The National Association had been making a hard fight against the masquerading amateurs, and though those men who actually competed for money were soon disposed of, another class demanded attention, — the men who by sinecure clerical positions or presents of money were com pensated for rowing ; it was a bitter war, but in January of 1876 a special meeting of the Associa tion was held in New York, and they extended the definition by the inclusion of the phrase " whose membership of any rowing or other athletic club was not brought about, or does not continue, because of any mutual agreement or understanding, expressed or implied, whereby his becoming or continuing a member of such club would be of any pecuniary benefit what ever, direct or indirect." The clause served to get rid of many of the more open cases, and was a step in the right direction, but such sup port of racing members is so easy to give secretly that many of the men escaped. For many years we find the amateur champions becoming profes sionals, and the general attitude of the clubs was against rather than with the spirit of the rules. In 1877 the regatta went to Detroit, where the rowing was much stimulated, and then, in the following year, came down to Newark. The demand for a race in which the less experienced scullers might have a chance was satisfied by the addition of a junior single race for men who had never won a sculling race, on the same lines as the class which had originated in the Schuylkill Navy, and had been adopted by the Northwest ern Association. In 1878 the Mississippi Valley Association formed, with the clubs from Galveston to St. Paul.
The victories of the American oarsmen created a desire to organize something in the nature of a general raid on the Henley Regatta, and the Watkins Rowing Association offered to send the winners in a regatta, that they should give, to Henley. The fours were won by the Shoe-wae cae-mate crew of Monroe, Michigan, the singles by Georget W. Lee of the Triton Boat Club of Newark, and the pair-oared shells by Walter H. Downs and John E. Eustis, of the Atalanta Club, but who had formerly rowed at Wesleyan. Eustis and Downs could not go to Henley on account of business, but the other winners sailed. Lee was a fast sculler, though in no wise remarkable, but the " Shoes " were perhaps the most interest ing crew that ever competed. They sat — Moses Nadeau, bow ; Joseph Nadeau, Henry Durell, Stephen Dusseau, stroke; Dusseau weighed one hundred and sixty pounds, but the other three men were all about one hundred and forty. In spite of their slight physiques, they had remark able endurance, being French Canadian water men, and could keep up their quick little stroke for almost any distance. Their rate is higher than that of any crew on record ; never did they go below forty, even when rowing easily, and when pressed, the stroke-oar would give a weird yell, run up to fifty, and maintain that stroke for a long way. Their watermanship was very fair, and though the stroke was little more than a dig at the water, the strength went on together. They had been winning in the West for three years, and were considered a phenomenal crew.
Columbia College had entered for both the Visitors and the Stewards, the " Shoes " being eligible only for the latter ; and Lee, of course, tried the Diamond Sculls, for which a George Lee from the Union Boat Club of Boston also rowed. G. W. Lee drew Edwards-Moss in the first heat, and, holding him easily down to the finish, made a mistake at the line and stopped before he came to it under the impression that he had won the race ; Moss went on and won. The other Lee had no chance in his heat. In the first heat of the Stewards the " Shoes " met Columbia and Dublin ; they started off at what is, on good authority, said to be fifty-four strokes to the min ute, and gained a length at the middle of the course ; here Dublin fouled Columbia and the " Shoes " won very easily ; the referee, though placing all the blame for the foul on Dublin, would not allow Columbia to go into the final.
The London Rowing Club had also won their heat and met the Monroe four in the final race ; for seven years the Londoners had held the trophy, and they took the American crew away at such a pace that, though the " Shoes " led at times, the London crew had drawn away nearly a length at the end of a mile. Then the Americans attempted a spurt, but instead of the boat going forward, it was seen that one of the men was nearly done, and in a few moments they stopped rowing alto gether. It was afterwards said that Joseph Nadeau, who had collapsed, had been ill for a couple of days. The " Shoes " asked for a match race with the London Rowing Club, but it was not granted. This Michigan crew were not gentlemen, and they did not make up well at Henley.
The lack of a general college regatta at this time prompted the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen to put in races for college men, in singles and fours, in the regatta of 1879, at Lake Saratoga, and though college scullers had been frequent competitors in the senior sin gles, yet only one man, Lewis of Cornell, came up for the singles, and the Cornell four was also the only entry in their race ; the classes were dropped after another year because they did not fill, and never since have college men taken up much with the National Association. The regatta at Sara toga was the largest that had yet been held, and brought crews from New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Michigan, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas, and Connecticut, as well as Canada. Fifteen men competed in the senior singles and sixteen crews entered in the fours. The most remarkable crew of the regatta was the four of the Hillsdale Boat Club of Hillsdale, Michigan ; they had been organized but a couple of months, and had pur chased an old paper shell with which the sellers threw in a set of ancient sweeps. The men themselves were store clerks, and not of excep tional strength, nor had they form ; they rowed a very short stroke with no body work whatever, but managed to make their time perfect, and thus every pound went on at exactly the same moment, and for three years not a four in this country could even give them a race, and on several occasions they actually beat eights. The members of the crew were C. W. Terwilliger, bow ; J. D. Wilson, T. F. Beckhardt, E. B. Van Valkenburgh, stroke. Curiously enough, they never trained out of the boat, and would smoke almost to the time that their race was called. The Hillsdales surprised every one by the easy manner in which they won their heat ; the final race was a general mix-up ; when leading, the Hillsdales broke a slide and had to stop, but the Shoe-wae-cae-mettes and the Wah wah-sums had been generally fouling, and they were disqualified ; and the race being rowed over between the Hillsa'ales, the Afutuals of Albany, and the Elizabeth Boat Club of Portsmouth, Vir ginia, the Hillsa'ales won easily. A most dis graceful incident happened in the senior singles when F. E. Holmes, on whom a great deal of money had been placed, deliberately fouled two oarsmen against whom his followers had backed other men. He was a poor type of amateur, and had before the race offered to row a match for money ; Lee, the representative to Henley in the previous year, had already turned professional. F. J. Mumford, of the Perseverance Club of New Orleans, came in second, and was given the race on the disqualification of Holmes. Mumford was champion for another year, and then Holmes held the title in 1881 and 1882.