Story

Sometimes being a hero can take you by surprise

Brad Melby is a classic underachiever. He spent his high school years on the sidelines watching the other kids excel. He wanted more for himself but hope never quite became motivation.

His poor test scores barely manage to gain him acceptance into the University of Minnesota’s General College, the junior college equivalent for kids who can’t meet the admission requirements of the university. Nonetheless, Brad heads off to college hoping for a fresh start.

He sits outside a dorm hoping to catch sight of Vanessa, a sophomore, from his hometown. He has harbored a crush on her since childhood, one that leaves him tongue-tied in her presence. She is beautiful, smart, confident, graceful, and unattainable. She is also the coxswain for the men’s crew team, and she emerges from the dorm off to a recruitment meeting. Brad tags along, and once there, his attention is split between Vanessa and the six-foot long sub sandwich stretched across the table.

Brad’s interest in sports has been limited to watching. He isn’t athletically inclined, he’s never competed in anything, and he’s not in shape. However, in this room Brad has one thing going for him: he’s tall. And this year, the U of M Men’s Crew needs a few tall men.

At the University of Minnesota, rowing is a club sport and team members have to pay to be a part of it. There are no tryouts, just the hope that the team can recruit athletes who have been cut from other sports. Or lure an unexpected hero with the promise of a good sandwich.

The lights dim and Coach Gleason, a small man with a large presence, shows an emotionally charged film meant to portray the sport in all its luster and glory. Gleason knows this glory well. He led his team to an Olympic medal as coxswain. Brad is enraptured by the absolute beauty and purity of rowing. And of Vanessa. This is a whole new beginning for him. It holds both the promise of glory, and the intoxication of love.

Workouts are grueling and the attrition rate among the new recruits is steep. By the end of the first week, there are only enough freshmen to fill one eight-man boat. Through sheer will alone, Brad is among them. He’s doing his best to impress Vanessa and he’s sure it’s working. Even better, one of the varsity crew members is graduating mid-season and the available seat will have to be filled by a freshman. Brad is determined that it will be him. He isn’t the biggest guy on the team and he isn’t the strongest but fortunately rowing isn’t limited by the weakest member. In this sport, a rower who makes a team great is better than a great rower.

In the spirit of Invincible, Miracle, Chariots of Fire, and Breaking Away, Remember Minnesota is the heartwarming drama of one young man’s inability to understand the word, No. It is the against-all-odds story that asks the question, can an unexpected hero who has never won anything, not even the girl, lead an unlikely team to an unforgettable triumph at the most prestigious collegiate rowing championship in the country?

Yes!

View our slideshow of vintage photographs from the University of Minnesota crew.