Robert Johnston “Bob” Cook (on the far left) entered Yale (prepped at Andover for two years of a three-year program and entered Yale in 1871) already drawn to rowing, and it was during his undergraduate years that he became one of the most influential figures in American collegiate crew.
In the fall of 1871 Robert Johnston Cook’s scrubs won two
races at New Haven Harbor. This at a time that Yale’s own varsity and '71 class
team were in disarray, had been unsuccessful, and were not racing.
Cook made a pivotal decision in 1873 and took a semester off
from Yale to travel to England and learn “how to row” from British
universities. He first studied with Francis S. Gulston of the London Rowing
Club, followed by time spent first at Cambridge then at Oxford.
When he returned to Yale later that same year, he brought back a modified English stroke that fundamentally changed Yale’s rowing style. Cook's stroke was a milestone in the history of college rowing and the development of the American stroke. This innovation immediately paid off as Yale won the RAAC Regatta using Cook’s new stroke.
From 1873 until his graduation in 1876 (was supposed to graduate in 1875 but dropped back to 1876), Cook served as the unofficial coach of Yale’s crews. Running practices, selecting lineups, teaching new techniques and setting training standards that would extend for decades at Yale. He was captain and stroke for four years. His influence was so strong that he effectively shaped the entire Yale rowing program before he graduated.
After graduating, Cook became Yale’s official coach, though
he worked full‑time in Philadelphia and often traveled back to New
Haven only on weekends. He was the official Yale coach (1876–1898).
In 1924, Yale dedicated the Bob Cook Boathouse on Lake
Housatonic.
After working on the identification of the other three
oarsman I have yet to come up with their names. It is likely they were freshman
from c.1871. Scrub team rosters from this period were rarely listed and have
proven virtually impossible to locate. We
do have a cabinet card of the other seated individual in the
photo that is in our 1873 Yale album belonging to Atwood Collins. Most of the
cards in the album are identified except for 28 cabinet photos placed in slots
in the back pages of the album (men and women, African Americans, etc.). His card is one of those that is not identified by name. I will
likely be able to identify him and the other two rowers when I locate Yale
albums with identified sitters from 1875. The 1873 album also has loose rowing memorabilia in it, all dating to 1875 and the dedication of the Yale Navy boathouse.
One of our top early crew photographs, and likely the most
important. This rare and historically significant photo would be the earliest known rowing photo of Cook. A larger albumin photo measuring 13 ½” in
height by 10 1/8” in width, not inclusive of the outside edge. An amazing link
to Yale’s past rowing history.
The unframed photograph with margins
No comments:
Post a Comment