LAKE FOREST PARK, Wash. — "I am the grandson, the first grandson, of Joe Rantz, in 'The Boys in the Boat,'" said Fred Rantz standing on the front lawn of a modest house that holds a huge amount of history.
Fred Rantz's grandfather, Joe Rantz, was the rower who helped his crew from the University of Washington take Olympic Gold in Germany in 1936, as Adolf Hitler watched.
"I have the oar that he won the race with in here," said Fred. "So I live here at my grandparent's old house."
Long before the best-selling book by Daniel James Brown and the George Clooney directed movie about his team's journey to the 1936 Olympics, there was this place: Joe Rantz and his wife Joyce bought a house in Seattle's Lake Forest Park in 1941. Then made it a home by filling it with memories.
"This place is loved by the whole family, I bought it mainly to preserve it," said Fred Rantz.
And he has managed to preserve most of it, like the horseshoe pit where he met all of the rowers: "I used to sit and watch him play with Bob Moch and some of the fellows that were still here, they'd come out and play for hours," he said.
Over by a shed stands the cedar Joe planted, alongside the redwood planted by his dad (Fred's great-grandfather) Harry, in the 50's, in a race to see which tree would grow the fastest. Fred recalls that the last conversation he had with his grandfather (Joe Rantz passed away in 2007) was about those trees: Joe wanted to know if his cedar had overtaken the redwood.
“They're both kind of special trees to me," said Fred.
Inside this house - a time capsule of Joe Rantz's life.
Things "not really yet discovered,” according to Fred. Like baby pictures - Fred held up one of Joe bundled up, just starting to walk. He also opened a scrap book his grandfather made when he was a sophomore UW crewman - with handwritten notes that capture his excitement being on the team: “How’s that for a start? It was in the first Daily!" is penciled in red beneath an article headlined “Good Varsity Crew Season In Prospect”
Also, that George Pocock-made oar Fred mentioned earlier hangs from the ceiling inside the house, with one end broken off.
"I asked him, I said 'is this The Oar?' And he's like yeah. And I told him I said, how'd you break it? He never did tell me," laughed Fred, who suspects his grandfather may have inadvertently snapped it while using it to lever something in his workshop.
Also here - pieces of a life beyond that medal.
Joe’s supervisor’s ID card from Boeing, where he worked as an engineer.
Dozens of photos of Joe in Northwest forests, doing something he truly loved - "mining cedar".
KING 5 actually caught Joe Rantz working with cedar at this very house back in 1986, the 50-year anniversary of that Olympic Victory. He split it into the fences that still surround the house and used it to start his stoves.
“This was really one of grandpa's favorite spots," said Fred in front of the living room wood stove. "He would literally just build a fire that was nice and toasty and crawl right down, and this is a picture of him actually sleeping in front of this very fireplace," he said, pointing to a photo of Joe snoozing on the floor in front of the stove, dressed in his Sunday best.
“I'll admit I've actually fallen asleep in front of it just like that before,” Fred said.
This old house is packed with signs of a life well lived. A life full of family and friendships.
A photo montage hanging on one wall shows ‘The Boys’ at their 50-year reunion, lined up on a dock at the University of Washington, tossing coxswain Bob Moch in the water – just like old times.
“This stuff all really kind of came up later where we all got old enough and went 'Grandpa, you won a gold medal!’ and he's like, yeah yeah.”
Fred Rantz says his Grandpa Joe gave him the gift of a zest for life - a positive outlook. And he's looking forward to the movie will share that gift with the rest of the world.
“This stuff coming to fruition where we get to see a movie about it and everything, it's just a wonderful time to be able to reflect,” Fred said. “All the Boys are gone now. But I got to experience some of it.”
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