March 2015 Book Club "The Boys In the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold..." by Daniel James Brown

Hi Everyone,

We made it! The sun is shining this morning, the crocuses and daffodils are sprouting strong and hardy in our yard, and the weatherman is calling for “fair weather ahead!” Oh, my, it’s like I am an addict desperate for a cocaine fix; my body is craving for sunshine. Just looking at the sun’s rays stretching along my living room floors and onto me sitting at my kitchen chair has me giddy. You people who have had your summer flings in the dead of winter don’t even know how extremely malnourished we feel, those of us who have not had an ounce of vitamin D since the early days of autumn. My mind is so absolutely depleted of brainpower, mental sharpness is a side effect of Vitamin D deficiency –no lie!, that it is a struggle for me to write this email. However, reading The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (I think this book wins for our longest title) by Daniel James Brown inspired me. It was a great interlude for biding away the dreary month of March. Although, don’t get me wrong, I am more than ready to enjoy my reading in a lawn chair on our overly sun-exposed deck or on a beach chair centrally located under direct UBV rays along a seashore!

Attending the March meeting along with me were Barb K., Ginnie, Lori, and Mandy. At first, a few in our group thought that we would not have much to discuss as Brown’s book was long and contained pages upon pages of race details, much that can be skimmed over, but once we began our discussion, we delved deeper and deeper into its message. The Boys in the Boat was one of the most inspiring novels, I for one, have ever read. We can all learn something from these nine men who grew out of America’s working class during our nation’s Great Depression. This was a story of how with the right ingredients for greatness: determination, motivation, and mentorship, men can unite their strength to achieve unthinkable goals.

This book was a so inspirational, I found it a great source of motivation for teaching. Think about it. Nine boys must forget themselves and unite their physical and mental bodies to triumph in the sport of rowing. Learning that life is not all about me, when we desire a thing, is a lesson that is hard to learn. The main character in Brown’s account of this great event in history, Joe Rantz, struggles to come to this conclusion in order to help the University of Washington’s rowing team win championships against America’s elite Ivy league’ schools then ultimately winning the 1936 U.S. Olympic Gold. Brown leads us to the climax in Nazi Berlin by focusing mostly on Joe’s life, his overcoming the obstacles of an unnatural childhood, the loss of his mother, then abandonment by his father and stepmother. We discussed at our club the awful luck poor Joe had as a child and found his choice to “never depend on anyone else, not even on Joyce,” his devoted girlfriend, “for his source of happiness,” was his coping mechanism; however, Joe had to overcome his suppressive attitude in order to completely trust and support his rowing team so that they could make their mark in U.S. Olympic history.

We must all work together to achieve on the PSSA, is the point I am trying to make with my students.  “Helping each other learn in order for our school to achieve greatness,” I tell them, “is what we need to do. Don’t think of only yourself, think of the school. If the school looks great, you look great, as you are a part of the school! Remember the boys in the boat, remember the boys in the boat . . . !” is our mantra!

The rowing team’s mentor, George Pocock, was the University of Washington’s very own Yoda. I once read, “Tie a child to a good man, and you will never go wrong.” That’s what the rowing teams at U.W. were blessed to have in George Pocock, a good man. Pocock and his brother Dick both apprenticed in the art of boatbuilding under their father who was the boat builder for Eton College. Living at Eton also gave George and his brother the opportunity to become champion rowers. With the prize money they saved, they immigrated to the United States. After the usual struggles to establish themselves as independent businessmen in America, George finally found his place at U.W. where he flourished in his craft. Not only did he build faster and more efficient boat shells, but he introduced many innovations in boatbuilding such as using Western Red Cedar for the outer shell. He mentored all of the rowing teams that came through Seattle’s rowing program during his time there, offering his sage advice to both the coaches and boys. Pocock’s knowledge of rowing was so comprehensive his words were held in the highest respect among oarsmen and coaches from all over the country. For this reason, he was appointed Boatman to four U.S. Olympic Rowing Teams: 1936, 1948, 1952, and 1956.  

It was George Pocock that helped Joe Rantz get his head on straight. Pocock gave Joe the time of day, so to speak. By teaching Joe about the art of boatbuilding, beginning with the cutting and shaping of the wood, Pocock was able to also mold Joe into a champion rower. By helping Joe remove the protective walls he had built around himself, Pocock exposed Joe to Joe. Like the wood that Pocock so expertly understood, he transferred his wisdom of transforming raw materials into pieces of art, and inspired Joe to the same greatness. When the alluring smell of cedar shavings finally led Joe into Pocock’s shell house, Pocock was ready. He let the wood teach Joe. “The wood,” Pocock murmured, “taught us about survival, about overcoming difficulty, about prevailing adversity, but it also taught us something about the underlying reason for surviving in the first place. Something about infinite beauty, about undying grace, about things larger and greater than ourselves. About the reasons we are all here. Sure I can make a boat,” he said, and then quoting the poet Joyce Kilmer added, “But only God can make a tree.”

Pocock went on to explain to Joe the many steps in the wood’s processing and other elements that ensure the making of a great boat, “The ability to yield, to bend, to give way, to accommodate, was sometimes a strength in men as well as in wood.” Joe was glued to Pocock’s deep understanding of wood and its relationship to everything in life. Pocock’s wisdom came straight from his heart, “He said for him the craft of building a boat was like a religion. . . You had to give yourself up to it spiritually; you had to surrender yourself absolutely to it. When you were done and walked away from the boat, you had to feel that you had left a piece of yourself behind in it forever, a bit of your heart. Rowing,” he said to Joe, “is like that.”

Pocock continued to take a personal interest in Joe, leading Joe to discover his inner greatness. Until Joe was able to overcome his own motto to “never depend on anyone else,” Joe would only be a second rate rower for the U.W. rowing team. Pocock “suggested that Joe think of a well-rowed race as a symphony, and himself as just one player in the orchestra. If one fellow in an orchestra was playing out of tune, or playing at a different tempo, the whole piece would naturally be ruined.”

Joe’s determination to transform himself was an important key to U.W.’s big Swedish coach Al Ulbrickson in leading his team to victory at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He counted on Pocock to mentor Joe, and mentor Pocock did, “When you really start trusting those other boys,” he counseled, “you will feel a power at work within you that is far beyond anything you’ve ever imagined . . . as if you have rowed right off the planet and are rowing among the stars.” It was a frightening concept to Joe to trust others when he had been let down by people he loved so many times in his life, but finally he let go. For Coach Ulbrickson, this meant he finally had all of his ducks in a row. At a varsity victory, he remarked to the press, “Every man in the boat had absolute confidence in every one of his mates.” Ulbrickson knew that all the elements that constitute greatness had finally converged, “the right oarsmen, with the right attitude, the right personalities, the right skills; a perfect boat, sleek, balanced, and wickedly fast; a winning strategy . . . ; a coxswain with the guts and smarts to make hard decisions and make them fast. It all added up to more than he could really put into words.”

Brown’s account of Joe Rantz and the U.W.’s amazing rowing team is dappled with historical images of Adolph Hitler and his attempt to fool the world. By hosting the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Hitler was able to present an illusion of cultural perfection. Visiting athletes and Olympic fans were none the wiser as they were greeted by clean and perfect villages and accommodating people. It was a trip to remember for all. Although as many looked back, they were able to pick out the camouflaged cracks and flaws in the superficial image Berlin presented that, while caught up in the spirit of celebration, they simply overlooked.

Brown’s epilogue is noteworthy and a topic of much discussion at our book club. It was interesting to learn how the “Boys in the Boat” commenced on with their lives after graduating from U.W. The biographical sketches proved clearly that these nine men were all winners in and out of the boat. After serving their country in WWII, they all returned and resumed successful careers. Their U.S. Olympic Gold medals were well earned, I believe, not just for their feats in rowing, but for their lives, shining examples to all of us in America on how to live and contribute to our nation.

The Boys in the Boat: is a book I will share with students and many others who I hope will find the same source of inspiration in its pages as I did. At our meeting, our book club has selected many inspiring titles, but we pick our books based not only on their capability to inspire and inform but also for entertainment and relaxation. I’m not sure which category our April title will fall under, I haven’t started it yet; but we are reading Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman. The New York Times describes it as the Steel Magnolias meets The Help. Set in a 1960’s Savannah, Georgia, our book club, I’m certain, will find much to discuss in Hoffman’s southern tale. In the story, CeeCee’s mother tells her daughter, “if you want to glow like you are lit from within, CeeCee, wear pearls and a pale pink sweater,” so let’s all wear pearls and something pale pink to our meeting! If you want to take it a bit further, add a white straw hat with a yellow band and a red flower pinned to the side like the one CeeCee’s Aunt Tootie gave her!  

We will meet at 6 P.M. on Wednesday, April 22, at Morgyn’s Frozen Yogurt and Treats, 152 N. Main Street, Butler, for our discussion. This is a new location for us and a variation from our usual dinner menus, so please allow yourself the indulgence of a sweet treat when you arrive! Lori confirms that it is a cozy little spot, so let’s give it a try.

See yah’ all soon,

(just practicing my southern dialect for club!)

Tammy