Joseph Harry Rantz (March 31, 1914 – September 10, 2007) was an American rower who won Olympic gold in the men's eight at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

Early life

Born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, Joe Rantz had a harsh childhood in Boulder City, Idaho and, later, Sequim, Washington. His mother, Nellie Maxwell (1881–1918), died from throat cancer when Rantz was four. His father, Harry Rantz (1880–1966), remarried in 1921, but Rantz did not connect well with his stepmother, Thula LaFollete (1897–1935), who struggled to raise Rantz and her four younger biological children. From age 15, Rantz reared himself in an unfinished house abandoned by his father and stepmother and put himself through high school. He gained admission to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Rowing and later career

Rantz rowed in the

senior varsity eights which won US national

Intercollegiate Rowing Association The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs College rowing (United States), intercollegiate rowing between Varsity team, varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, whil ...

titles in 1936 and 1937 as well as the victorious sophomore eight of 1935 and freshman eight of 1934. Rantz is the central character in the non-fiction book '' The Boys in the Boat'', which chronicles his struggles through life in his early years, culminating with his Olympic gold medal win from the seven seat of the US men's eight at Berlin in 1936.Brown, Daniel James (2013). ''The Boys In The Boat'', Viking / Penguin Group, New York. . The book inspired the PBS documentary ''American Experience: The Boys of '36'' and a 2023 feature film directed by George Clooney, where Rantz was portrayed by Callum Turner. Rantz earned a chemical engineering degree from the university and worked for

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

for 35 years following his retirement from rowing, contributing to the invention of the cleanroom.

Personal life

In 1939 Rantz married his college sweetheart, Joyce Simdars. They were married for 63 years until Joyce's death in 2002. They had five children.https://nfhs.org/articles/profile-joe-rantz-s-opportunity-began-in-high-school Rantz died of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF typically pr ...

in Redmond, Washington, at age 93.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rantz, Joseph 1914 births 2007 deaths American male rowers Rowers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in rowing Washington Huskies men's rowers Sportspeople from Spokane, Washington Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Boeing people 20th-century American sportsmen