Summary
At the start of the Olympic training year in January, Ulbrickson warned the boys that this would be the toughest training season in the history of University of Washington. Ulbrickson played with boat assignments and focused on fundamentals for the early weeks. While he couldn't find a lineup that was clearly the best combination, he knew that the coxswain of the number one boat would be Bobby Moch. Moch was the perfect size for a coxswain: 5'7" and 119 pounds. He was extremely tough, throwing himself at every sport in high school despite being impaired by a botched appendix operation when he was five. He knew how to command the boat and gain the boys' respect.
In late February, George Pocock took Joe aside and spoke with him in the loft. He told Joe that he had been watching him row and that he was a fine oarsman who had "learned to row past pain, past exhaustion, past the voice that told him it couldn't be done." The thing that was holding him back, believed Pocock, was that he didn't trust the other boys in the boat and think of them rowing as a team. Instead, Joe rowed as if it was up to him to row the entire boat past the finish line. Pocock instructed Joe to open himself up to the other boys and learn how to like them. He had to row as if he was a singular part in a symphony.
Joe continued in the number three boat and had mostly given up on being transferred the the number one varsity boat, but one day he came in and saw his name at the number seven seat in the presumed varsity boat. He was immediately welcomed in to the boat and felt at ease with his teammates. It was not just what Pocock had said to him about being at ease with his teammates, it was that this was a group with which he could do so. He had his long-time friend Roger Morris, as well as his two friends from the Grand Coulee, Chuck Day and Johnny White. The others encouraged him and said the boat would fly now. In fact, they did. The boat took off and was easily the best boat on the water. They crushed course records and continued to get better. Ulbrickson decided this would be the boat that would go to Berlin and Pocock christened it with Sauerkraut juice to "get it used to Germany" (241).
Leading up to the Washington Regatta, both Ebright and Ulbrickson undersold the talent of their varsity shells. It was a rough day of water when it came time to race, but Washington swept all three races. In the varsity race, Moch coxed a brilliant race, not taking the bait when California was at a high stroke rate. He had his boys row at a lower stroke rate so they could conserve energy, and even at a lower stroke rate they held their slight lead. At the end of the race, Moch had them increase their stroke rate and they surged ahead. In the Seattle Times the next day, Clarence Dirks wrote, "It would be useless to try to segregate outstanding members of Washington's varsity shell, just as it would be impossible to try to pick a certain note in a beautifully composed song. All were merged into one smoothly working machine; they were, in fact, a poem of motion, a symphony of swinging blades" (249).
In Germany, Hitler turned 47 and had invaded the demilitarized Rhineland, which was in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact. He waited anxiously for 48 hours for the response of England and France, but there was none. In those 48 hours, it became clear that the west had no appetite for fighting Germany again. Hitler also realized that it would be more difficult for them to rally their citizens in favor of a war against a civilized nation, and he sought to use the 1936 Olympics as an attempt to do so. He and his leadership scrubbed the media of antisemitism and made a propaganda film, Olympia. In Washington, the boys prepared for a trip to Europe and got their academic affairs in order. They left for Poughkeepsie as hundreds of adoring fans looked on.
Outside of rowing, the boxing world was gearing up for a marquee match-up between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. Louis, an African American, and Schmeling, a white German, came to represent the racial attitudes at the time. Louis had been extremely successful leading up to the fight and had begun to win over white Americans, but he was knocked out after 12 rounds with Schmeling despite him being the favorite. Germany and white Americans celebrated as they saw it as confirmation that whites were more powerful than blacks. Louis would ultimately have the last laugh, however, beating Schmeling in two minutes two years later and reigning as the heavy-weight champion from 1937 - 1949. In Poughkeepsie, the freshmen and junior varsity team both won easily, positioning Washington to sweep the regatta. The plan for the varsity race was similar for the other teams: start slow, don't allow the leaders to get two lengths ahead, and finish strong with a big push from their conserved energy. Washington followed this plan at first, but Moch kept them at a low 28 stroke rate for much of the race. For awhile, the leaders were up to four lengths away, and the entire Washington coaching staff looked despondent, believing they had thrown away their chance at the Olympics. Moch, however, had plans of his own. He started their sprint much later than the coaches intended, but he meticulously took down other boats and in a daring finish, won the race. It was one of the best races in the regatta's history.
The Olympic Trials were held in Princeton, NJ, and Washington was rowing against The New York Athletic Club's Winged Footers and Princeton in the preliminary heat. They won easily and watched California do the same, with a tremendous sprint. California finished their trial with a faster time than Washington, and the boys were nervous. Ulbrickson reassured them that they could beat any crew in the nation. Washington ultimately won the Olympic trial, but upon winning, their coach was informed that the Olympic Committee was short on funds and each team would need to pay their own way. The AOC representative told them that if they could not raise the funds, the Penn team, which had the money available, would go in their place. Through a massive effort from the entire state of Washington, the $5,000 was raised in two days. Meanwhile, the Washington team, now the U.S. Olympic rowing team, spent their days training in New York and enjoying the sights. They soon boarded the Manhattan en route to Germany.
Analysis
When describing Bobby Moch, Brown writes that Moch "drove those boys like Simon Legree with a whip" (233). Simon Legree is the slaveowner in Harriet Beecher Stowe's infamous work, Uncle Tom's Cabin. This is the second reference to the coxswain being like a slaveowner with a whip. The previous reference is from a 1928 New York Times article describing Cal's Olympic gold medal race: " . . . such language and what a vocabulary! One closed one's eyes and waited for the crack of a final cruel whip across the backs of the galley slaves" (232). The two references comparing rowing to slavery are visceral, overstated, and incorrect. Slave owners were not yelling obscenities at slaves to motivate them—they were doing so because of a perceived racial superiority and the desire to degrade people and deprive them of their humanity. While the metaphor speaks to the type of language found in a boat during a race, it is not an apt comparison. It's more understandable in the context of the New York Times article written in 1928 when racism was more openly accepted than it is in Brown's recounting in this modern book.
Pocock once again offers a world of life lessons in a few short remarks to Joe. He speaks to the importance of community and having the support of the team, but more so, allowing oneself to accept the help of a team. Instead of feeling like it was all on his shoulders, Joe has to trust his teammates and play as if he was just one player in the orchestra, performing a great symphony. Pocock sees that Joe has been hurt by people before, and so he tells him that he has to open himself up to his teammates and be vulnerable, even if it means that he could be hurt by them. If he is able to do that, amazing things await Joe. Pocock says, "Joe, when you really start trusting those other boys, you will feel a power at work within you that is far beyond anything you've ever imagined. Sometimes you will feel as if you have rowed right off the planet and are rowing among the stars" (235). This metaphor comes full circle after the Washington Regatta when the Seattle Times reporter compares the varsity boat to a symphony of swinging blades.
The details on the boxer Joe Louis and Max Schmeling provide important context on the extent of and limits to the ideology of racial superiority. Sports was a way for marginalized populations to fight back against conceptions of their inferiority. If a person of color won a competition against a white person, it immediately called into question that white people were inherently better at everything. By slowly breaking these beliefs down, win by win, particular black athletes gained the respect of white fans. While this may have happened for a prodigious athlete, it rarely extended beyond the individual. White fans of Louis may have respected him, but it didn't necessarily change their beliefs about the majority of African Americans. Sports often leads to advances in equity but is not a panacea.
At the end of the Poughkeepsie Regatta, Ulbrickson gives a speech that commends the boys on how proud he is of them. Brown writes of the team's response after he was finished, "Nobody cheered. Nobody stood up and applauded. Everyone just sat, silently soaking in the moment. On the stormy night in January 1935, when Ulbrickson had first started talking openly about going to the Olympics, everyone had stood and cheered. But then it had seemed like a dream. Now they were on the verge of actually making it happen. Cheering somehow seemed dangerous" (273). This quote speaks to how when something is far off in the future and not quite tangible, it is not as risky to openly want it. As it's so far away, you are protected from being truly disappointed if it doesn't happen. It doesn't feel close so you will not feel as hurt if it doesn't happen. Now that the Olympics are possible, there is a seriousness that becomes present. The risks are much higher now that it is within the realm of possibility.
The stress of raising funds for the Washington team to go to Germany speaks to the classism at play even within the sport of rowing. Despite proving themselves to be the best physically and mentally, they do not have a guaranteed spot. They have to pay their way to Germany, too. For the eastern teams that are awash in money, this is not much of an obstacle, but for the working class boys of Washington, it is a huge barrier. Fortunately for them, money does not keep the best team from going to the Olympics. The entire state bands together to raise the funds and does so quickly. The fact that Washington needs to pay their own way demonstrates that for those who are low-income, there are countless barriers to achieving your dreams. Even if you work hard and prove you are the best, there is still more you are asked to do in order to secure your place.
