Underdogs from Washington

Normally, rowing had only been a sport for the affluent, but these boys were working class and had to scrape together money just to stay in school. Many of them took difficult jobs like drilling into a cliff and chopping wood in order to follow their dreams. (The image is an example of the work Joe did at the Grand Coulee Dam.) However, this may have had been to their advantage because they learned how to be tough. In the early days where the freshman team signed up, many kids started to drop out due to the terrible weather and toughness of the sport- notably the ones whose clothes did not have tatters or holes in them. The kids who had to struggle to make ends meet pushed through in the middle of a race, rather than giving up because it got too hard.
The story of these nine boys is so incredible because they came from mostly poor, working class families and many of them had not rowed before college. They beat all odds and in the end came through to win gold through hard work and perseverance.

 
Bobby Moch on the podium accepting the gold medal.