PBS Readies Olympian "THE BOYS OF ' 36" DVD Release

PBS Distribution announced today it is releasing “AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE BOYS OF ‘36” on DVD. 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. The thrilling true story of the American rowing team that triumphed against all odds in Nazi Germany, The Boys in the Boat is published by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The book has been on The New York Times bestseller list for 95 weeks. 

“AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE BOYS OF ‘36” will be available on DVD August 16, 2016. The run time of the DVD is approximately 60 minutes and its SRP is $24.99.

“The Boys of ’36” is the story of nine working-class young men from the University of Washington who took the rowing world and the nation by storm when they captured the gold medal at the 1936 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 Adolf Hitler’s elite German rowers. Their unexpected victory, and the obstacles they overcame to achieve it, gave hope to a nation struggling to emerge from the depths of the Depression.


Featuring interviews with author Daniel James Brown, historians and surviving children of the 1936 Washington team, the program will be available in August on DVD in conjunction with the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 80th anniversary of the miracle crew’s triumph.

Note that USRowing is a nonprofit membership organization recognized by the United States Olympic Committee as the national governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States. USRowing selects, trains and manages the teams that represent the U.S. in international competition including the world championships, Pan American Games and Olympic Games. More than 85,000 individuals and 1,300 organizations strong, USRowing serves and promotes the sport on all levels of competition. USRowing membership reflects the spectrum of American rowers – juniors, collegians, masters and those who row for recreation, competition or fitness.