Fighting spirit is alive

America’s most fabled rowing coach has been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a form of blood cancer that often leads to leukemia. But he’s still planning to be on the water when training resumes in September.

“Why not?’’ says the 75-year-old Parker, who will have been at the helm for 50 seasons next spring and has no plans to retire. “It never occurred to me, quite frankly. The question was, and still is, will I be strong enough and fit enough to carry the full load?’’

After he sat with athletic director Bob Scalise, the decision was made to ease the burden, promoting Manning, the longtime freshman coach, and increasing his duties, which would have happened before long in any case. “I’m not going to be here forever, with or without this disease,’’ says Parker, who began chemotherapy last week. “Bill will basically be running the program and I will be advising him and we’ll consult on everything. And I will coach as much as I can.’’

Since predecessor Harvey Love died three months before the 1963 season and Parker moved up from the freshman job, nobody else has been at the helm and nobody in the country has had more success - 16 official and unofficial national championships, nearly two dozen Eastern Sprint titles, a dozen Henley trophies, and 21 unbeaten dual-race seasons.

This year Harvard’s varsity, junior varsity, and freshman boats swept every regular-season race, including the 4-miler with Yale, and all of them won the Sprints. The varsity and freshmen both reached the Henley semifinals and the JV four of Peter Scholle, Justin Mundt, Benjamin French, and JP Hogan claimed the Prince Albert Challenge Cup.

“What is a normal year for Harvard crew would be a Hall of Fame year for most other institutions,’’ observes Steve Brooks, who stroked the Crimson varsity in the 1968 Olympic final and chairs the Friends of Harvard & Radcliffe Rowing. “Harry keeps doing it year after year after year.’’