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The Sphinx of the Charles: A Year at Harvard with Harry Parker
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 he never got older; he could control the weather; he could walk on water. The Sphinx of the 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 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 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 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 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.
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 he never got older; he could control the weather; he could walk on water. The Sphinx of the 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 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 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 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 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.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 14, 2016
I think most of this books will be lost on a non-rower since the world of rowing is "a hermetically sealed world." Rowing is not a glory sport that gets any sort of press. Only other rowers seem to care.
I spent three years of college at the wrong end of an oar, so much of this is remarkably familiar. I've never met Harry Parker, though our paths crossed at a few races. He is, I observed, a man of few words. I was down at Princeton once watching Harvard chase down and defeat a superior Princeton team. Parker's reaction was to stand up in the launch and clap a few times and then return to the boat house.
Shortly before Parker died in 2013, "60 Minutes" ran a piece on him which is on YouTube. The longer version is well worth watching.
I spent three years of college at the wrong end of an oar, so much of this is remarkably familiar. I've never met Harry Parker, though our paths crossed at a few races. He is, I observed, a man of few words. I was down at Princeton once watching Harvard chase down and defeat a superior Princeton team. Parker's reaction was to stand up in the launch and clap a few times and then return to the boat house.
Shortly before Parker died in 2013, "60 Minutes" ran a piece on him which is on YouTube. The longer version is well worth watching.
April 20, 2018
I think you have to be a rower or former rower to truly appreciate this year-long visit with fabled Harvard crew coach, Harry Parker. His low-key, understated approach to the art of rowing produced a long line of championship crews, not only at Harvard but also at the Olympics where he coached both men's and women's national teams. Toby Ayer literally lived with the program for an entire year, beginning with tank training in the winter and ending up with the Harvard-Yale 4-mile race on the Thames to complete the season. Through it all the genius that was Harry Parker is displayed in a myriad of ways. I loved the book; it made me long to be back in a shell on the Charles.
February 24, 2018
Insight into a rowing legend
Harry Parker was a larger than life character in the rowing world and any insight at all into his approach to the sport is interesting. I had hoped for a more complete picture than what the author delivered. He seemed to just regurgitate things that happened that year without any analysis on how or why they came about. Rowing is a sport based on discipline and mental strength and it would have been nice to understand more of how the culture of Harvard rowing was created by this great Coach.
Harry Parker was a larger than life character in the rowing world and any insight at all into his approach to the sport is interesting. I had hoped for a more complete picture than what the author delivered. He seemed to just regurgitate things that happened that year without any analysis on how or why they came about. Rowing is a sport based on discipline and mental strength and it would have been nice to understand more of how the culture of Harvard rowing was created by this great Coach.
September 17, 2021
A one year slice of Harry Parker's life as a coach, through the eyes of one of his assistants and many of his rowers. While no great secrets are revealed to explain Parker's legendary greatness as a rowing coach, the nuggets unearthed help to know the man a little bit better. Well worth the read for anyone involved in rowing.
July 24, 2023
One of the most pointless book I have ever read. Don’t get me wrong Harry Parker is very influential and incredible but this book could have been so much more than mundane days at the boathouse that shows glimpses of him
October 9, 2024
I liked the book .I read The Amateurs and Brad Lewis's Olympian/Assault on Lake Casitas . Good bio of coach Parker.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews