The Boys in the Boat

by

Daniel James Brown

Al Ulbrickson Character Analysis

Al Ulbrickson is the calm, quiet head coach for the University of Washington crew program. For most of the book, he’s worried that he’s going to lose his job: again and again, he loses important races to his rival, Ky Ebright, the talented crew coach for the University of California at Berkeley. Ulbrickson experiments with many different strategies and team combinations before settling on the nine rowers who go on to win at the 1936 Olympics. Ulbrickson is an exceptionally talented coach, and even today, he’s remembered as one of the best in American history. He pushes his rowers to achieve more than they think possible, and forces them to eat well, abstain from alcohol, and maintain a high grade point average. That Ulbrickson believes that his rowers must be successful all-around, not just in the boat, partly explains why none of the nine boys in the boat “burned out” after 1936—they all went on to have relatively happy, successful, and well-rounded lives.

Al Ulbrickson Quotes in The Boys in the Boat

The The Boys in the Boat quotes below are all either spoken by Al Ulbrickson or refer to Al Ulbrickson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Teamwork and Trust Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

The next year, 1924, Washington returned, with a young Al Ulbrickson rowing at stroke, and won the varsity race again, decisively this time. In 1926 they did it yet again, this time with Ulbrickson rowing the final quarter of a mile with a torn muscle in one arm. In 1928, Ky Ebright's California Bears won their first Poughkeepsie title en route to winning the Olympics that year and again in 1932. By 1934 the western schools were finally beginning to be taken seriously.

Related Characters: Al Ulbrickson, Ky Ebright
Page Number: 113
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

Back in February [Al Ulbrickson] had commented […] that "there are more good individual men on this year's squad than on any I have coached." The fundamental problem lay in the fact that he had felt compelled to throw that word "individual" into the sentence. There were too many days when they rowed not as crews but as boatfuls of individuals. The more he scolded them for personal technical issues, even as he preached teamsmanship, the more the boys seemed to sink into their own separate and sometimes defiant little worlds.

Related Characters: Al Ulbrickson (speaker)
Page Number: 158
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

For Ulbrickson, there was one overriding, and dark, fact to be confronted: he had failed again to make good on his public promises. It was very much an open question whether he was going to get another chance.

Related Characters: Al Ulbrickson
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

Ulbrickson knew full well that money more or less grew on the trees at Yale, and that funds had been vastly easier to come by in 1928, before the Depression, than in 1936.

Related Characters: Al Ulbrickson
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:
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Al Ulbrickson Quotes in The Boys in the Boat

The The Boys in the Boat quotes below are all either spoken by Al Ulbrickson or refer to Al Ulbrickson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Teamwork and Trust Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

The next year, 1924, Washington returned, with a young Al Ulbrickson rowing at stroke, and won the varsity race again, decisively this time. In 1926 they did it yet again, this time with Ulbrickson rowing the final quarter of a mile with a torn muscle in one arm. In 1928, Ky Ebright's California Bears won their first Poughkeepsie title en route to winning the Olympics that year and again in 1932. By 1934 the western schools were finally beginning to be taken seriously.

Related Characters: Al Ulbrickson, Ky Ebright
Page Number: 113
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

Back in February [Al Ulbrickson] had commented […] that "there are more good individual men on this year's squad than on any I have coached." The fundamental problem lay in the fact that he had felt compelled to throw that word "individual" into the sentence. There were too many days when they rowed not as crews but as boatfuls of individuals. The more he scolded them for personal technical issues, even as he preached teamsmanship, the more the boys seemed to sink into their own separate and sometimes defiant little worlds.

Related Characters: Al Ulbrickson (speaker)
Page Number: 158
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

For Ulbrickson, there was one overriding, and dark, fact to be confronted: he had failed again to make good on his public promises. It was very much an open question whether he was going to get another chance.

Related Characters: Al Ulbrickson
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

Ulbrickson knew full well that money more or less grew on the trees at Yale, and that funds had been vastly easier to come by in 1928, before the Depression, than in 1936.

Related Characters: Al Ulbrickson
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis: