Most of us are familiar with the story of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics, held in Nazi Germany. Not so with the U. S. Rowing team, who took gold in the 8-oar crew race. The boys in the boat were from the University of Washington, not one of the elite East Coast crews. They were farmers and loggers, boys who were mostly poor and poorer. They are still sometimes referred to as the greatest crew in U. S. history.This history reads like a novel. It tells the story of Joe Rantz, who sat in the 3rd seat in the rowing shell. His mother died when he was three, and he was abandoned by his father at two different times in his life; once when he was but 10 years old, and again for good when he was 15, left to make his own way in the world with no family, no home, no money.
There were no scholarships in rowing when he entered the University of Washington in 1933, but securing a place on crew would give him the opportunity for a job that would help him keep himself in school.
The other part of the book is the many catastrophic events rocking the country during the 1930's, and the rise of the Nazi party and Adolph Hitler in Germany. The Great Depression was in full throttle; the Dust Bowl was devastating agriculture, and cataclysmic weather events were coming fast and furiously. Against this backdrop, the story of nine young men overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to defeat the German and Italian teams that had all the resources they needed to become the best rowers in the world is inspiring and awe-inspiring.
417 pages
