A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team

“The city of Chicago has about fifty different gangs and hundreds of different cliques—splinter groups. Some are known for their fancy cars, and others are notable for being stone-cold killers. These guys were born into this village, and this is all they know. I don’t think these guys join because they believe it’s going to be a good time, but for protection from the gang on the next block over and to be part of something.”

Cooper is referring to the cycle that has long affected kids in areas with strong gang influence. In many cases, the only way to protect oneself from the threat of violence from a gang is to join a gang. While some may join a gang for the feeling of inclusion, it is more frequently the case that kids are born into that lifestyle by geography and socioeconomic status.

“The barbershop is the black man’s country club. That’s where I go when I’m bored. I figured it’s better than hanging in the streets. My mom made it very clear that if you hang in the streets, you will have to leave the house. The barbershop sells everything: gym shoes, T.D. Jakes preaching tapes, porn, weed, candles. You name it, they have it.”

Cooper explains the importance of the barbershop in Black neighborhoods because it provides a sense of community. In providing an anecdote about receiving life advice from the older men there during his visit, he touches upon the idea that the barbershop is indeed far more than just a place to get a haircut, an idea that he reinforces by listing all the various items that can be purchased there.

“These are the sons of drug addicts, prostitutes, gang members, and drug dealers. The people that we will race are possibly sons of lawyers, doctors, professors, and salesmen.”

Relating both to the historical and socioeconomic background of rowing and to the theme of The Importance of Diversity and Representation in Sports, Cooper is referring to the fact that crew has traditionally been a sport for affluent, white athletes. The Manley team will not only be the first all African American crew team, but it will also be competing against teams consisting of affluent, white kids with much different backgrounds.

“It takes a village to raise a child, and our village is gang members, drug dealers, drug addicts, and prostitutes. It’s easy to become a product of this, but I feel like the coaches are using rowing to get us into college and to change our village.”

Cooper discusses the team’s second practice, in which the program’s sponsor, Ken Alpart, explains to the group that he has dedicated his time and money to helping West Side kids both through sports and through his entrepreneurship classes. According to Cooper, the kids there in the gym with him are just like the kids he sees dying and going to jail on the news, but he understands that crew is being used as an opportunity for them to avoid those types of mistakes.

“Going on the water to row for the first time when you’re from the hood is the scariest feeling in the world.”

The issue of fear and overcoming fear plays a central role throughout Chapter 5. In order to go on the spring break trip to Philadelphia, the team must each take a swim test and get in a boat to row for the first time. Both these experiences induce paralyzing fear because most of the members do not know how to swim. Cooper specifically describes the team’s reaction to getting on the water at the Lincoln Park Lagoon and the panic that broke out among them.

“You play basketball, you can play soccer, play baseball, hell, even sometimes play fight, but you can’t play rowing. We can dance, run, throw, shoot, fight, kick, but rowing is foreign to us.”

Cooper is alluding to the fact that the entire crew team is completely new to the sport and that there is no other way for them to practice other than getting in the boat and on the water.

“More than any other sport, rowing instills discipline and skill that you can only obtain by spending hours of beating your craft. Unlike ball sports, there are no superstars, just eight rowers that have to move in the same exact way at the same time to push the boat forward.”

Relating to the previous passage about the fact that there is no real way to practice the sport other than doing it in the water, Cooper explains that rowing stands in stark contrast to the sports that he and his teammates are familiar with.

“Life is sweet for black families on television. They have family dinner together every night, the kids get an allowance every weekend, the big brother and sister go to college, and when the kids make a mistake or struggle, the parents sit them down to correct them with love. Those television shows are like my personal church service and they give me hope. I want that life so badly.”

Cooper refers to the fact that the inspiration for some of his poetry comes from television shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Family Matters, and Chapter 6 itself is titled “A Different World,” which comes from the show with the same title about students on a college campus.

“The tragic thing about the sport is that if one person doesn’t show to get on the water, we don’t go out. Rowing is the ultimate team sport.”

At the practice session immediately following their spring break trip to Philadelphia, Cooper notices that roughly half of the team from that trip is present. He had assumed that some of the students would not return because they were just using their participation for the chance to go on the trip and others would quit because they had “gotten a taste of how demanding this sport really is” (103).

“It seems like the more I try to become a better person for myself and others, the more shit I get. I don’t care, though, because I’m on a mission: to love my team more, love my family more, and love myself more. I will work hard to not lose my brother at home, because if we do, we’ll lose him to the streets like we lost Shaundell, who is out there banging.”

Cooper’s mother tells him that she is having trouble with his little brother, Isaac, and he agrees to talk to Isaac about being better. When he does, Isaac complains that their mother favors Cooper because Cooper gets to go places and Isaac does not. Cooper explains that the reason for that is because Isaac continually gets into trouble and if he were to improve on that, Isaac would be allowed to go places as well.

“A lot of times teachers and parents just want to withdraw from us. They want to know our problems, secrets, and the things that are going on in our lives. They wonder why we never tell them anything, and the reason is because they’ve never made any deposits.”

Cooper writes about his feelings for Alpart, the man who volunteered his time and money to start the rowing program at Manley and has helped coach them. He tells how the rowers respond differently to Alpart because Alpart spends time with them, learning their jokes and their strengths and weaknesses and investing his time and energy in them.

“With Ken and the team hanging out a lot, we notice things that white people can do that black people can’t get away with.”

Cooper focuses on the team’s relationship with Alpart and writes about both his mentorship to them and his lack of fear in social situations. With this passage, Cooper is referring to an incident when Alpart took the team bowling and walked down the alley to reset the pins himself when they became stuck. Despite them telling him he was not allowed to do it, Alpart went anyway. Cooper’s point is that the response would have been different if Alpart were a Black man.

“For my crew, it has been the best summer of our lives. Sadly, we have to live in a community of neglect, chaos, and distrust, but if we can hang in there like we hang at the catch, we will build the strength to help us maintain.”

Cooper is referring to the summer in which he, Preston, Alvin, and Malcolm bonded with Alpart and he gave them access to certain things that other kids in their community do not have the opportunity to do. He is suggesting that if they can survive the surroundings of their community for just a bit longer, their lives can be better.

“As young people, we shout to the rooftop that we want to go to college, make the NBA, graduate high school, win a race, or get a job. Those things will never come to pass if we sit on our butts and just say we want it. We have to get up, put in the work, and get it because if we don’t someone will take what is supposed to be ours.”

In one of his entrepreneurship classes, Alpart teaches the students a valuable lesson when he holds up a $20 bill and asks the class who wants it. Everyone is shouting repeatedly that they want it, but Alpart just continues to hold it in the air until one student simply gets up and grabs it. Cooper argues that the lesson was learned, and then he translates that lesson into life goals.

“If black people hold other black people accountable for killing their own, things may change, and I am slowly seeing them speak out in our local events. If white people speak out against other white people about racism, that helps this country. I am noticing this happening in the media. What I have not seen yet is cops marching against other police officers that mistreat blacks. When that happens, I believe we are moving toward change.”

When Cooper, Preston, Alvin, and Malcolm visit Alpart’s home, they have an interesting discussion about policing in their community, and this leads to each of the team members describing some of their interactions with police. Cooper then starts to offer some ideas about how trust can be built between the community and police.

“On every team, you will find someone who wants it more than everyone else. On the Bulls it was MJ. He was not satisfied with wanting it more than everyone but understood if you can get the team to have the same will to win that you have, success happens.”

Cooper discusses being named team captain and how he begins to take on a leadership role. One of the things that he thinks the team has been missing is that they have not set goals for themselves as rowers. At the St. Louis regatta, with Cooper’s leadership, the team has their best performance yet, and he can tell how much they have improved.

“When you work extra hard through high school and earn every grade, it’s easier to resist the nonsense of the streets.”

Cooper describes going to school in the morning and seeing a group of former basketball players at the school. For Cooper, the more he invests in his education, the easier he finds it to stay on the straight and narrow. This hints at The Role of Education and Personal Growth in Overcoming Adversity.

“To me, smart is more than just understanding puzzles, remembering words, or quoting facts. To me, intelligence is being able to stay out of trouble, knowing when to shut your mouth, being open to new learning, hanging out with the right crowd, and thinking of consequences before every action.”

Cooper discusses Alvin’s family after meeting Alvin’s big brother for the first time. Alvin is torn between loyalty to his friends and loyalty to his family when it comes to violence and trying to leave that lifestyle behind. Alvin’s brother is apparently being threatened, and Alvin decides that he has to go help him, but Cooper wants Alvin to be smart and stay out of it.

“Being in the boat with Preston, Malcolm, and Alvin was all about family, social impact, and making the impossible believable. This team I’m on with Alvin, Josh, Elliott, Pookie G. is about crossing finish lines at regattas and in life. We went from loving the sound of the basketball net to daydreaming about the echoes of the oarlocks. When you decide to row, your favorite thing becomes secondary. And that, the team considers a badge of honor.”

With this passage, Cooper is alluding to the fact that the team now has a different vibe with Mandel as head coach. They seem to be more serious about winning races and improving rather than simply being a part of something. That transformation began to take place when they started to work harder, be more dedicated, and put in more time under Mandel.

“On my block, you were respected for carrying a gun and criticized for carrying a book. I always hoped it would change because I didn’t want other kids to grow up like I did, never knowing what it’s like to feel safe.”

One day at practice, all the team sees a commotion from the window, and they go over to see that a fight has broken out and hope that no weapons are involved. This leads to each of them discussing their own experiences with violence and Cooper wondering how and when guns became so common in their community.

“As the captain, my vision is for the guys to know that we’re not just a team, we’re a movement. As the first black men in this position, we can make history and be heroes.”

As the team is preparing to race in Michigan, Cooper remarks that even if they stopped now, they have already accomplished what Alpart wanted them to do, but he knows that they can go further and be remembered for the impact that they make. He asserts that they can be pioneers and lead other kids like them to take up rowing.

“I didn’t think we could get along with people who didn’t look like us but rowing changed that for me. Crew changed our mindset, lifestyle, work ethic, and, as Elliott says, ‘our bodies.’ This experience was never just about rowing. It was about bridging the water.”

Just before leaving for Michigan, Mandel makes the team go to help some rowing clubs with a clean-up project. While there, the crew team from the private school that had defeated them so badly the previous year approached them. At first, Cooper and his teammates think the private-school team is approaching to start trouble, but the other team actually just wants to meet the Manley team because they have come to respect how much Manley has improved.

“I don’t care if you’re an Olympian, a Harvard rower, or test at four minutes in a 200-meter piece—there are no rowers I would rather row with than these guys. None of us had ever said as much as hello to each other in the halls before rowing, but now we are brothers. Basketball, football, and baseball couldn’t have done what rowing has done with this group.”

These are Cooper’s thoughts just before their race in Michigan starts. He is alluding to the fact that not only did rowing bring all of them together despite their different personalities and interests, but it also helped them tremendously because they did not seem to fit in anywhere else in school.