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

by Arshay Cooper

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The true story of the first all-Black high school crew team that went on to do great things. An inspirational story of Arshay Cooper and students from Manley High School in Chicago's West Side who stumble upon crew, learn to row and become champions. The sport, and the conditioning it requires, bring about physical changes to their bodies, but it's the positive mental and emotional benefits they discover that are the best part.

A powerful true story of resilience and triumph, as an unlikely crew team rises from the streets of Chicago's West Side to challenge the sport and themselves.

Growing up on Chicago's West Side in the '90s, Arshay Cooper is all too familiar with the harder side of life, from gang-filled street corners to drug-haunted hallways. Seeking solace in poetry and cooking, Arshay's life takes an unexpected turn when he stumbles upon a boat and a poster inviting students to join the crew team.

With no prior experience, Arshay takes a chance and joins the team, embarking on a transformative journey that will forever change his life and those of his teammates. As they learn to row, many for the first time, they face adversity at every turn – from racism and gang violence to the challenges of a sport that has never seen anyone like them before.

A Most Beautiful Thing is an inspiring true story of an unlikely band of brothers who form a family and forever change a sport and their lives for the better. Now a documentary narrated by Common and produced by Grant Hill, Dwyane Wade, and 9th Wonder, this moving tale showcases the power of perseverance and the beauty of second chances.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250754752
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

ARSHAY COOPER is a rower, author, motivational speaker, and volunteer for numerous community outreach organizations. He works with nonprofits focusing on opening the boathouse doors to everyone, and he was the recipient of a 2017 USRowing Golden Oars Award. He lives in Brooklyn with his family.

Table of Contents

1 Holy City 1

2 Barbershop Prayers 15

3 In Sync 27

4 Grace 36

5 Like Water 45

6 A Different World 67

7 Alvin 90

8 Race Day 103

9 White Tablecloth 119

10 Moving on Up 127

11 Captain 142

12 Dry Tears 157

13 2K 172

14 Spring Break 199

15 Chasing Gold 205

Epilogue 223

Acknowledgments 227

Editorial Reviews

USA Today “5 Books Not to Miss”

"Uplifting and always enlightening.... [A Most Beautiful Thing] is a coming-of-age story told with the benefit of adult insights and mature hindsight.... This book is less about this specific sport than how that sport becomes transformative, empowering some kids, giving others a direction."

—Chicago Tribune

"Cooper details how he and his teammates experienced racism and discrimination in the community around the boathouses the team traveled to and how they took a risk in trying a mostly all-white sport that had never seen anyone like them before—and how it ultimately transformed his life."

—Sports Illustrated

"Spirited... memorable... Engrossing a sports memoir but also relevant to any conversation about privilege and race."

—Kirkus

"Here's all you need to know: "A Most Beautiful Thing" lives up to its name....Cooper masterly makes you feel a part of the team.... take their losses to heart. Be proud of the changes they've made... This is the feel-goodest of feel-good books, and you should have it now." —The Bookworm

"I was immediately captivated. Arshay's writing evokes the emotional angst of teens growing up in the inner city of Chicago. It is a triumphant tale of overcoming odds, with the sport of rowing-—not the conventional football or basketball—as a catalyst to his and his crew's salvation. I wholeheartedly recommend Arshay's work and look forward to his future projects."

—Ron Stallworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Black Klansman

"Arshay’s remarkable story reminds us of the life-changing power of will over hopelessness, of belief over despair, and shows us what it looks like when we stop listening to demons and start honoring our own potential. This is the story of rising from the ashes stronger, faster, and focused — not in spite of the circumstances of birth but because of them. Arshay’s refusal to let his life story be written for him is a testament to the resilience and beauty of the human spirit, and his eagerness to succeed, on the water and in life, is an inspiration."

—Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic

“One of the great strengths of the book is Cooper's voice; we get the prose of the grown-up Cooper, almost perfectly channeling the actions, thoughts and emotions of Cooper the teenager, juvenalia and all. Cooper is excellent in capturing the yearning of his younger self for something greater, and the process of living the effort and striving of getting there.”

—row2k

"The sport made intense demands on the young men, requiring them to train hard, learn how to swim, and make countless sacrifices – including not reacting to the racist jeers from competitors and spectators. The experience turned a team of strangers into brothers and unleashed their potential. The book is as uplifting as its title suggests, and sections detailing the races are downright heart-pounding."

—The Christian Science Monitor

From the Publisher

2020-06-10
Spirited account of a pioneering all-black rowing team.

Cooper sums up his surreal experience in the late 1990s: “We’re a group of black kids from the turbulent West Side of Chicago, surrounded by a group of Midwestern white kids all sharing praise and respect in the middle of a lake.” The author begins with a keen sense of place, chronicling how he grew up in a neighborhood beset by gangs and addiction, with which his own mother struggled before rebuilding their relationship through church-based recovery. Cooper felt frightened at his gang-plagued school until, improbably, he became intrigued by a program to introduce the elite sport of crew to black teens. Though the group eventually spread to other local schools, Cooper’s narrative follows the team’s improvisational, fish-out-of-water first year, during which the young men struggled to cohere as a unit. Many teammates came from harrowing backgrounds, including rival gang members, which concerned him. Cooper makes abundant use of dialogue, which can sometimes feel reconstructed, if true to the characters, but the passages devoted to reconstructing the matches precisely capture the nitty-gritty of rowing and how it felt especially challenging and foreign to urban blacks: “I look around at everyone’s faces and start to believe this might actually work.” The author demonstrates how his peers were simultaneously pulled by the promise of achievement and the lure of the street. Eventually, Cooper became team captain. Reflecting on their increasing cohesion, he recalls, “our focus is more on how this unlikely lifeboat is changing our lives outside of it….[H]aving black kids race in this sport has already been an enormous accomplishment.” The narrative feels both familiar and memorable due to improbable context and well-rounded characterizations, and the moving story is now a documentary narrated by actor and hip-hop artist Common.

Engrossing as a sports memoir but also relevant to any conversation about privilege and race.

Kirkus Reviews