My sketch of McMillin working in the shell house is drawn primarily from Joe’s memory, along with details provided by McMillin himself in transcripts of his interview with Michael Socolow on November 2004, from the Moch family collection as well as an obituary, “Legendary U.W. Rower Jim McMillin Dies at Age 91,” August 31, 2005, available at http://www.gohuskies.com. The details of Thula’s death are from my interview with Harry Rantz Jr.; Charlie McDonald’s, from Pearlie McDonald’s e-mail, cited above. Joe’s first conversation with his father following Thula’s passing was another of these moments that stuck with Joe throughout his lifetime.
The pro-boycott demonstration in New York is described in “10,000 in Parade Against Hitlerism,” NYT, November 22, 1935. The final demise of the boycott is documented in “A.A.U. Backs Team in Berlin Olympic; Rejects Boycott,” NYT, December 9, 1935. For my discussion of the boycott movement, and particularly the forces arrayed around Avery Brundage to oppose it, I have relied on Susan D. Bachrach, The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936 (Boston: Little, Brown, 2000), 47–48; Guy Walters, Berlin Games: How the Nazis Stole the Olympic Dream (New York: Harper Perennial, 2007), 24; “U.S. Olympic Chief Brands Boycotters as Communists,” PI, October 25, 1935; Stephen R. Wenn, “A Tale of Two Diplomats: George S. Messersmith and Charles H. Sherrill on Proposed American Participation in the 1936 Olympics,” Journal of Sport History 16, no. 1 (Spring 1989); “Sport: Olympic Wrath,” Time, November 4, 1935; and “Brundage Demands U.S. Entry,” ST, October 24, 1935.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The epigraph is again taken from Newell (85). Ulbrickson’s frustration is evident in his logbook, from mid-January into February. Emmett Watson quotes Ulbrickson—“George, tell them what I’m trying to teach them . . .”—in his Once Upon a Time in Seattle (Seattle: Lesser Seattle, 1992), 109. The “typical coxswain abuse” remark is from Eric Cohen, as are a number of details related to coxes in this section of the book. The Don Blessing quote is reprinted in Benjamin Ivry, Regatta: A Celebration of Oarsmanship (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988), 75. My biographical sketch of Bobby Moch is based on interviews with Marilynn and Michael Moch, with some additional details from Amy Jennings, “Bob Moch: Monte’s Olympian,” Vidette, January 1, 1998. Joe’s second shell house encounter with Pocock is again based on Joe’s own recollection of it.
Joe’s moment of reflection and insight as he stood on the dock in front of his father’s house was a key memory for him—a momet things began to turn around in his personal life. The details of that moment are drawn from his own telling to me and from Judy’s recollection of earlier accounts.
Some biographical facts about Gordy Adam and Don Hume are from Wayne Cody’s KIRO Radio interview with Adam, Hume, Hunt, and White, August 1, 1986. More about Gordy is from George A. Hodak’s interview with Gordon B. Adam, May 1988, published by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles and available at http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OralHistory/OHAdam.pdf. More about Hume is from Wallie Funk, “Hume Rowed from Guemes to Berlin in ’36,” Anacortes American, August 7, 1996, and “The Laurel Wreath to Don Hume,” WD, April 21, 1936.
Ulbrickson noted Joe’s addition to the boat and its immediate effect in his logbook on March 21, 1936. Entries over the following days confirm his growing confidence in the new arrangement. The various greetings that Joe’s new crewmates gave him meant a great deal to Joe and he delighted in recalling them after some prompting from Judy. The sauerkraut christening of the Husky Clipper is described in Newell (137). Ebright’s pulling names out of a hat is revealed in Sam Jackson, “Ky Ebright Pulls Crew Champions Out of His Hat,” Niagara Falls Gazette, February 22, 1936. Jim Lemmon discusses Ebright’s use of a training table in his Log of Rowing at the University of California Berkeley, 1870–1987 (Berkeley: Western Heritage Press, 1989), 97–98. Paul Simdars, who later rowed for Ulbrickson, described Ulbrickson’s alternative—a calcium solution and liquid gelatin. Laura Hillenbrand mentions Tom Smith’s search for high-calcium hay, and his awareness of the Washington crew’s supplements, in Seabiscuit: An American Legend (New York: Ballantine, 2001).
Royal Brougham asserts that the 1936 regatta drew the largest crowd ever to see a crew race in “U.W. Crews Win All Three Races: California Crushed,” PI (an undated clipping in John White’s collection of materials). Joyce recalled, in a conversation she had with Judy late in life, how nervous both she and Joe were that day as they awaited the race. My descriptions of the races that day are drawn both from that article and from the following: “75,000 Will See Crews Battle,” WD, April 17, 1936; Clarence Dirks, “U.W. Varsity Boat Wins by 3 Lengths,” PI, April 19, 1936; George Varnell, “U.W. Crews in Clean Sweep,” ST, April 19, 1936; “Coaches Happy, Proud, Says Al, Grand, Says Tom,” ST, April 19,1936; and Ulbrickson’s logbook entry for April 18, 1936.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Pocock quote is from Newell (106). An interesting and chilling contemporaneous overview of Berlin in this time frame can be found in “Changing Berlin,” National Geographic, February 1937. More about the state of affairs in Germany at this time can be found in “Hitler’s Commemorative Timepiece,” Daily Mail Reporter, March 7, 2011; Claudia Koonz, The Nazi Conscience (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003), 102; and Walters, Berlin Games (90–92). The precise mechanism by which Riefenstahl, Goebbels, and the Nazi government concealed the source of Riefenstahl’s funding for Olympia is documented at length in Bach, Leni (174–76).
The crisis over some of the boys’ eligibility is recounted in George Varnell, “Varsity Quartet to Make Up Work Before Leaving,” ST (a clipping without date in Roger Morris’s scrapbook), and mentioned in Ulbrickson’s logbook on May 18, 1936. Their increasingly impressive times are also noted in the logbook throughout this period.
Beginning with their departure for Poughkeepsie, we begin to get firsthand accounts of events in the journals of three of the boys: Johnny White, Chuck Day, and, later, Roger Morris. The race strategy for Poughkeepsie, hatched on the train trip east and reported by George Varnell in “Varnell Says: New Tactics for U.W. Plan,” ST, June 13, 1936, is important partly for how little regard Bobby Moch paid to it in the actual event. Details of the atmosphere in the shell house at Poughkeepsie and other events leading up to the regatta are drawn from a wide variety of news reports, cited individually in the online version of the notes. Bob Moch describes the almost mystical night row on the Hudson in “Washington Rowing: 100+ Year History,” on Eric Cohen’s website: http://huskycrew.com/1930.htm.
Facts pertaining to the Louis-Schmeling fight are drawn from James P. Dawson, “Schmeling Stops Louis in Twelfth as 45,000 Look On,” NYT, June 20, 1936, and “Germany Acclaims Schmeling as National Hero for Victory Over Louis,” NYT, June 21, 1936. The trouble in Harlem that night is reported in “Harlem Disorders Mark Louis Defeat,” NYT, June 20, 1936, as is the celebrating in German American neighborhoods. Goebbels’s “the white man prevailed” is quoted from his diary entry for June 20, 1936.
The account of the visit to Hyde Park is derived mostly from a letter from Shorty Hunt to his family, published in the Puyallup Press, June 25, 1936, under the title “Local Youth Meets Son of President on Visit to Hyde Park.”
Washington’s 1936 varsity win at Poughkeepsie was one of the great crew races of all time. My account of it is drawn from a large number of sources, of which these are the most important: Robert F. Kelley’s “Rowing Fans Pour into Poughkeepsie for Today’s Regatta,” NYT, June 22, 1936, and “Washington Gains Sweep in Regatta at Poughkeepsie,” NYT, June 23, 1936; Ed Alley, “Ulbrickson’s Mighty Western Crew Defeats Defending Golden Bears,” Poughkeepsie Star-Enterprise, June 23, 1936; Hugh Bradley, “Bradley Says: ’Keepsie Regatta Society Fete with Dash of Coney Too,” NYP, June 23, 1936; Harry Cross, “Washington Sweeps Poughkeepsie Regatta as Varsity Beats California by One Length,” HT, June 23, 1936; “Husky Crews Take Three Races at Poughkeepsie,” PI, June 23, 1936; James A. Burchard, “Varsity Coxswain Hero of Huskies’
Sweep of Hudson,” New York World-Telegram, June 23, 1936; “Huskies Sweep All Three Races on Hudson,” PI, June 23, 1936; Malcolm Roy, “Washington Sweeps Hudson,” New York Sun, June 23, 1936; Herbert Allan, “Moch Brains Enable Husky Brawn to Score First ’Keepsie Sweep,” NYP, June 23, 1936; and Royal Brougham, “U.W. Varsity Boat Faces Games Test,” PI, June 23, 1936. Jim McMillin is the source of his comment about breathing through his nose, as recorded in his November 2004 interview with Michael Socolow; Hazel Ulbrickson’s account is from the video “U of W Crew—The Early Years,” cited above, as is Bob Moch’s “Go to hell, Syracuse” remark. A few additional details are from Johnny White’s journal.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Pocock quote can be found in Newell (156). The first mention of Don Hume fighting some kind of “nasty cold” appears in George Varnell, “Shells Late in Arriving; Drill Due Tomorrow,” ST, July 1, 1936, six full weeks before the gold medal race in Berlin. The boys’ mounting anxiety and difficulty sleeping are chronicled in White’s and Day’s journals beginning on July 4. Their victory in the final race at Princeton is chronicled in “Washington’s Huskies Berlin Bound After Crew Win at Princeton,” Trenton Evening Times, July 6, 1936; Harry Cross, “Washington Crew Beats Penn by Sixty Feet and Wins Olympic Final on Lake Carnegie,” New York Herald Tribune, July 6, 1936; Robert F. Kelley, “Splendid Race Establishes Washington Crew as U.S. Olympic Standard Bearer,” NYT, July 6, 1936; George Varnell, “Huskies Win with Ease Over Penn, Bears, and N.Y.A.C,” ST, July 6, 1936; and Royal Brougham, “Huskies Win Olympic Tryouts in Record Time,” PI, July 6, 1936. Additional details are from Johnny White’s journal, George A. Hodak’s 1988 interview with Gordon Adam cited above, and one of several letters Shorty Hunt began to write home at this time, reprinted in the Puyallup Valley Tribune, July 10, 1936. Joyce took great delight in reliving for Judy her memories of listening to the Princeton race that day and her pride at the moment when she realized that Joe would be going to the Olympics. Bob Moch is the source of the mention of a tug-of-war over the silver cup in his November 2004 interview with Michael Socolow. George Pocock’s “Coming from Al” comment can be found in Newell (101).
The crisis over the shortage of funds for Berlin and the subsequent drive to raise money in Seattle are documented in a series of articles in the Seattle press over the next few days; see the online notes. Statistics regarding the terrible heat wave of 1936 are primarily from “Mercury Hits 120, No Rain in Sight as Crops Burn in the Drought Area,” NYT, July 8, 1936, and “130 Dead in Canada as Heat Continues,” NYT, July 12, 1936. The boys’ stay at Travers Island and their excursions are chronicled in the journals of Johnny White and Chuck Day, as well as in the continuing series of letters that Shorty Hunt wrote home. Joe’s trip to the top of the Empire State Building made a large impression on him, and the feelings he had there about the upcoming trip were something he shared often with Judy, who in turn shared them with me. Marilynn Moch explained the contents of the letter Bob Moch received from his father, and his reaction to it, in my interviews with her. Much of the description of loading the Husky Clipper onto the Manhattan is from George Pocock’s “Memories.” Other details of those final hours in New York are from Day’s and White’s journals.
The 1936 U.S. Olympic team consisted of 382 individuals, but not all were aboard the Manhattan. Some of the details concerning the history and construction of the Manhattan are from “S.S. Manhattan & S.S. Washington,” Shipping Wonders of the World, no. 22 (1936). My account of the departure is based in part on “United States Olympic Team Sails for Games Amid Rousing Send-Off,” NYT, July 16, 1936.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The epigraph is from Newell (79). For more on the Olympic preparations in Berlin, see Walters, Berlin Games (164–65); Brendon, Dark Valley (522); Bach, Leni (177); and Richard D. Mandell, The Nazi Olympics (New York: Macmillan, 1971), 143–44. Additional details are from The XIth Olympic Games: Official Report. For Riefenstahl’s preparations, I have relied primarily on her own account in her memoir, cited above.
For my description of life on the Manhattan, I have drawn from Joe’s recollections and a letter Shorty Hunt wrote home, published in the Puyallup Press, July 31, 1936. Day’s and White’s journals also offered many interesting tidbits. Other facts are from George Pocock’s “Memories”; Arthur J. Daley, “Athletes Give Pledge to Keep Fit,” NYT, July 16, 1936; and M. W. Torbet, “United States Lines Liner S.S. Manhattan: Description and Trials,” Journal of the American Society for Naval Engineers 44, no. 4 (November 1932): 480–519. Al Ulbrickson tells the anecdote about Jim McMillin and the pancakes in “Now! Now! Now!” Collier’s, June 26, 1937.
My sources for the Eleanor Holm incident include The Report of the American Olympic Committee: Games of the XIth Olympiad (New York: American Olympic Committee, 1937), 33; Day’s and White’s journals; “Mrs. Jarrett Back, Does Not Plan Any Legal Action Against A.A.U.,” NYT, August 21, 1936; Richard Goldstein, “Eleanor Holm Whalen, 30’s Swimming Champion, Dies,” NYT, February 2, 2004; and Walters, Berlin Games (157).
I have drawn mostly from Day’s and White’s journals to recount the boys’ arrival in Europe, with additional information from Shorty Hunt’s letter home, cited above. Their reception in Hamburg and Berlin is chronicled in Arthur J. Daley, “Tens of Thousands Line Streets to Welcome U.S. Team to Berlin,” NYT, July 25, 1936, and “Olympic Squad Receives Warm Nazi Welcome,” Associated Press, July 24, 1936. Richard Wingate’s response to Brundage’s triumphant arrival in Berlin appears in “Olympic Games Comment,” NYT, July 24, 1936.
The crew’s impressions of Köpenick, Grünau, and the German crew are derived from Roger Morris’s journal; George Pocock’s impressions recorded in Newell (104) and “Memories”; and Lewis Burton, “Husky Crew Gets Lengthy Workout,” Associated Press, July 27, 1936. The boys’ ramblings in Berlin and Köpenick are chronicled in all three journals—Day, White, and Morris—and Gordon Adam’s interview with Hodak, cited above. Peter Mallory discusses the Italian crew in his Sport of Rowing (Henley on Thames: River Rowing Museum, 2011), 735–38. Pocock’s tale of the outraged Australians at Henley is recounted in Newell (104).
My account of the opening ceremonies draws from Albion Ross, “Nazis Start Olympics as Gigantic Spectacle,” NYT, July 26, 1936; Shorty Hunt’s letter home published in the Puyallup Press, August 21, 1936; Riefenstahl in her memoir (191–92); Goebbels’s diary quoted in Trimborn, Leni Riefenstahl (141); Christopher Hudson, “Nazi Demons Laid to Rest in World Cup Stadium,” Daily Mail, July 6, 2006; the Day, White, and Morris journals; my 2011 interview with Mike and Marilynn Moch; Bob Moch’s account as given in Michael Socolow’s November 2004 interview with him; Frederick T. Birchall, “100,000 Hail Hitler; U. S. Athletes Avoid Nazi Salute to Him,” NYT, August 2, 1936; Royal Brougham, “120,000 Witness Olympic Opening,” PI, August 2, 1936; John Kiernan, “Sports of the Times,” NYT, August 2, 1936; “Olympic Games,” Time, August 10, 1936; Bethlehem Steel, “John White Rowed for the Gold . . . and Won It,” Bottom Line 6, no. 2 (1984); and Pocock’s “Memories.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Pocock quote is from Newell (79). The boys’ adventures in Berlin, Köpenick, and Grünau are drawn, again, primarily from the journals of the three who kept them. Throughout this time, press reports surfaced concerning the ongoing worries about Don Hume’s health. For more on Noel Duckworth, see Julia Smyth’s brief biographical sketch on the Churchill College Boat Club website, available at http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/societies/boatclub/history.html#duckworth. Also of interest is the transcript of a radio broadcast from Singapore to London, September 12, 1945, available at http://www.historyinfilm.com/kwai/padre.htm. An article about the 1936 Boat Race, featuring Ran Laurie and Duckworth, “Beer Scores Over Milk,” NYT, April 5, 1936, is the source of some of my information about Laurie. Laurie was so modest, it is said, that his son Hugh did not know that his father had won an Olympic gold medal (in 1948) until he happened across it in his father?
??s sock drawer many years later. The drenching of the police cadets and the near brawl with the Yugoslavians are documented in the journals and mentioned in Newell (105).
The British assessment that the American eight was “perfect” appears in “Chances of British Oarsmen,” Manchester Guardian, August 11, 1936. Hume’s weight and condition are discussed again in “Hume Big Worry,” Associated Press, August 12, 1936. My account of the qualifying race is based on the boys’ journals, as well as Royal Brougham, “U.S. Crew Wins Olympic Trial,” PI, August 13, 1936; Arthur J. Daley, “Grünau Rowing Course Mark Smashed by Washington in Beating British Crew,” NYT, August 1936 (no specific date on clipping); and “Leander’s Great Effort,” Manchester Guardian, August 13, 1936.
For more on the Nazi atrocities in Köpenick, see “Nazi Tortures Told in ‘Blood Week’ Trial,” Stars and Stripes, June 14, 1950, and Richard J. Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich (New York: Penguin, 2005), 360. For more on the Sachsenhausen camp, see the entry in the Holocaust Encyclopedia at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website: http://www.ushmm.org, and the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation website: http://www.stiftung-bg.de/gums/en/index.htm. For a listing of firms complicit with the Nazis, see “German Firms That Used Slave or Forced Labor During the Nazi Era,” on the Jewish Virtual Library website, available at http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/germancos.html. For a chilling firsthand account of what the forced labor camps were like, see “Record of Witness Testimony number 357,” Voices from Ravensbrück, Lund University Library website, available at http://www3.ub.lu.se/ravensbruck/interview357-1.html. My account of the ordeal of the Hirschhahn family is based primarily on a transcript of Eva Lauffer Deutschkron’s oral history in “Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust,” at the Wisconsin Historical Society’s website: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org.