For anyone who competed at the Dad Vail Regatta during the 1970s or 1980s the decisive voice of George Hines will resonate forever! His steadfast leadership as head starter for Dad Vail races required that, rain or shine, he be perched on top of the Schuylkill Riverbank wall, at the 2000 meter starting line, projecting his voice through a three foot cardboard megaphone, [ a test of one’s vocal chords for this was prior to battery powered megaphones !] while commanding river marshals to maintain order among visiting crews unfamiliar with the racecourse, suddenly bunched upriver and squeezed at a pinch point, waiting for their event to start, when the racing schedule fell behind. George led a team comprised of Vince “Murph” Szymkowski and assorted other volunteers, one of whom was charged with evenly aligning the bow balls of six eight oared shells, (only eights raced in that era) as the coxswains steered into the diagonal, ever-wavering line of stakeboats. Other members of George’s vigilant cadre watched for crews that might try “jump the start” in order to “steal the race.” Rare was the occasion when any such antics did not result in a false start penalty, a draconian charge. [A second false start assessment is grounds for elimination from the Regatta!] Every start of every race was a command performance for George, since all of the coaches with a boat entry for the race at hand, would queue up on their bicycles, right behind the aligner, to oversee the start of the race and be ready to lodge a protest, should any crew seek to gain an advantage, just before departing to pedal furiously down the racecourse, following their crews. Fair racing accompanied by decorum were George’s stock in trade and his Temple law school experience endowed George with a sense of authority which served him well with respect to discharging his starting line responsibilities. While serious in demeanor, a prerequisite for managing the starting line, George’s sense of humor and ready smile would serve as an elixir spawning great camaraderie among his volunteers in contrast to what might otherwise amount to a tedious lengthy day of volunteer work. During that era, the Regatta was but one day, just Saturday of the second full weekend in May. With a limited number of races, time permitted an early morning photo of all of the volunteers, assembled on the steps of Number Four Boathouse Row and a lunch break which allowed all of the volunteers to temporarily desert their duty stations to gather on the second floor or Number Four for an especially relished occasion as there was no policy requiring officials to remain abstemious! Even though George was a non-drinker, George was instrumental in leading the noontime banter! Winning a Dad Vail Gold Medal as a member of the 1952 La Salle crew when the event was held in Boston no doubt inspired George to become a Regatta volunteer but also to coach crew. By all accounts, anyone coached by George formed an George C. Hines A FINALToast Continued on the next page.
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