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The Williams Men's Varsity Crew is one of the most consistent and dominant crews in New England. Often NESCAC champion, inevitably Little Three champion, and frequently ECAC finalist.
== History ==
Rowing was one of Williams' first sports, surfacing on campus in 1869 by the efforts of what was described by the school's administration as a 'decidedly burlesque' group. Williams continued to row until 1879 when it left the Saratoga Regatta along with Harvard, Yale and Bowdoin, to protest gambling and betting on collegiate rowing.
In the 1930's, two very enthusiastic school-boy rowers from St. Paul's School of New Hampshire and Kent School of Connecticut started rowing at Williams. Although they attracted 30 to 40 converts each year, the college was not impressed, and felt the sport would "spell the ruin of all sports in the balmy months of the year." In the early 1940's, attrition and the effects of World War II left the program quite literally without anyone to man the oars.
In 1968 John A. Shaw '62 returned to Williams to teach history. Shaw's energy and financial backing started Williams rowing once again, but unlike the previous two attempts, this time it was for good. One of the college shells is appropriately named the Pride and Persistence.
== Traditions ==
Being a year-long sport with a relatively short race calendar, Williams Crew is full of athletic traditions to puncuate the year. Roughly in order, they are:
*Competes in the annual [[Schnellstiegen]] against the [[Nordic Ski Team]] and and [[Alpine Ski Team]].
*Varsity is coached by [[Peter S. Wells '79]], also the head coach of The intra-squad "Run with the entire crew programerg."
*Has produced a number of national team members, including Mark Cullen '90 and G. Lindsay Brown '86 (Seoul Olympics,1988), current head coach of St. Andrews School Crew, a program which disproportionately feeds Williams Crew just as the larger school disproportionately feeds the collegeThe Triathlon.
*Recruited freshmen typically walk onto varsity, which is atypical even at the Division III levelThe Ergathon.
*Divisions mean nothing; men's crew races Harvard and European National teams in the fall and MIT and Holy Cross in the springMad Cows.
*Varsity men have won Little ThreeG. Lindsay Brown 's the past six years86, US National Team, 1988 Olympian, making the owners of the [[Saratoga Oar]] and defenders coach of the longest winning string in St. Andrew's (the admittedly briefDelaware) Little Three rowing historyCrew.
*Spends spring break with the rest of the crew teamMark Cullen '90, at the Briarcliffe Resort in Myrtle Beach, South CarolinaUS National Team.
