Part 1: Harbinger

“Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backwards.” Anonymous

I was University of Oregon’s crew coach in the school year of 1971 and 1972. Early one dark autumn morning, a lady friend of one of the rowers arrived at the team bus to report to the driver (me) that her boyfriend would be late. I asked her, “Why don’t you climb aboard and ride with us to the lake while your boyfriend enjoys his slumber?”

Without hesitation, she joined us in a moment that would prove historic. For she would become a significant part of the Oregon Crew story, not only by becoming an outstanding coxswain for us, but for her integrity and courage.

Her mere presence on an intercollegiate rowing squad that previously had been for men only became controversial, ignited a passionate struggle over values, and caused our squad to understand the true meaning of “crew”. As a group, we stood up to criticism and earned for Oregon Crew a reputation as an organization that fights the good fight off the water as well as on it.  

Half a century later, I remain involved with Oregon Crew, as do many of the men on that squad, and as does Victoria Brown, the young woman who joined us that autumn.

Vic, as she likes to be called, was a freshman English major from Beaverton, Oregon, the eldest of eight children, and a skier with no background in rowing. We were one coxswain short that day, so I asked her to cox of one of our eights. I can’t say she agreed, but she didn’t say no, so I gave her some instructions, and put her in the stern of our first eight. Watching from the coach’s launch, I could see that she had listened well: she handled the basics, asserted herself, and stayed in her lane. Her crew looked relaxed.

Back at the dock, the guys in her boat said, “We need her.” When I asked her if she wanted to come back and try again, her answer was, “Yes!” She became one of us.

The entire squad worked hard on water and land that fall. In early winter we moved to full-time land training. C2 ergs hadn’t arrived yet, so land workouts consisted of weightlifting, long runs, hills, stadium steps, body-weight exercises, and tackle football in the mud behind Hayward Field. Vic and the other coxswains did it all except weights. During weights, she busied herself with stretching, soon joined by the other coxswains and even the coach. She was a leader.

By January of 1972, it was clear that we were going to have two fast eights, and one good four. Victoria Brown had earned her seat as our first-boat coxswain. With race season approaching, the time came for me to submit my athletes’ information for eligibility certification.

Oregon and other West coast collegiate programs were then members of an affiliation known as Western Intercollegiate Crew Association (WICA); the coaches styled themselves Western Intercollegiate Crew Coaches’ Association, adopting the ironic acronym WICCA. At some point, WICCA had cobbled together a set of rules, one requiring each member institution to honor the others’ athlete-eligibility determinations, and another claiming that because NCAA rule did not allow a woman to be a member of a team otherwise consisting only of men, women were prohibited from competing as coxswains in WICA races.

The “full-faith-and-credit” rule recognized that WICA schools had different standards for determining the eligibility of its student-athletes. Each school trusted the others to manage their own affairs according to their rules. The rule was based on mutual respect.   

The second rule was a different matter. As Victoria’s coach, I thought: how could it possibly be fair for any coach to tell me whom to boat at coxswain, when I don’t select their 2-oar? Besides, if WICCA’s prohibition on women was in fact to comply with NCAA rule, it should fail because then as now men’s rowing was not governed by NCAA rules.

I held meetings with the squad and we talked about this in depth. We all agreed the WICCA prohibition was bogus and needed to be challenged. Then, I researched the NCAA rules and – lo and behold – found nothing in them prohibiting a woman from being on an otherwise all-male team! The WICCA prohibition was doubly bogus!

I put together an amateur “brief” on the issue, and when I submitted my athletes’ information to Wendell Basye, the University of Oregon law professor responsible for certifying Oregon’s athletes, I included it with Victoria Brown’s application. Professor Basye researched the matter, agreed with me and concluded the WICCA prohibition was invalid.

He found that Victoria Brown met all University of Oregon requirements, and for the first time that anyone was aware of, the University of Oregon certified a woman eligible to compete on a previously all-male intercollegiate athletic team! Professor Basye concluded also that the rule requiring each school to respect the others’ certifications precluded other WICA members from refusing to race an Oregon crew coxed by Victoria Brown.

It was late winter of 1972. The press soon picked up the story, and it made the national news. We had supporters, including some from unexpected quarters, but the loudest voices were those of the opposition. 18-year-old Victoria Brown was slandered and harassed. I received threats. The entire squad closed ranks. We never blinked. We learned what we were made of. The experience charted the future paths in life for many of us. It certainly did for me.      

In Part 2: Of justice and rowing. My Talk with Dick.