Sport: Poor Show

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Onto the playing fields and down to the rainswept rivers of England marched a pride of U.S. athletes. Most of them might as well have stayed home. Items:

¶ At the Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames, the University of Washington crew, whose trip to Britain was financed by voluntary subscription from loyal supporters, launched a gleaming cedar shell bought for them by U.S. admirers. But the long-legged Huskies, set to sail off with the Grand Challenge Cup, overlooked the heavily muscled Russians, who brought the same crew that narrowly lost to Cornell last year. Through a torrential thunderstorm Russia's Trud Club crew chopped off a snappy 37 strokes to the minute that gave them an immediate three-quarter-length lead. The Huskies started at 38, flagged to 31, lost by 1½ lengths. The rain-soaked Huskies glomped off to their tent without congratulating the victors. Then the Russians trounced the Leichkardt Rowing Club of Australia in the finals by 2½ lengths. Only U.S. consolation: Harvard 150-lb. lightweights whipped all comers in their class to win the Thames Challenge Cup.

¶ At Wimbledon it rained, rained, rained, rotting the roses and mildewing many a seeded reputation. Down fast went U.S. Oldsters Budge Patty, 34, and Gardnar Mulloy, 44. Still a hope in the quarterfinals was robustious Ohioan Barry MacKay, 22. But Australia's mercurial Mervyn Rose caught MacKay slew-footed with teasing volleys and adroitly angled passing shots, eliminated him 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. Though Rose wilted in a semifinal rout by Fellow Aussie Ashley Cooper, the men's final was an Australian crawl again for the third straight year, with Cooper beating Teammate Neale Fraser after a fierce 24-game fourth set. U.S. women did better: California's pesky 5-ft. 1-in. mite, Mimi Arnold, 19, startled the crowd with a savage 10-8, 6-3 mauling of Britain's ballyhooed six-footer, Christine Truman. Then Arnold lost in the quarterfinals to Mme. Suzi Kormoczi, 33, the shrewd Hungarian typist. That pinned remaining U.S. hopes, as usual these days, on poker-faced Althea Gibson, 30. In the final, Althea efficiently walked over Britain's Angela Mortimer 8-6, 6-2. But nowhere was there a sign of that combustible quality that lights the eye of U.S. Pro Promoter Jack Kramer. Said he: "I don't want any of these guys, let alone the dolls. My payroll is full."