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.

REGIONAL BESTSELLER

Now a documentary narrated by Common, produced by Grant Hill, Dwyane Wade, and 9th Wonder, from filmmaker Mary Mazzio

The moving true story of a group of young men growing up on Chicago's West side who form the first all-Black high school rowing team in the nation, and in doing so not only transform a sport, but their lives.

Growing up on Chicago’s Westside in the 90’s, Arshay Cooper knows the harder side of life. The street corners are full of gangs, the hallways of his apartment complex are haunted by drug addicts he calls “zombies” with strung out arms, clutching at him as he passes by. His mother is a recovering addict, and his three siblings all sleep in a one room apartment, a small infantry against the war zone on the street below.

Arshay keeps to himself, preferring to write poetry about the girl he has a crush on, and spends his school days in the home-ec kitchen dreaming of becoming a chef. And then one day as he’s walking out of school he notices a boat in the school lunchroom, and a poster that reads “Join the Crew Team”.

Having no idea what the sport of crew is, Arshay decides to take a chance. This decision to join is one that will forever change his life, and those of his fellow teammates. As Arshay and his teammates begin to come together to learn how to row--many never having been in water before--the sport takes them from the mean streets of Chicago, to the hallowed halls of the Ivy League. But Arshay and his teammates face adversity at every turn, from racism, gang violence, and a sport that has never seen anyone like them before.

A Most Beautiful Thing is the inspiring true story about the most unlikely band of brothers that form a family, and forever change a sport and their lives for the better.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250754752
Publisher:	Flatiron Books
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	107,518
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

In the 1990s, Arshay Cooper attends a crew recruiting meeting at his high school for the free pizza. He ends up joining the first Black high school rowing team in the country. Narrator Adam Lazarre-White conveys Cooper’s youth and aspirations in a rich, steady voice that suggests emotional authenticity and humor. Cooper and his teammates create something great with the help of a philanthropic businessman and former college rowers while navigating gang conflict, poverty, addiction, and systemic racism—not to mention their initial inability to swim. Lazarre-White captures Cooper’s developing emotional maturity as he commits himself to fitness, balances the team with his first love, takes steps to achieve his ambition to become a chef, and develops a deep gratitude and respect for his mother’s recovery from substance abuse. A.B. 2020 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2020 - AudioFile

In the 1990s, Arshay Cooper attends a crew recruiting meeting at his high school for the free pizza. He ends up joining the first Black high school rowing team in the country. Narrator Adam Lazarre-White conveys Cooper’s youth and aspirations in a rich, steady voice that suggests emotional authenticity and humor. Cooper and his teammates create something great with the help of a philanthropic businessman and former college rowers while navigating gang conflict, poverty, addiction, and systemic racism—not to mention their initial inability to swim. Lazarre-White captures Cooper’s developing emotional maturity as he commits himself to fitness, balances the team with his first love, takes steps to achieve his ambition to become a chef, and develops a deep gratitude and respect for his mother’s recovery from substance abuse. A.B. 2020 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2020 - AudioFile

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