Beach Crew’s First Team – 1958

The search continues with our cooperative efforts of the Beach Crew Alumni Association to hunt down the iron men who once rowed in wooden shells. Over the course of the fall season the team received two contacts, James Loomis and Lyle Miller, from the first team in 1958. Once known back in the day as the “Long Beach State College Rowing Team,” these men didn’t have all the luxuries such as carbon-fiber racing shells and cox boxes. Their shells were made of wood, which made the boat extremely heavy. The crew used hard tulip blades as blade technology wasn’t advanced yet. Their coxswain had their mouth covered with a cone as they practically yelled to the entire boat to make their move. It was this season that CSULB’s first rowing coach, Bill Lockyer was hired by Ludwig Spolyar, the Director of Sports and Recreation.

The university received a photo of the first 8+ crew in December. The replica of the photo will be framed in the Pete Archer Rowing Center’s “Hall of Fame.” The photo will be stored in the vault of University Archives Office, inside the CSULB library, Third Floor, Room 300. Appointments can be made with Kristy French at the University Archives Office if you’d like to view crew artifacts.