Word is out that the long-running PBS series "American Experience" will air an hour-long documentary on "The Boys in the Boat," the 1936 Washington rowing crew that won Olympic Gold, made famous by the best-selling book by Daniel James Brown.

Yesterday, the Hollywood Reporter and USRowing both posted stories on the upcoming documentary, which will premiere Tuesday, Aug. 2, at 9:00 p.m.

The Washington rowing program and the University itself both had a lot to do with the PBS documentary, providing archives, locations and, in the case of the rowing team, some new footage.

Current members of the Husky program took to the waters of Lake Washington last fall in a pair of restored, wooden Pocock racing shells. In period attire, the modern-day Husky oarsmen provided the American Experience cinematographers with high quality video of how those heroic '36 rowers might have appeared in their shells 80 years ago.



"We were extremely pleased to be asked to participate in this film," said UW head men's rowing coach Michael Callahan, himself a former Husky oarsman. "We take tremendous pride in the rich history of this program and it was a special experience to help to bring that to life."

"It was fun to get to get to feel a connection to how things were around here all those years ago," said UW coxswain Braeden Daste, who coxed one of the two vintage shells for the filming. "It will be cool to see how it looks in the documentary."

The documentary, entitled "The Boys of '36," was produced by Margaret Grossi and Mary Carillo. It features interviews with the author, Brown, historians and surviving children of the rowers.

Washington's 1936 eight-oared crew, which also won the Intercollegiate Rowing Association championship prior to the Olympic games, was inducted into the inaugural class of the Husky Hall of Fame in 1979.