Decades later, Joe Rantz’s legacy continues to inspire.

The former Sequim resident and 1936 Olympic Games gold medal winner is the central figure of Daniel James Brown’s best seller “The Boys in the Boat,” and now Rantz — who died in 2007 at age 93 — is gaining a permanent place at Sequim High School with a plaque.

Inspiration for the plaque, says Sequim resident Mary Jane Duncan, came from Frank Catelli, a University of Washington track and field athlete and 2012 Sequim High grad. Catelli noted that hearing Rantz’s story could be the source of inspiration for other young athletes and that spurred a local effort to have a memorial created, Duncan said.

Sequim High School principal Shawn Langston said the plaque does not have a set home on school grounds yet.