The Boys who Took the 1936 Olympic Gold

Don Hume, Joe Rantz, George 'Shorty' Hunt, Jim 'Stub' McMillin, John White, Jr., Gordon Adam, Chuck Day, Roger Morris, in front Bob Moch were the boys of the University of Washington’s 1936 crew who represented the USA in the eights at the Olympic Games in Berlin. They were the sons of loggers, shipyard workers and farmers, and they defeated the Italians, Germans and British oarsmen in the Olympic final in front of Adolf Hitler and other Nazi dignitaries.

Promotional material has been sent out by the publisher Viking/Penguin and some reviews have already surfaced about this soon to be published rowing history book, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown. From the material that has reached HTBS we read:

‘The story follows Joe Rantz, an extraordinary young rower and the emotional heart of the book, as he looks for his place in Depression-era America. It’s also the story of legendary boat designer George Pocock, famed coach Al Ulbrickson, as well as all the boys in the boat. Brown shows tremendous respect for the memory of all the individuals, arguably one of the greatest crew teams of all time, and their determination to be a part of the #1 boat.’

The success of Brown’s book is secured as the Weinstein Company had previously begun on a script for the upcoming film adaptation. Of course, HTBS’s Tim Koch already wrote about this on 15 March, 2011, but now we have a release date for the book as well which is on 4 June, 2013.

Here is a promotion trailer for the book:



Read more about Daniel James Brown, his books, and where his latest book tour will take him, here.

Soon you will find a review on Brown's book on HTBS.

Good Row... Terrible Music...

‘Bob’ has written a comment to Tim Koch’s entry about the Cambridge-University of Washington race in London last Saturday. Bob writes, ‘I'm old enough to remember when a boat from Washington had a lot of guys from..... Washington in it! No longer. A nice video is available. Someday a grownup will pick the music.’

Of course, HTBS would like to show the video because it's just great. But I have to write that I agree with Bob about the terrible music, someday… and I hope very soon, a grownup will add some descent music to this film piece, here.

Who Let The Dawgs Out?

At Harrods

HTBS's Tim Koch reports from the Press Boat about the race between Cambridge and Washington on the Thames earlier today. Tim writes,

In the eagerly anticipated race between the University of Cambridge and the University of Washington held in two stages over the Putney to Mortlake course on today, 16 February, I was initially sure that honour would be satisfied on both sides for at least two reasons.

First Race - Passing London Rowing Club.

Firstly, the question of national pride was somewhat muddled. This was not a simple race between nine plucky Brits and equal number of sturdy Yanks. For a start, the Cambridge crew had more Americans rowing in it than did the Washington crew. As far as those pulling an oar goes, the Tabs had a Czech, two Australians, four Americans and a Brit (what was he doing there)? Two of their Americans, Ty Otto and Niles Garratt, rowed at UW. The Huskies had a New Zealander, a Brit, a Canadian, a Serb, an Australian and three Americans. This says a lot about the international nature of top level universities nowadays (though there is a very long tradition of non Brits rowing in Boat Race crews).

At the end of Putney Embankment.

Secondly, I was sure that it would be a close fought and evenly matched race with either crew having the chance of a close victory. Here I was wrong. Washington were proven to be a far superior crew, even on the strange and unfamiliar waters of the Championship Course. Old Father Thames was very kind to the visitors and the benign conditions (no wind and a slack tide) took much of Cambridge's 'home advantage' away. The Huskie's cox, Lisa Cladwell, steered remarkably well on the strange river and did not seem intimidated by the occasion. She received more than her share of warnings from umpire Matthew Pinsent but I suspect she was simply an experienced steers seeing how far she could push the rules. Officially, U.W. won the first race (from the Boat Race start to Chiswick Steps) by two lengths but there was some confusion over the finish point so it should have been a greater margin of victory. The official verdict for the second race (from the half way point to the finish) was three lengths but it looked further than that to me. Washington were rarely under pressure in either race and almost certainly had more in reserve were it required. Their push from Barnes Bridge to the finish was very impressive. The Boat Race website gives a full race report.

Hammersmith Bridge

I hope my photographs tell the same story though there is almost always a parallax error in these pictures.

It is interesting that Cambridge chose to race such an obviously powerful opponent and it is difficult to see what positives they can take from the experience. Former BBC sports reporter Marin Gough put a quote from the Light Blue's coach, Steve Trapmore, on Twitter:

Good to race under that pressure, good change after 1st piece, work to do but early days, selection not set in stone.

Passing St Pauls School.

Of course, the Boat Race is to decide who is best out of Oxford and Cambridge and probably there is more that one university crew in the world that could beat either. However, I suspect that this fact is of little solace to Cambridge today.

Near the end of the first race at Corney Reach.

The second race starts.

Approaching Mortlake it looks as if Cambridge could do it.

By Barnes Bridge Washington had taken clear water.

A big push by UW after Barnes produced an unbeatable lead.

When the Chairman of Henley Royal Regatta comes to pull you in, it is a clear sign that you have done well.

The Press Boat in 1883....

The Press Boat in 2013. Baseball caps and beanies replace top hats and bowlers. Journalism is clearly no longer a gentleman’s profession.

Photographs © Tim Koch

CUBC vs. University of Washington Crew Lists

Cambridge viewed from the Press Launch, 2012.

The two crews for the Cambridge Blue Boat vs. University of Washington Fixture have been announced, Tim Koch writes from London.

Cambridge Blue Boat
B: Milan Bruncvik
2: Grant Wilson
3: Ty Otto
4: Steve Dudek
5: Alexander Scharp
6: Niles Garratt
7: George Nash
S: Alexander Fleming
C: Henry Fieldman

University of Washington
B: Julian Svoboda
2: Alexander Perkins
3: Sam Dommer
4: Marcus Bowyer
5: Alex Bunkers
6: Colin McCabe
7: Henry Meek
S: Dusan Milovanovic
C: Lisa Caldwell

The fixture will start at 16.30 and will be umpired by this year’s Boat Race Umpire, Matthew Pinsent. The race report for this fixture will be posted on the official Boat Race website later the same day. (See www.theboatrace.org).

Goldie will be competing in a fixture against the University of London at 16.00 – crew lists for both will follow shortly.

Huskies v Tabs, Deutschland über Isis

The Press Launch pursues Cambridge, 2011.

HTBS's Tim Koch reports from London,

The 159th Oxford – Cambridge Boat Race is now less than six weeks away. It is claimed that over seven months the crews will spend two hours training for each of the 600 strokes in the race. Most of this preparation and testing is done in relative privacy but there are a few public appearances before the crews line up in front of 1/4 million on the river bank and 120 million people watching worldwide. Not bad for a ‘private match’.

The first public appearance of the potential competitors was for the pre Christmas Trial Eights. For this year’s race, they were held on 13 December, 2012, and the HTBS report is here.

The next exposure to public gaze will happen on the ‘Press Days’ on the weekends of 16/17 February and 16/17 March. This is an opportunity for the Blue boats and the reserve crews to race over the course against strong opposition and for the press to see what is probably the final line ups.

Cambridge’s Press Day will be on 16 February when CUBC will race the University of Washington (16.30) and Goldie (the reserve crew) will race the University of London (16.10). These races will be followed by a press launch. The following day, Sunday 17, Oxford will race the University of London (12.30) and Isis (the reserve crew) will race a crew yet to be confirmed (12.00). There will be no launch following the Dark Blue races, their turn to be pursued down the course by a boat full of journalists will be a month later, on 17 March, when OUBC will race ‘a German Eight’ (16.00). I hope to find out more about the Germanic opposition soon. Earlier, Isis will race Tideway Scullers School (15.30). The day before this, CUBC will race Molesey BC (15.45) and Goldie will race London RC (15.15). This will be Cambridge’s turn to be spared the following press pack.

Oxford’s race against the Germans may, or may not, be particularly exciting depending on the composition of the latter crew but Cambridge’s race against the University of Washington (‘The Huskies’) is going to be thrilling. At the US 2012 Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship Regatta, UW won all five events, their fourth IRA Championship in six years. The (slightly biased) gohuskies.com claims this to be ‘... one of the most dominating seasons an athletic team has produced at the University of Washington’. Our good friend Bryan Kitch at the excellent website rowingrelated.com has found out who is likely to be in the Washington crew. Most notable amongst an already impressive line up is the man in the six seat, Conlin McCabe, 2012 London Olympic silver medallist in the Canadian Eight. Cambridge, already the underdogs for the Boat Race, should be worried, but this is not 2,000 metres on a buoyed course in a straight line on still water, this is 6,800 metres on a ‘living river’. As Bryan points out:

‘The question, as always, will be can the visiting crew adapt to both the unfamiliar environs and the “unpredictable” nature of the Thames well enough to take on an opponent well versed in such things...’

We will find out this Saturday.