plan was “well let’s just go down
there and see what it’s like.” I was supposed to get there at 9:30, got there
at 9:20, and we finally made a decision about 10:30 that the weather was just
fine for rowing. In fact, the weather turned out to be beautiful. While
waiting, crews from the undergrad team were coming in. They have a lot of boats
now and the program is much larger than when I was there. They have two docks
for launching and returning and use both sides of each dock. Piles of shoes lay
on the docks when I got there. All of this is different than when I rowed.
It took a little while to gather the four that would be
rowing in the quad I was in. Fortunately, one of the four was a very good bow
man who could use his foot to turn a rudder. It was a lot of fun being on the
river. It is so pretty. The river is huge. The banks are steep and covered with
grass.
We did take the boat out ourselves, but the current coach
really wanted the undergrads to take care of the boats and the oars for the
alums. And in fact, once we picked our oars, undergrads came by to take them
down for us … and put them into the riggers for us! I’m not sure if I felt like
a VIP or a hapless old guy. But it was really sweet.
The bow man, who lives in Seattle, did a very nice job of
getting us warmed up and putting us through a few starts and a few tens and we
were ready to go.
It did not go very smoothly, but probably 2/3 of the strokes
were pretty good. We were the only four (four men in a boat) so for us to not come in last was
pretty good since everyone else was an eight (eight men in a boat).
After the race, the weather was very pleasant and we stood
around eating scones and pastries, and doing more chitchat. When it was time
for me to leave, I did, but I did not go straight back to Pullman. I swung by
Boyer Park and was as impressed now as I was then about how pretty hilly
wheatfields can look in the spring. I tried to capture a few of those with my
camera.
I had a little downtime before my next event, so I slept and
walked a little more and went into the coliseum. I was a bit underdressed; it
was kind of a formal affair, but I wasn’t the only one who lacked a jacket. At
least I was wearing a nice sweatshirt with a Cougar Crew emblem on it. More
talks, a nice dinner, and an auction for donated items took place. The keynote
speaker was Bob Ernst, a former longtime coach at UW. He certainly sold me on
the value of club sports, especially those that are well supported by alumni,
which is what WSU is. I rowed during Cougar Crew’s nascent days and now I view
a program with paid coaches, excellent equipment, and it doesn’t even use
private cars to get back and forth from practice. All of this, and we’re not
part of the athletic department. Cougar Crew does not row with the big boys of
the sport; they’re part of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association. But Ernst
convinced me that we shouldn’t even want to be there. He pointed out the value
to the school and the notion of the “walk-on” athlete, and Cougar Crew has
nothing but walk-ons. To be sure, we “recruit,” but that’s only to encourage
students to come out and try it.
One of the speakers was my old coach Ken Struckmeyer who alluded to the successes that the program has had, and he mentioned guys who were doing well at masters rowing. That was a nod to me.
The auction was a hoot. It had a professional auctioneer
team (auctioneer with two guys watching the crowd). The auctioneer kept up the auctioneer’s
banter and I do believe that he more than made up for his fee with the
increased bids. A lot of money was raised. Anything that had a face value
(e.g., Mariners’ tickets) went for far more than its face value. I think almost
every item was donated.
Eventually, I got tired and left. It was a bit chilly and
dark so I was happy to get back to the hotel. I read a bit and conked out.
The next morning it was 29 degrees. I had a car and my
flight didn’t leave until 3:30 in the afternoon, so I drove the 90 minutes to
Palouse Falls State Park. It was a very nice drive and my Kia Kona was very
easy to drive. The drive was very pleasant and the views were really nice. I
didn’t remember Palouse Falls as being very scenic, but it really is in the Spring.
I drove back with plenty of time, and I was scheduled to
talk to my friend from WSU anyway so I talked to him through the car as I drove
around Pullman. Eventually, I went to the airport, allowing ½ hour for returning
the car and an additional 45 minutes for getting to the gate. It took me about
6 minutes total. I had to wait for TSP to open the security because mine was
the only flight leaving.
Flights to Seattle and Ausin were smooth and routine. George
picked me up and I was in bed by 1:00 AM.
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