UCLA Crew, Out to Improve Image, Meets Oxford at the Marina April 12

UCLA oarsmen, acknowledging their readiness for an international reputation, announced Thursday that they will row against eights from England’s Oxford University and the University of California at Marina del Rey on April 12.

At a press conference at the J.D. Morgan Athletic Center, rowing Coach Jim Sims said the event also would be his eight’s statement against recent athletic department reviews questioning the financing of crew and its continuance as a university activity.

A UCLA-Oxford-Cal race, he said, will emphasize rowing as a tough, significant, representative collegiate sport worthy of full support by university and public.

“So when it is over, people will no more think of UCLA without crew than (they would) think of Oxford without crew,” he said.

Mayor Bradley, a UCLA alumnus, told the media that Oxford, which pioneered rowing as an intercollegiate sport in 1829, is “the Goliath of the sport, against whom would-be Davids have not been very successful.”

Bradley said he would donate a trophy oar to the winning crew.

Actor Gregory Peck, who was stroke oar on Cal’s 1937-38 junior varsity crew, is chairman of the event. British actor Dudley Moore, a graduate of Oxford, will be the master of ceremonies.

The race will be held on Ballona Creek near the UCLA boathouse in Marina del Rey.