In 1936 an unlikely crew of rowers brought home gold medals from the Olympics in Nazi Germany.
The Coeur d’Alene Public Library – in partnership with the Coeur d’Alene Rowing Association – will screen a documentary about that crew on Thursday, Aug. 11, at 7 p.m. in the library Community Room, 702 E. Front Ave. The movie is free and refreshments are provided.
American Experience’s “The Boys of '36” is a new one-hour film inspired by Daniel James Brown's critically acclaimed nonfiction book “The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics,” published by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The book has been on The New York Times bestseller list for 95 weeks.
In 1936, nine working class boys from the University of Washington took the rowing world and the United States by storm when their eight-oar crew team captured the gold medal at the Olympics 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 Adolf Hitler’s elite German rowers. The boys’ unexpected victory, and the obstacles they overcame to achieve it, inspired a nation struggling to emerge from the depths of the Depression.
Rowing as a competitive sport began in Coeur d’Alene in the early 20th Century. The sport was reintroduced in the mid-1980s as a community rowing program established at North Idaho College. Several faculty members, including English professor Jim MacLeod, were the organizers. Rod Mott, now head coach at Vassar College, was the first coach of the student division of the club and Peter Wagstaff coached the masters, a group of experienced and novice rowers in the community.
The association has rowing facilities at the west end of Fernan Lake. Membership and other information is available at the group’s website: www.cdarowing.org. 
The film will air on PBS stations in Idaho and Washington on Aug. 2.
 
Patrons who need accommodation to participate in library programs or services are asked to contact the staff prior to the activity by calling 208-769-2315. For more library information visit cdalibrary.org or lcplibrary.org. The library is a department of the City of Coeur d’Alene and a member of the Cooperative Information Network, cinlibraries.org. Library Director, Bette Ammon. Main Library hours: Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m./Friday & Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m./Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Lake City Branch Hours: Monday through Thursday, 3-6:30 p.m. For regular updates follow our libraries on Facebook and Twitter.