The Boys in the Boat

The boys return to the US, where they are greeted with ticker-tape parades. By September, Joe is back home, once again trying to raise enough money for tuition. The next year the boys row again, this time without Bobby, who graduated. They sweep the Poughkeepsie Regatta once again, and Joe (and Shorty and Roger) graduates having “never once been defeated” (359).

After the closing ceremonies in Germany, Hitler, Goebbels, and the rest of the Nazi leadership prepare for war. Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia premieres in April 1938, and the next day, Hitler and his cabinet make preliminary plans to invade Czechoslovakia.

Joe marries Joyce the same day he graduates. They raise five children together, and Joyce ensures Joe always has a “warm and loving home” (361). Bobby becomes a lawyer and argues before the Supreme Court. Stub coaches crew at MIT but later returns to Seattle to work at Boeing. Chuck serves as a naval doctor before establishing a practice as a gynecologist. Shorty marries and raises a family in Seattle. Don becomes president of the West Coast Mining Association. Johnny becomes general manager of sales at Bethlehem Steel. Gordy Adam works for Boeing for 38 years. Roger finds work in large-scale construction. Ulbrickson coaches at Washington for another 23 years, and Pocock builds racing boats for another 25. The boys come together many times throughout the years; they also celebrate formal 10-year anniversaries during which they row together again.

One by one, each of them passes away. Joe and Roger are the last ones left alive until Joe dies in 2008, and Roger in 2009. The Husky Clipper remains at Washington. Each September, the coach of the rowing team shows her to the new freshman recruits and “begins to tell the story” (370).