#stub mcmillin

[savvylittlecoxswain]

The Ogden Standard-Examiner (July 3, 1936)

[dashesnellipses]

Joe Rantz, Jim "Stub" McMillin, Chuck Day and Bobby Moch take a break from the water in 1936 in New Jersey during the Olympic qualifying trials. Despite earlier competition back in Washington, friendship and trust was necessary to make the boat the best as it could be.

Credit: The Bobby Moch Family

[savvylittlecoxswain]

Okay now I need to pick your brain about what hockey position the boys play? Cause I think previously you said Bobby as goalie? Which I love but I've been thinking about the others too😂😂

Okokok so I’m definitely all over the place but I’ll give my vibes. I can totally see ANY of the boys as being either defense or offense, so please feel free to give your opinions.

Under the cut because I type too much :)

Bobby - Goaltender

small, loud-mouth goaltender, essentially the antithesis of your typical large and much more reserved goalie

always playing the puck even though Ulbrickson tells him not to and def leaves the crease a lot, but isn't totally reckless about it, like it's a calculated risk he takes

chirping at players all the time like I’m getting Marc-Andre Fleury vibes with a bit of Tuuka Rask’s attitude on special occasion, he’s always chirping at the players screening him in front of his crease and isn’t afraid to shove them when the linesman isn’t looking (def gets him in trouble with other team sometimes)

very flexible because of his small size and I can totally see him secretly having some figure skating experience (figure skating has many benefits to hockey players)

Don - Forward (Center)

probably plays Center on the top line because stroke is all about leading the crew at a certain pace like centers set up plays, Don would have the most assists but never takes any of the credit

pretty quiet on and off the ice but his locker is next to Bobby’s, mostly because no one else wants to sit next to the obnoxious goalie but also because he likes how there’s no pressure to speak a lot with Bobby

leads by example on the ice like the other boys will fall into formation behind him and follow his lead

might not be the best on the team but has some of the best, natural hockey instincts Ulbrickson has ever seen like he can see plays developing on the ice

Joe - Forward (Winger)

winger on the first line with Don and Shorty, locker is probably situated between Shorty and Stub

gets a bit rattled by chirping so having Don as a center kind of helps to mellow him out on the ice

doesn’t have a lot of the technique but had a lot of heart and passion, leaves everything out on the ice

gets a little ahead of himself sometimes, quick on his feet, always wants to jump ahead of the play which is where his teamwork is a little lacking (but is definitely getting better now that he’s with these boys)

Shorty - Forward (Winger)

Don’s other winger, very headstrong and has a lot of emotions in the game, perhaps one of the leading goal scorers

very sociable, loved to be the center of attention and is probably the player people simp over

sensitive, never quite sure what might set him off, shut him down, or make him lose his focus so he’s either hot or he’s cold and the other boys are there to help pull him out of it

Ulbrickson was probably worried he’d clash too much with Joe on the same line but instead they clicked really well, like they validate each other’s emotions when they’re pissed over a call or soemthing

Stub (Captain) - Defenseman

“tall and lanky, and he could reach all over the place” thus he’s easily a defenseman, but like a defensive defenseman who comes up big when they need him to show up offensively

has the most experience, like gives total veteran vibes so it’s fitting that the captain of the crew is the captain of the hockey team

kind of a calming presence, doesn’t get rattled and isn’t phased by anything even if one of the other boys is throwing a bit of a tantrum

refs love him because he’s always very civil when they’re talking about a penalty or something that just happened (I’ll find a video if anyone doesn’t quite get what I’m talking about, it’s a college hockey thing)

takes the new players under his wing (ha hockey pun), doesn’t want them to be treated like how he, Chuck, and Bobby were treated when they first joined

Johnny - Forward (Center)

book describes him as poster model for the all-American boy and “pretty boys are always forwards” says my bf so it must be true

lived and breathed rowing hockey thanks to his father who wanted more than anything for his son to become an oarsmen forward, every expectation his father sets Johnny meets (but I bet it weighs on him a little)

probably one of the top scorers on the team, gets a lot of power play minutes

ready to pull Chuck out of any trouble he might get into, and that’s straight out of the book so it totally fits if he’s on the same line as Chuck

Gordy - Defenseman

described as “Big, muscular, and very quiet” so defenseman just makes sense

once rowed the entire two miles of a race with his thumb cut to the bone played an entire game with a cut from a skate blade with needed stitches but didn't tell anyone

probably gets a lot of time on the penalty kill with Chuck and would definitely without a doubt lead the team in shots blocked

Chuck - Forward (Winger)

winger and team enforcer, which is hard because fighting isn’t technically allowed in college (if we’re talking college that is)

absolute chatterbox in the locker room and on the ice, probably the person people want mic’d up but might not be pg enough

If there’s a scuffle, it’s almost guaranteed to be Chuck in the middle of it, probably gets a lot of penalties tbh

the teams “spark plug,” the guy getting the boys revved up and firing on all cylinders both on and off the ice

Roger - Forward (Winger)

a fairly defensive forward, gets a lot of penalty kill minutes and I feel like he gets a lot of short-handed goals

maybe he played defense for his last team but Ulbrickson thought he’d be a great match for Chuck (and they were right)

where Shorty and Joe are great minds think alike, Roger and Chuck are like opposites attract, they balance each other out on their line and carry each other’s slack

[savvylittlecoxswain]

Walking around the room, the Washington boys figured they might not be the most famous people there, or the fastest afoot, or even the strongest, but—with the exception of Bobby Moch—they were probably the tallest. Then they met six-foot-eight Joe Fortenberry and six-foot-nine Willard Schmidt from the first-ever U.S. Olympic basketball team. When he went to shake their hands and tried to look Schmidt in the eye, even Stub McMillin found that he risked getting a crick in his neck. Bobby Moch didn't even try. He figured he would have needed a ladder.

— an excerpt from The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown