Cadet will not Lie, Cheat, Steal, or Tolerate Those Who Do
We have changed the wording of our Alma Mater to reflect the fact that our Women Graduates have also given their lives serving this Nation.
----- Class of 2012 Motto ------
Remember - The Soldiers you will lead Always Come First
Washington's Letter recommending the establishment of the Academy and the History of West Point
Jefferson Hall - the Academy's new Library.
Kosciuszko Monument - Guarding the Hudson ensuring there is no passage of British Man of War
L'Ecole Polytechnique Monument, or The French Monument by Cadets Superintendent's Quarters viewed from Thayer Road Superintendant was not Happy Black '57
United States Military Academy Band
Washington Hall with Cadet Chapel on rocks above.
Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Sending the Army Team off to Beat Navy
Cadet will not Lie, Cheat, Steal, or Tolerate Those Who Do Remember - The Soldiers you will lead Always Come First --They played perhaps Army's Greatest Game. They were the Team that Gave The Most L'Ecole Polytechnique Monument, or The French Monument by Cadets Superintendent's Quarters viewed from Thayer Road United States Military Academy Band Barracks Plain looking toward Washington Hall Washington Hall with Cadet Chapel on rocks above.
Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Sending the Army Team off to Beat Navy
Cadet will not Lie, Cheat, Steal, or Tolerate Those Who Do Remember - The Soldiers you will lead Always Come First
L'Ecole Polytechnique Monument, or The French Monument by Cadets Superintendent's Quarters viewed from Thayer Road United States Military Academy Band Barracks Plain looking toward Washington Hall Washington Hall with Cadet Chapel on rocks above. - Cost to this Nation of Differing Views Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Sending the Army Team off to Beat Navy Band Box Review Early 1950's in Central Area Click on Photos BelowPlease note it takes a couple of hours to update all pages as material is added to this section. You may have to return to the home page to see all of the current links Cadet will not Lie, Cheat, Steal, or Tolerate Those Who Do We have changed the wording of our Alma Mater to reflect the fact that our Women Graduates have also given their lives serving this Nation. ----- Class of 2012 Motto ----- "For More Than Ourselves" Thank you Class of 2012 for the Honor of Marching with you The Class of 62
---------- Class of 2008 --------- ----- Class Crest & Motto ----- "No Mission Too Great" Jefferson Hall - the Academy's new Library. --They played perhaps Army's Greatest Game. They were the Team that Gave The Most L'Ecole Polytechnique Monument, or The French Monument by Cadets Superintendent's Quarters viewed from Thayer Road United States Military Academy Band Barracks Plain looking toward Washington Hall Washington Hall with Cadet Chapel on rocks above. - Cost to this Nation of Differing Views Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Sending the Army Team off to Beat Navy Band Box Review Early 1950's in Central Area Cadet will not Lie, Cheat, Steal, or Tolerate Those Who Do Remember - The Soldiers you will lead Always Come First --They played perhaps Army's Greatest Game. They were the Team that Gave The Most L'Ecole Polytechnique Monument, or The French Monument by Cadets Superintendent's Quarters viewed from Thayer Road United States Military Academy Band Barracks Plain looking toward Washington Hall Washington Hall with Cadet Chapel on rocks above. - Cost to this Nation of Differing Views Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Corps of Cadets Formed in Companies early 1960s Sending the Army Team off to Beat Navy Band Box Review Early 1950's in Central Area Cadet will not Lie, Cheat, Steal, or Tolerate Those Who Do Remember - The Soldiers you will lead Always Come First --They played perhaps Army's Greatest Game. They were the Team that Gave The Most L'Ecole Polytechnique Monument, or The French Monument by Cadets Superintendent's Quarters viewed from Thayer Road The material below this point is a site a work area.
"at least 10 years"to return Army Football to Respectabilityan unselfish concern for the team ahead of himself."
They were the Team that Gave The Most
Don Hollender Remember - The Soldiers you will lead Always Come First
"at least 10 years"to return Army Football to Respectability
Don Hollender Remember - The Soldiers you will lead Always Come First
an unselfish concern for the team ahead of himself."
They were the Team that Gave The Most
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They were one of the smallest Army football teams in years, at season's end thirty-eight men, a team of heroes with no stars and with a different hero each Saturday, all playing for honor and love of the game. They were led by quiet, solid leaders from the class of 1954; augmented by a small number of players from the smallest Academy class in years, 1955, and a bevy of talented yearlings in the class of 1956 who set the gridiron on fire that fall. The NCAA changed the rules for the 1953 season to what is now called "one platoon" football, really "iron man" football.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Don't ever give up." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As Blaik wrote years later in baring his bitterness and frustration over the cheating incident, "For two years these boys had seen the roughest action. They had lived with the coaching lash, dirt, blood, and defeat." Adding to the effects the players faced was the revelation that the much-admired Army varsity had been deeply involved in what became a national scandal. In a number of cases the players left to pick up the pieces became subjects of totally unwarranted suspicions and stinging criticisms simply because they were Army football players. The season of 1953 changed all that -- the team and the Corps of Cadets washed the effects away with stunning, inspirational teamwork and marvelous achievements. Yet, there were more hurdles to cross before they could accomplish their football miracle. Following the 1952 season, changes in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rules greatly restricted substitution and for several years virtually ended the offensive-defensive unit two-platoon system. The result was to lengthen playing
While the rule changes impacted all collegiate teams, no team Army was to face in 1953 had suffered the total loss of its varsity lettermen and team leaders two years earlier. The losses had forced virtually complete rebuilding from the ground up. Other colleges and universities would have been able to accelerate efforts to make up such losses with much larger student bodies and massive numbers of alumni on the lookout for talent, aggressive well-funded recruiting, junior college transfers, and the growing lure of expanding professional football immediately after graduation. Not so at Army.
The NCAA rule changes had other impacts not normally visible to cadets and Army sports fans -- but were quite clear to team members vying for varsity status and the coveted Major A. The remaining 1953 team members, who, at the end of the 1952 season believed they had almost secured starting offensive or defensive platoon positions, suddenly found themselves being retested and moved from one position to another to determine who could play both offense and defense and had the conditioning, strength and stamina to play both ways. Their extraordinary individual responses were inspirational, highlighting individual willingness to sacrifice for the team. Bob Farris played the entire second half of the Navy game totally blind in one eye. Although he was captain of the '54 team, he was never to play another down of football.
Again, from Col Blaik's '74 book. "A normal amount of injuries as the season advanced cost us solid fullback and punter "Fred Attaya", hard-nosed right halfback "Mike Zeigler", spirited end "Ski" "Godwin Ordway", and a few others."
"By the time we got down to the Penn and Navy games, the starting eleven and about four substitutes carried the full load."
Some of the Season ending Injuries
Neil Chamberlain injured summer of '53 said this prior to the Navy Game. "Saturday Army will be represented by two different uniforms - - one black and gold, the other gray. I've found that I fight just as hard in one as I did in the other. We'll all beat Navy this year."
Vann, Pat Uebel, and Tommy Bell at halfbacks and Gerry Lodge at fullback played 60 minutes against Penn and almost all the way in the Navy game. It's important to note, that Peter Vann was a sterling offensive team leader his last two years at Army, became a classic drop-back passer and deft ball-handling and faking wizard who repeatedly confused defensive linemen, and was far more than Blaik's description of him on defense as "dependable in a crisis". Playing at defensive right halfback on the last play of the season's crucial, turnaround game, he too made a game-saving play, batting away a pass thrown from Duke's quarterback to their alternate quarterback -- in the Army end zone - then went on to be ninth in Heisman Trophy voting and a second team All-American quarterback in 1954.
Right halfback Tommy Bell, scored one of the two touchdowns against Duke, became a first team All-American in 1954 and that same year one of the few four-year lettermen in Army football history. Yearling left halfback Pat Uebel, who scored one of the two touchdowns in the stunning upset of No. 7-ranked Duke and all three of Army's touchdowns in the win over Navy -- one of a small number of Army players to score three touchdowns against Navy, and to that time the only player to score all three touchdowns in a win over Navy - was another hero in the 1953 Army backfield. Of Army's two lead halfbacks Coach Blaik would write, "In '53 and '54 both Uebel and Bell were among the top echelon of all-time West Point halfbacks." Rounding out the backfield after the loss to injury in the Tulane game of the swift, agile, hard-driving fullback, and punter, "Freddie Attaya", was guard-converted-to-fullback Gerry Lodge, who stepped into Freddie's shoes and performed
Blaik said of the three ends on the 1953 team, "Our end play was handled by Bob Mischak, Lowell Sisson, and a yearling of unusual potential named Don Holleder. Sisson was another who kept improving and hit the top in the Navy game. After Attaya's injury, Sisson did the punting. Mischak developed into a fine pass receiver and on defense he delivered the play that was the pivot, in a real sense, of the entire season. Holleder was a naturally talented pass receiver with outstanding speed, hands, and competitive fire. By 1954 he became just about the most dangerous offensive end in college ranks. Don later became an Army legend in his own right. A first team All-American end in 1954, he voluntarily gave up the chance to become a two-time All-American, by acquiescing to Coach Blaik's request that he switch to quarterback for the 1955 season, a position he had never played in either high school or college. On 17 October 1967, his courage and heroism in Vietnam while attempting to rescue wounded soldiers in his unit cost him his life. Don Holleder's is life and service became the inspiration for the now-well-known Black Lion Award to football players at every level of football played in the nation, from youth leagues to intercollegiate Division IA. Army linemen on the thinly-manned 1953 team included three guards, captain Leroy Lunn, his classmate Dick Ziegler, and yearling Ralph Chesnauskas, whose talents included extra-point conversions. Ralph calmly kicked the two extra points against Duke to win the game, and became a first team All-American in 1954.
Blaik, writing of "Leroy Lunn", said, "I think it epitomized the character of this team and Lunn's inspirational leadership that he was able to handle a difficult situation in a manner that increased his stature. It was not an easy thing to walk out there every Saturday for the toss of the coin and then to have to return to the bench and not be in for the kick-off. Roy never let this bother his playing when he did get in. He improved so much that he clearly earned the right to start with his team against Navy. Then he went out and played the best game of his career."
Center "Norman Stephen" was a steady, rock-solid team leader on offense, who on the first play from scrimmage in the second half of the second home game of the season, against Dartmouth, -- lit a small but growing fire in the team and Corps of Cadets -- when he broke from the huddle and ran, almost sprinting to the ball, prompting the team to follow his lead. The roar of approval and support from the Corps each time Norm broke and ran to the ball, from that point forward through the rest of the season, continued to unify a determined Corps of Cadets with their team. He was a standout linebacker who was the on-field captain who called defensive signals. Starting at tackle were two yearlings, "Ron Melnik" and Howard Glock, with first classman Joe Lapchick, Jr. doing most of the reserve playing. Coach Blaik considered the heart of his defense to be yearling Bob Farris, a top man academically who in 1955 became the Corps' First Captain, played tackle on offense and was a line backer on defense in 1953. "The linebacking of Farris against Navy was as fine as I have ever seen in that game," he wrote. "Unfortunately, the abandon with which he played cost him a detached retina that ended his football. To have played him would have risked an aggravation that might have impaired his sight. Nevertheless, Bob captained the 54 team and helped out with coaching."
The 1953 cheerleaders, standing, for the Army team, with tumblers inthe first row. Cheerleaders, left to right: Ed Moses, '54; John Clayton '55, Al Worden '55, Billy McVeigh '54, Jay Edwards '54, Bill Robinson '55; Tumblers: Peter Jones '54, Dan Ludwig '55, Jack Charles '54, Charles Glenn '56.None of the foregoing tells of the incredible will-to-win spirit and support of the 1953 team by the entire Corps of Cadets, all of it specifically intended to unify the team and Corps of Cadets in ways never before seen or heard at West Point.The Corps' preparation for the game had been more than unusual, including a "silence" imposed by the cheerleaders at the meal following Blaik's talk.The "silence" which began after the traditional pregame sendoff of the team - proved potent. The cheerleaders had put a cork in the bottle of more than two years of pent up frustration. When the Corps completed its subdued, strangely silent, pregame march-on at the Polo Grounds, and the last man double-timed onto the first step of the stands, the men in gray exploded out.
Corps March On, pre-game at the Polo Grounds, 17 October 1953. Jerry Hagan who engineered the 1st touchdown against Duke in recalling the game nearly 56 years later remembers the Chanting. "It was continuous, just deafening".They shook that old stadium almost non-stop in the sunshine and shadows of that Indian summer afternoon.
The Cannon was constructed from a German Rocket Gun captured at Kasserine Pass. It was first used in the Duke Game. It is shown here at Michie.This was also the game in which a band of enterprising 1954 and 1955 cheerleaders first rolled out and fired the now-traditional Army victory cannon. The first blast of the cannon culminated months of planning and scheming, in which the cheerleaders prevailed upon COL "Red" Reeder, the Graduate Manager of Athletics, to grant them Corps Squad status to obtain financial support for their spirit-inducing initiatives.
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