American Experience, The Boys of ‘36
PBS WESTERN RESERVE (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Tuesday, July 9, at 9 PM
Wednesday, July 10, at 2 AM
Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):
Saturday, July 13, at 7 PM
In the summer of 1936, nine working class young men from the University of Washington took the rowing world and the nation by storm when they captured the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Berlin. These sons of loggers, shipyard workers and farmers overcame tremendous hardships — psychological, physical and economic — to beat not only the Ivy League teams of the East Coast but also Adolf Hitler’s elite German rowers.
Featuring interviews with historians, surviving children of the 1936 Washington team and more, “The Boys of ‘36” recounts their unexpected victory and the obstacles they overcame to achieve it.
