Known as “Columbia College Boat Club,” the 1878 Columbia heavyweight rowing team was the first non-English crew to win the Henley Regatta in English waters after taking home the Stewards Challenge Cup.
In that year’s first three-boat heat for the Visitor’s Challenge Cup, Columbia placed second behind Monroe, Michigan, (with Dublin University Rowing Club disqualified). After winning an appeal, the Lions defeated Jesus College (Cambridge) and University College, Oxford.
Finally, Columbia made history by besting the four from Hertford College in a head-to-head race in the championship.
In celebration of the historic victory, the triumphant oarsmen, who averaged a meager 163 pounds, were drawn along Fifth Avenue in an open carriage before a cheering crowd of thousands to the Columbia campus, then located at 49th Street and Madison Avenue.
The team consisted of Charles Eldridge (spare), Edward E. Sage (bow), Henry G. Ridabock (No. 3, lying in front), Cyrus Edson (No. 2, standing in back) and Jasper T. Goodwin (stroke).
Goodwin was a member of several crews at Columbia. During his sophomore year, he made a name for himself as part of the six-oared crew, which swept the field at the regatta Saratoga in 1874. In 1903, Goodwin returned to Columbia as head coach and needed to rebuild the crew that year since all but one member of the previous varsity team had graduated. The crew he built was successful, winning five out of six races in the Harlem Regatta.
All 1878 Columbia heavyweight team members were inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame in 1962.
