Sound Stories. Sound Voices.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
You are on the KUOW archive site. Click here to go to our current site.

How this 'boy in the boat' overcame hardship, beat the Nazis and won Olympic gold

The 1936 Olympic team crewed the wooden Husky Clipper, which now hangs in a place of honor above the the crew dining hall.
KUOW Photo/Matt Mills McKnight
The 1936 Olympic team crewed the wooden Husky Clipper, which now hangs in a place of honor above the the crew dining hall.

Marcie Sillman speaks with Judy Willman, daughter of Joe Rantz, about how finding "swing" with the 1936 University of Washington rowing team changed her father's life. The nine boys on that legendary team beat staggering odds to win gold in the Berlin Olympics.

Their story is told in the bestselling book "The Boys in the Boat," and now in the American Experience documentary, "The Boys of '36," premiering Tuesday Aug. 2 on PBS stations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nMScDpFasA