James Burge McMillin (March 8, 1914 – August 22, 2005) was an American

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

, who won Olympic gold at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

. McMillin was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and raised in the Queen Anne Hill area. McMillin rowed in the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

senior varsity eights which won US national

Intercollegiate Rowing Association The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfills this role for women's ope ...

titles in 1936 and 1937. In 1936, he rowed to an Olympic gold medal in the five seat of the American boat in the eights competition. His role in the

eight and their Olympic victory is explored in the 2013 non-fiction book by author Daniel James Brown, ''

The Boys in the Boat ''The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics'' is a non-fiction novel written by Daniel James Brown and published on June 4, 2013. Background ''The Boys in the Boat'' is a true story based ...

''.Brown, Daniel James (2013). ''The Boys In The Boat'', Viking / Penguin Group, New York. . After graduating McMillin coached rowing at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...

and during

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

worked at MIT as a laboratory engineer on classified research. His later career was with

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

in Seattle.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McMillin, James 1914 births 2005 deaths Rowers from Seattle Rowers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in rowing American male rowers Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics