'BASEBALL'S FOR THE BIRDS'

The fours at right toiling on Lake Quinsigamond, Mass. one lovely afternoon last week are taking part in the New England Interscholastic regatta. Fifteen prep and two high schools rowed all day as families, hopeful and proud, crowded Regatta Point to cheer their heroes on.

Coach Tote Walker's Kent School eight kept to a steady 34 beat to win the mile feature by a length and a quarter in 5:08, but the finals of the fours proved to be a more thrilling race. Exeter and Belmont Hill battled hardly a deck length apart until, only a few lengths from the finish, an Exeter starboard oar caught a crab, Belmont Hill faded and Pomfret slid by them to win in 4:22 on the three-quarter-mile course.

When asked why he chose the obscure drudgery of crew to other pastimes, one youngster said with finality: "Baseball's for the birds. Crew is a tradition. It's in the family, you know. It's a big deal."

On Lake Quinsigamond it was, and a beautiful one, too.

Pomfret Coxswain (foreground) urges crew to victory, as Exeter, Belmont Hill and The Gunnery fours bend to their oars.

HOW TO COPE WITH SPRING

With spring a weary businessman's eyes begin to play tricks on him. The top of his desk can suddenly look like a lake full of walleyed pike, the hatrack like a budding birch. That is what happened to executives of Super Valu Stores, a midwestern grocery chain, but they knew how to cope. At the invitation of Jim Cleary, who owns the Cleary Milk and Ice Cream Co. in Rhinelander, Wis., they zealously forsook office for outdoors and a relaxing bit of pike fishing in Lake Tomahawk. Some of the sportsmen arrived by company plane. For two days they were fished, fed and otherwise feted by Jim Cleary. No one cared that not a pike was caught and that fish for the fry were frozen perch imported just in case. The important thing was achieving a beachhead on spring.

Eager executives of chain, President Russ Byerly and Board Chairman Tom Harrison, arrive with rod cases at ready. Harrison (above) can't wait to try boat.

Groaning board is great reward of any fishing trip, and here the self-appointed cooks and bottle washers sit down in classic springtime setting to wolf results of their camp-cooking labors and gather strength for afternoon of angling.

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MARVIN NEWMAN

THE GUNNERY CREWS HAVE A COOKOUT NIGHT BEFORE REGATTA

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MARVIN NEWMAN

PICNICKING PARENTS WATCH FOURS PREPARE FOR RACE

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MARVIN NEWMAN

TEEN-AGERS GOSSIP AT REGATTA POINT DURING A MIDAFTERNOON LULL IN THE RACES

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MARVIN NEWMAN

THE COACH'S SON SHOUTS ADVICE

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MARVIN NEWMAN

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LEE BALTERMAN

SPIN CASTER GARTH HEATH AND KIBITZING BROTHER DALE, BOTH OF WAUSAU, WIS., CONCENTRATE ON VAGARIES OF PIKE

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LEE BALTERMAN

INTENT BUD BAUTSCH SIZZLES PERCH OVER GLOWING COALS

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LEE BALTERMAN

RUSS BYERLY, JOHN DUNN AND TOM HARRISON JR. PITCH IN

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LEE BALTERMAN