The film “Boys in the Boat” depicts the 1936 University of Washington crew team’s Olympic journey and highlights a crucial moment near the Marist College campus.
The film, based on Daniel James Brown’s novel “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics,” debuted in theatres on Dec. 25. It follows Joe Rantz, a member of the University of Washington crew team who comes from a troubled past.
Set in 1936, an Olympic year, Washington head coach Al Ulbrickson selects Rantz’s junior varsity boat over the varsity boat to compete at the Olympic qualifying race, the Poughkeepsie Regatta.
The Poughkeepsie Regatta, running from 1895 to 1949, served as the Olympic qualifier on a handful of occasions (1928, 1932, 1936, and 1948). Outside of Olympic years, the Regatta remained one of the premier events on the college rowing circuit, earning Poughkeepsie the nickname of the “rowing capital of the world.” Each year, it concluded the collegiate season as the championship regatta for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association.
The Poughkeepsie Regatta began as a local event, featuring Ivy League universities such as Pennsylvania, Columbia, and Cornell, later joined by the universities of Syracuse and Georgetown. In 1912, the Regatta became a country-wide event, as three West Coast universities (Cal Berkeley, Washington and Stanford) began sending crews east to Poughkeepsie.
With Marist being founded in 1929, the College was not well established during the Poughkeepsie Regatta’s prime, yet there are a few buildings from the early regatta years that still stand today on its campus.
The only buildings that remain in use from the 1930s are the St. Peter’s house (seen in the bottom right of the image above), Greystone (pictured below) and the Cornell Boathouse, which was originally a part of Regatta Row.
Regatta Row was constructed along the Hudson River to solidify Poughkeepsie’s place in collegiate rowing. Crew houses were built along the row for schools that consistently competed in the regatta. Columbia, Cornell, Washington and California each had their own crew houses on Regatta Row, but after the Poughkeepsie Regatta’s importance dwindled, they were left empty. All that remains today is the Cornell boathouse.
The event encapsulated rowers and spectators from across the nation at the start of the 20th century, as tens of thousands of spectators flocked to the Hudson River to watch, while others listened on local and national radio stations.
For wealthy attendees, tickets for an observation train featuring grandstands for the spectators were available to purchase.
The price of a ticket for the observation train was $4.75 in 1936, which is worth over $100 in 2024 after adjusting for inflation. The observation train traveled at the same pace as the boats in the water and featured around 30 train cars filled with fans of each regatta, as well as a private section for members of the press.
With an estimated 70,000 people in attendance at the 1936 Poughkeepsie Regatta, the University of Washington Huskies dominated, winning the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity races and becoming the first school to sweep the Regatta since Cornell in 1912.
With the victory, Washington earned the right to represent the United States at the Olympics in Berlin. Despite winning the spot, their place in Berlin was not promised.
Washington had to fund their trip to Berlin with less than a week of notice. The school had to raise $5,000 (which translates to over $100,000 in 2024), or else their spot in the Olympic games would be given to the runner-up University of Pennsylvania, a school that had the necessary funds on hand to make the trip.
Through newspapers, radio, and word-of-mouth advertising, the Washington community rallied to raise $5,000 and send the Poughkeepsie Regatta champion Huskies to Berlin.
The International Olympic Committee awarded Germany the hosting honors for 1936 before the Nazi Party came to power. Once the Nazis took over, German chancellor Adolf Hitler attempted to use the Berlin Games to mask the current state of the country that preceded the Holocaust, as anti-Jewish signs were covered or removed, and antisemitic newspapers were pulled from circulation.
The United States and some European countries debated boycotting the Olympic Games, but ultimately only the Soviet Union followed through by not sending any athletes to compete.
The U.S. boat stumbled out of the gate in the gold medal race, as coxswain Robert Moch did not hear the starting command, and the U.S. crew fell behind early, mounting on top of an already uphill battle. The Americans were placed in the furthest lane, where they had to deal with choppy water and swaying winds for the majority of the course, despite recording the fastest qualifying time.
Yet, the “Boys in the Boat” would not be denied. Their Hollywood story achieved its inspiring end, as the underdogs from Washington staged a comeback to win a photo finish over Germany and Italy. The Americans took gold by six-tenths of a second, shocking the world and the Nazi regime in attendance.
The University of Washington returned every member of their Olympic boat and swept all three races at the 1937 Poughkeepsie Regatta for the second straight year. Poughkeepsie hosted its final IRA Championship in 1949, as the regatta began rotating throughout multiple U.S. locations in the years following.
Though the sport of crew has lost its popularity in Poughkeepsie, where the Regatta was once referred to as “the greatest one-day sporting event in America,” viewers of “Boys in the Boat” will catch a glimpse of the Poughkeepsie Regatta’s glory days.
Edited by Dan Aulbach and Luke Sassa
Photos from the Marist Archives
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