1977, the Year that Wasn't

We're starting another chapter in the history of Syracuse Rowing; this one is 1977; the Year that Wasn't

here's the first section...


1977 - The year that wasn’t

Nineteen seventy-seven was going to be The Year. The Year that Bill Sanford’s Varsity finally brought the IRA championship back to Longbranch after 57 long years. The freshman under Drew Harrison had won the Regatta the previous year after a second in 1975 and a third in ‘74. The program was growing too, with three full varsity eights and more than two freshman boats on the water when what passed for a Syracuse ‘spring’ began. The talent was there, and the big eight, led by captain and stroke Mark Lyvers, was determined to deliver on its promise.

Lyvers had been in the ’74 frosh eight, which had finished third behind Cornell and Wisconsin at the IRA. The atmosphere at the end of the 1974 IRAs was exciting; the varsity had improved dramatically from previous years and the team had grown in numbers and commitment. Half of the freshmen stuck around for the summer and rowed in the Chargers program, and their effort paid off ; SU’s ’75 varsity eight boated four sophomores.

Apparently this wasn’t what the upperclassmen expected. According to Lyvers, the insertion of four sophomores into the varsity eight created a bit of tension between those new guys and those who had been there before. Before 1975, there’d been a sense – not quite an unwritten rule or tradition, more of a feeling that you earned your spot – at least in part – through seniority. Upperclassmen somehow ‘deserved’ those varsity seats more than sophomores, a concept that was foreign to the new guys on the varsity squad.

Whether it was the tension, a lack of maturity, or just not enough talent, the varsity didn’t really come together as a crew in 1975. 1976 was considerably better. SU had done very well in the Cup races, sweeping all events in the Goes Cup, winning the Varsity and Frosh races against Rutgers and both Varsity races over Brown. Despite all that success, when the Championship Regattas began, something seemed amiss. The Varsity failed to make the finals at the Sprints, but recovered somewhat for the Packard Cup where they defeated Dartmouth and MIT.

At the IRA, that spark seemed to have dimmed again, with the varsity finishing fourth in their heat. In the repechage on Friday, Syracuse finished 1.8 seconds behind winner California, earning a spot in Saturday’s Grand Finals. But that was it; in a race won by the same California crew in a time of 6:31, SU finished last in 6:39.8.

The varsity’s performance in the Sprints and IRAs were undoubtedly affected by Lyvers’ previously-undiagnosed case of mononucleosis. The varsity stroke had been pushing hard all season, trying to battle through what seemed to be fatigue and exhaustion from training. The crew was working very hard, and everyone was spent after practice; as the stroke, Lyvers was also the heart and soul of the boat, and he expected a lot from himself. While Lyvers battled through the season, it is apparent in hindsight that the illness had taken its toll, and races on consecutive days left no time for recovery.