The Boys In The Boat: Where Are They Now?

The boys in the boat went on to live good, solid, middle-class lives. Joe Rantz, the main subject of the film and book, graduated with a degree in chemical engineering, married his college sweetheart, Joyce, and worked for Boeing until his retirement. He passed away aged 93 in 2007. The rest of the team also survived World War II, with some working in roles that contributed to the war effort. They remained close friends over the years, meeting for reunions and even rowing together again when they were older.

The boys' lives after the Olympics

The boys' lives changed in many ways after their Olympic win, with most of them graduating with high honours and going on to have successful careers. Joe Rantz, the main subject of the film and book, graduated in 1939 with a degree in chemical engineering and married his high school sweetheart, Joyce Simdars, on the same day. The couple had five children and remained married for 63 years until Joyce's death in 2002. Rantz worked for Boeing for 35 years, designing planes for World War Two, and lived a long and fulfilling life until his death in 2007 at the age of 93.

Don Hume, another member of the rowing team, went on to fight in World War II after the Olympics. He then worked in the oil and gas drilling industry and was a part of the West Coast Mining Association, becoming its president. Hume passed away in 2001 at the age of 86.

Bobby Moch, the team's coxswain, attended law school while also working as a rowing coach at Washington and later MIT. He became one of Seattle's most prominent attorneys. Jim McMillin took over Moch's coaching job at MIT and also worked for Boeing. Chuck Day became a doctor in the navy and later a successful gynecologist. Shorty Hunt founded a construction company, and Johnny White worked for Bethlehem Steel. Gordy Adam worked for Boeing for 38 years, and Roger Morris spent World War Two doing construction before working for the Manson Construction Company.

Al Ulbrickson, the team's coach, continued coaching at Washington for another 25 years and was later inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame. The boys remained good friends and had reunion rows every few years until they were quite old. Most of them lived long lives, with several living into their 80s or 90s.

Joe Rantz's childhood

Thula treated Joe with disdain and abuse, and when he was ten years old, he was forced out of the family home. For over a year, he slept in the local schoolhouse, where he chopped wood in exchange for a bed. Eventually, he was allowed to return home, but his reprieve was short-lived.

One rainy day in 1929, when Joe was fifteen, he returned home from school to find his father, stepmother, and half-brother in the car, packed and ready to leave. They were abandoning Joe and moving away in search of a better life. Joe's father left him with a can of bacon grease, a chunk of meat, and a few eggs, along with the words: "Look, son, if there’s one thing I’ve figured out about life, it’s that if you want to be happy, you have to learn how to be happy on your own."

Left to fend for himself, Joe persevered through self-sufficiency and hard work. He tended a vegetable garden, learned to hunt and fish, and took on odd jobs to earn money. He finished building the family's abandoned house, learned to play the banjo, and worked weekends driving draft horses. He excelled in school and sports, despite the challenges he faced outside the classroom.

Joe's resilience and strength during these formative years laid the foundation for his later success as an athlete and student at the University of Washington, where he would go on to become a member of the renowned "Husky crew" rowing team.

The team's training and Olympic journey

The University of Washington rowing team's journey to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin began three years before the games. The team was made up of nine rowers: Joe Rantz, Don Hume, George 'Shorty' Hunt, James 'Stub' McMillin, Johnny White, Gordy Adam, Chuck Day, Roger Morris, and Bobby Moch, who was the coxswain.

The rowers were all from working-class backgrounds and had taken up the sport as it was a way to earn money and afford their college fees. Their coach, Al Ulbrickson, pushed them extremely hard in training sessions, which took place as frequently as six days a week. Ulbrickson would often chop and change the boat lineups in his search for the perfect team, causing uncertainty among the young rowers.

Despite the challenges, the team improved rapidly and soon the junior varsity crew, Husky, was outperforming the seniors. In 1936, they dominated the national collegiate rowing championships in Poughkeepsie, New York, and then won the Olympic trials in Princeton, New Jersey, becoming the first crew from Washington to represent the US at the games.

However, their journey was not without setbacks. On the way to Berlin, Don Hume, the 'stroke' who sets the pace for the rest of the crew, fell severely ill with a chest cold. Hume had worked in a pulp mill as a child and his lungs had been damaged by the fumes, making him susceptible to respiratory illnesses. Ulbrickson decided to take him off the boat, but the rest of the crew refused to accept it and Hume rowed through his illness.

Despite this last-minute hurdle, the team went on to win gold in the final, beating the favoured teams from Italy and Germany by just half a second.

The boys' struggles with poverty

The boys in the boat were all from poor backgrounds, with most of them coming from lower-middle-class families. Their fathers worked as loggers, fishermen, and dairy farmers. The Great Depression had hit their families hard, and the boys struggled to earn their way through school.

Joe Rantz, the main character, had a particularly difficult upbringing. He was abandoned by his family at the age of 15 and was left to fend for himself. He slept in a schoolhouse for over a year and relied on soup kitchens for food. He put himself through school and worked hard to save money to attend the University of Washington, where he joined the rowing team.

The other boys also faced their own struggles. For example, Don Hume worked in a pulp mill as a child, which damaged his lungs and made him susceptible to respiratory illnesses. Chuck Day had problems with his father, and Bobby Moch almost got kicked out of the team.

The University of Washington's rowing team offered these poor and struggling students food, accommodation, and the promise of a part-time job. It was a way for them to stay in school and have a chance at a better future.

The boys' perseverance and hard work paid off, and they went on to compete in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where they won the gold medal in rowing. Despite their challenges, they emerged from the depths of poverty and went on to become national heroes.

The boys' reunion rows

The boys in the boat had reunion rows every few years until they were quite old men and had to be helped into the boats. They had informal reunions at one another's backyards and picnics, and their families were all in touch with each other.

The boys remained close friends and met for reunions, often including getting back into a boat together—even when they had grown so frail that they needed help getting in and out of their seats. They enjoyed their symphony of swinging blades once again.

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