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

Chapter 7 focuses on Cooper’s friendship with Alvin, the teammate he questioned about being a gang member. After what happened on the final night of their trip, Cooper is worried that Alvin and others might get kicked off the team, so he decides to be his brother’s keeper and walk with Alvin to school. At school, Cooper is approached by the football coach and asked to attend the football team’s summer camp. When Cooper tells the coach that he is on the rowing team, the coach responds by saying “that’s not a real sport” (93), which makes Cooper feel disrespected. Cooper argues that he thinks “some parents, and a lot of the kids here, only see it as a recreational activity if it’s not basketball or football” (93).

The rowing team has another swim practice, after which Alpart badly damages a woman’s car while driving the team van back to the school. The woman is enraged, and several menacing men come rushing to her aid, but Alpart writes the woman a check, which seems to make her very happy. Cooper argues that he realizes at that point “that money can get you out of almost anything” (96). After practice, Cooper goes home with Alvin and begins to take note of Alvin’s loyalty to his friends.