Harper Not Seeking Bread on the Water

Standing all alone in the boathouse, Joseph Harper ran his trembling finger down the list of names posted at the Olympic Training Center.

Harper, a 30-year-old Ventura native trying to make his first Olympic team, had been working on his canoe in the Chula Vista facility last month when he happened to glance at the bulletin board and spotted the notice announcing the members of the U.S. kayak and canoe teams.

Is this any way to break the news, he wondered as he searched the list.

There, near the bottom of the list, was typed: Joseph Harper. He and his best friend, Jim Terrell, would be the only flat-water sprint paddlers representing the United States in the Atlanta Games.

“I’m getting choked up just remembering it,” Harper said from Georgia during a recent interview. “I’m going to spend a lifetime looking for adjectives to describe how I felt.”

It also may take a lifetime to thank Terrell. Harper knows he owes his spot on the team to his friend.

Harper and Terrell have been roommates for a year and half and best friends for nearly a decade after meeting through the sport 16 years ago.

They train together and motivate each other. Harper, an animated team crackup never more than a paddle length away from a quip, helps relieve the drudgery of training with his repertoire of impersonations. Amid the rigorous demands of an ancient sport that emphasizes Spartan virtues such as hard work and sacrifice, the two have found comfort and inspiration in each other’s friendship.

Friendship alone didn’t place Harper on the Olympic team.

Harper, 6 feet 1, 185 pounds and a national team member since 1992, earned his spot, proving himself the second-fastest American sprint paddler at both 500 and 1,000 meters. But in early May after the Olympic qualifying meet--the Hemispheric Olympics in Gainesville, Ga.--only one American had qualified: Terrell.

In the meet that included paddlers from eight Western Hemisphere countries competing for two Olympic berths in each sport, Terrell, from Milford, Ohio, and a veteran of three Olympics, won the 500 and placed second in the 1,000 individual races.

Amid Terrell’s triumphs, Harper agonized. He and doubles partner Jim Werland, also from Ventura, placed fourth in both the 500 and 1,000. Only the top two finishers qualified for the Olympics.

“I was devastated,” Harper said. “I love the doubles. We had moments of real brilliance and sometimes our boat was so efficient. I was upset and felt bad for my partner. I knew my partner was out.”

But Harper knew he could still be in--but only if Terrell decided to drop the 1,000.

Terrell carried that decision with him when the U.S. training squad headed for a round of pre-Olympic European regattas. Harper saw the trip not only as an athletic challenge but an opportunity to place friendship above competition.

“I told Jim he had his best chance in the 500, but I said I was prejudiced,” Harper said. “I wanted him to do well in the 500 so I could have the 1,000, but I told him he couldn’t worry about that.

“Sure, it was going to bum me out [if Terrell raced in both events], but he’s given me so much, I couldn’t be selfish at that time. I had to root for him in both events.”

While the two trained, Harper made sure he kept his agenda in check. This was no time to burden his friend with his own concerns. If Harper needed to be reminded of his obligations, he need only remember Terrell’s effort at the Hemispheric Olympics.

“When he crossed the finish line in the 1,000, he nearly passed out,” Harper said. “He fell in the water and was nearly sick because he had tried so hard. His dad came up to me and told me, ‘That race was for you.’ ”

Said Terrell: “I felt a lot of pressure in that race and had Joe in the back of my mind. I knew there was a chance I wouldn’t compete in two events if I qualified in both. But it was do or die for Joe.”

Keenly aware of Terrell’s effort on his behalf, Harper was able to support his friend during the European competition.

“I didn’t want the friendship thing and honor thing that Jim has to enter into his decision about the 500 and 1,000,” Harper said. “Because he’s such an honorable guy, I had to be as good a friend to him as he was to me.”

Still, Harper admits, while Terrell competed in Hungary and Poland, “I probably did cheer a little louder in the 500 than the 1,000.”

Terrell competed well in the 1,000 in Europe but not well enough to erase memories of last year’s world championships, when he was seventh in the 500 and didn’t qualify in the 1,000. With canoeing scheduled for six consecutive days at the Olympics, Terrell figured working double time would be too much.

“I wanted to see how well I could handle both in Europe and decided on the way back that I would be better off in the 500,” he said.

Terrell informed the coaching staff of his decision but kept the news from Harper. Even though Harper was the team’s second-fastest sprinter, the decision on Terrell’s replacement rested with a five-member selection committee.

“I didn’t want to say anything to Joe until the committee decided,” Terrell said.

Harper had no trouble with words when he learned he was on the team. “I called Jim right away,” he said, “and told him he was awesome.”

Which also describes Harper’s Olympic experience so far, regardless of what happens in Atlanta. The U.S. hasn’t won a medal in canoe since the 1952 Games and Terrell and Harper are longshots at best to win a medal.

Being out of the gold will be nothing new for Harper. He earned a degree in criminal justice at Long Beach State in 1989, but a full-time training regimen has left little opportunity to pursue a career.

Harper has supported himself through a modest Olympic stipend and pursuing a lifestyle he describes as “remarkably thrifty.” Recently, he was hired by a home-improvement company which has generously accommodated him and his demanding training schedule.

But Harper refuses to call the long hours on the water a sacrifice--even though the training for such an unadorned sport, he said, is nothing short of barbaric.

“Canoe is a very traditional sport,” Harper said. “It’s certainly not high-tech. There’s not a lot of technology that messes up the purity of the competition.

“All the work Jim and I have done, it’s almost too beautiful to call it sacrifice. I’m not going to make a lot of money or make a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger after this. We do this just for the essence of the sport, for the glory of a human perfecting a skill and making it look beautiful.”