Boys on the Boat

I read a great book that my dad sent to us called the Boys on the Boat.  i was so impressed with the hard working, strong, young men who came from regular old circumstances, or from very difficult circumstances and worked their way through university (no scholarships) with music and good morals.  it was very inspiring, and i'll be glad to send the book to you if you are interested in reading it next. 
We took a walk around the UW campus to see where their shellhouse (where the rowboats were kept, the team's home base, and where George Pocock built them in the upper level).

  This was the old navy hangar turned shellhouse where Joe Rantz (the Boys on the Boat main character) actually came every day.  Now it is called the canoe house and just used mainly as storage, near as we could tell.  The rowing team has a very nice new shellhouse 1/4 mile north of this canoe house.

the old shellhouse is right on the Montlake Cut.  E and R got their feet wet and picked blackberries.

it was a nice summer day and these boys were probably having a swim.

  So in the new Conibear shellhouse you can see a lot of nice new boats (sorry i still don't know the proper terms).  no more cedar, but using new technology.  Connibear was the man who invented the new stroke the UW team used.

this is George Pocock who made boats not just for the UW team, but also for all the teams across the nation.  He sold the boats for very low prices for many years as his goal was to promote the sport and he didn't need the income.

Al Ulbrickson was the amazing coach who took the boys to the Olympics.  the 1st year coach was also amazing.  maybe just that the book's author was so talented to make every character come alive with details.

I read the book about how the 9 men all sat in the boat, but it was so cool to see it in person.  SO much LONGER than i thought it would be.  This is the Olympic winning boat, the Husky Clipper.  It now hangs in the new shellhouse dining room.

  these are the jackets that the Olympic winners wore.  On racing day, Joe Rantz and the other boys, though they had new uniforms in Germany for the Olympics, wore their same old sweaters that they wore every other day for rowing.  They were poor and didn't want to ruin a nice new jacket.

I loved learning about the sport.  I don't think i would enjoy reading about any old Olympic athlete, but these guys were exceptional.

They won the Olympic gold medal and then graduated from UW and lived normal lives.  thank you Dad for sharing this book with me.