After rowing for the freshman crew in the summer of 1894, he made the Cornell varsity eight-oared team in his sophomore year under Coach Charles E. Courtney.

The following year he was part of the crew that defeated Harvard, Pennsylvania and Columbia at Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship regatta in Poughkeepsie, New York.

In his senior year Colson was coxswain of the crew which defeated Yale and Harvard at Poughkeepsie on June 24, 1897 and Pennsylvania and Columbia on the same course less than two weeks later.

He then returned to Cornell to become instructor in procedure in the law school and assistant coach of the rowing team under Courtney.

[4] In the fall of 1904 Colson resumed his duties on the Cornell Law School faculty and his work with Coach Courtney.