March 8, 2026 – The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown (2013) is a riveting story of the University of Washington’s rowing team that won a gold medal at the 1936 Olympics, the same Olympics where Jesse Owens won four gold medals. The nine boys had to first beat all of the Ivy League rowing teams to represent the United States at the Olympics. Few gave them much of a chance but they did. The book is based on Brown’s interviews with Joe Rantz, one of the nine boys in the boat, shortly before he passed away. Brown traveled to Berlin to look at the lake where the boys, against all odds and attempts to deny them a fighting chance, won the gold. It’s a terrific book that has been made into both a documentary and a feature film.