Navy Sports Central

Coming Home: Navy Sports Central's Special Class of '84 Reunion Episode

• Karl Darden • Episode 72

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Welcome to Navy Sports Central, the official podcast of the Navy Sports Nation!

We've got a very special episode for you today. We are back in Annapolis to celebrate  the Naval Academy Class of '84's 40 Year Reunion. 

This episode is dedicated to my classmates. You will hear stories from of them  recalling some of their most memorable Navy Sports moments. Those tales are just a small part the Navy Athletics legacy and the camaraderie  it has fostered over the years. 

So settle in and relax. You'll hear about championships won in total darkness, football games played in brutal weather, an Army-Navy football game experience that will never by duplicated, and many more entertaining stories. 

I'm especially grateful to my classmates who were a part of this episode. So to Scott Gordon, Jon Harber, Steve Young, Dan Doster, Dave Gallaer, Chris Gromek, Charles Fredrick and Bob Clark . . . thank you so much. I couldn't have done it without you. 

Related Links:

We want your answer to our Question of the Day. Here is the one for this episode:
In the game against Charlotte, Navy had a 38-3 halftime lead. What is the most number of points the Mids have put up in the first half of a game since 2003? 

A.40
B. 42
C. 45
D. 49

You can answer by sending us a text message using the link at the top of the show notes. I'll also post the question on our group Facebook Page.

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Music is provided courtesy of Audio Jungle. Artists featured in order:

  • Seven In Music (Intro)
  • Alexiaction (Deep Dive)
  • Loka Music (Deep Dive Pt. 2 Lead In)
  • Artlss (Question of the Day Lead In)
  • Cinematic Alex (Closeout Music)

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Karl:

Hi everybody, my name is Karl Darden and I'd like to welcome and thank all of you for joining us today on Navy Sports Central. I'm your host and this is the official podcast of the Navy Sports Nation where we take a deeper dive into Navy sports. We have got a very special show for you today because a couple of weeks ago I was back in Annapolis for the class of 84's 40-year reunion. So I had a chance to talk with several of my classmates and ask them to recall some of their favorite Navy sports moments over the years, and I got some pretty good stories too. I'll be sharing them throughout the show. Our sports update will be a little bit short so we can get to some of those stories, but I did want to mention a record-breaking performance in men's cross country that took place earlier Saturday before the game. We've got our question of the day and mid-watch segments as well, so please stay with us for what should really be a fun episode. All right, it's great to have you guys with us. Thanks so much for dropping in. I really appreciate you taking the time. So let's go ahead and jump into the sports update and, like I said in the opening, this will be a little shorter than usual because I really do want to get into some of these stories that I heard from my classmates at my reunion. But first I do want to take some time to talk about an athlete that, unless you're a track junkie like me, you've probably never heard of. His name is Murphy Smith. Murphy is a senior from Charlotte, north Carolina, and he also happens to be one of the best distance runners the Mids have had over the last four years. In the Men's Cross-Country Star Meet versus Army on Saturday morning, smith set a new Naval Academy course record, covering the 4.9 mile distance in 23 minutes 25.8 seconds, and that's just over four seconds better than the previous record set back in 2007. Now, I don't know how many of you are familiar with the cross-country course over there. It's across the river and it's laid out over the Naval Academy golf course. From what I understand, it's one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, course in the Patriot League.

Karl:

I didn't get a chance to see the race, but my classmate Doug Conkey did, and he shared some of the details with me before the football game. First of all, the first couple hundred yards of the race are downhill, so you can imagine what that's like. You've got all these runners pumped full of adrenaline going at each other in their biggest and really their only dual meet of the year. Doug mentioned it looked like they were all in a full sprint going down that hill, which is amazing because they still had the whole race to run. I mean, you run the 200 yards and you go. Oh my God, I still have to go 4.8 miles to get done with this.

Karl:

But Smith and his teammates went on from there to execute their strategy, which basically meant putting together a pack of runners and the goal was to place as many of them in the top six as possible. Those are the places that score points. So he ended up, like I said, running that record time and finishing. Right behind him was Justin Mumford, who crossed the line about 12 seconds later, and that was still good enough to qualify as the second fastest time on the course for a mid. The guy whose record Smith broke was actually a runner from Louisville. I believe there was an army runner who came in third to kind of crash the party. But the next three finishers all wore blue and gold and by placing five in the top six, navy posted a dominating win with a score of 18 to 45. So remember, in cross country it's the lowest score that wins. All you do is add up the places of the runners that finish in the top six and that's your score. So congratulations to the men's cross-country team on an awesome win, and Navy needed that one badly because, just like last season, army has jumped ahead really quickly in the Star Series. Right now they lead at 6-2. The men's other one came several weeks ago in men's rugby. Next up for the cross-country team in fact both cross-country teams are the Patriot League Championships and they take place November 2nd in Easton, pennsylvania. And, by the way, the men will be seeking their fourth straight title.

Karl:

Okay, we're going to step away real quick and when we come back for a deep dive segment we'll start a review of the game. And all through that discussion I'll share the stories I got from my classmates during the tailgater on Saturday talking about their most memorable Navy sports moments. This is Carl Darden and you're listening to Navy Sports Central. I've had the 17th through the 20th of October circled on my calendar pretty much since the beginning of the year. That's about the time I found out that our 40-year reunion for the class of 84 was scheduled for that weekend.

Karl:

Now, five years ago, everything went really smoothly for our 35th. The weather was great, and I was hoping for more of the same this year. In fact, I started tracking the weather forecast about two weeks in advance, hoping we wouldn't get the remnants of some tropical storm, like we did for our 25-year reunion back in 2009. That game was unbelievable. I mean, the rain just kept coming down in bands. It was definitely not a day for passing the ball. In fact, the mids beat Wake Forest that day 13 to 10, and they ran the ball on every single play. Anyway, it turns out that the weather was fantastic and all the planned events came together even better than anyone could have imagined. So before we get into our stories, as well as some of the game analysis, I just wanted to send out a personal shout-out to our class officers for the outstanding work they did in planning this milestone event I mean, everything just went off without a hitch To our class president Brian Goodrow, vice president Karen Halverson, class secretary Kevin Monahan and class treasurer Stephen Shepard. Thank you, guys, so much for your hard work and incredible leadership you've provided over the last five years. It's just been amazing.

Karl:

Okay, let's go ahead and get to Saturday and I'm going to sort of take you through the day chronologically. I think You're going to hear five stories from classmates who were at the game. I spoke to them during the tailgater. There are also a few people I wasn't able to connect with, but we touched base later and I'm going to add those stories at the end. By the way, our class tailgater was inside the stadium at the Northeast Pavilion, and get this it was a two-story tent. I've never seen anything like that before. That was pretty wild. So maybe that's a fairly common occurrence at some of these football games, but certainly that's the first time I've seen it. Okay, so I got to the stadium around two o'clock and I think the kickoff was set to go off at just around 3.30. So the first classmate I had a chance to speak with was Scott Gordon. Scott was a member of the heavyweight rowing team and I'd like to share his story with you now.

Karl:

Now, keep in mind that I was recording this live, so the audio is not exactly what I'd call studio quality. In fact, actually, scott sounds pretty good. I'm a little bit muffled, but you can clearly hear what's going on. So here it comes, all right. So Navy Sports Central, we are here at the Navy Charlotte Tailgater Class of 84 40-year reunion, and I'm here with Scott Gordon, who's been on our show once before, a little while ago when we were talking about the IRA Championships back in 2021, I think it was Yep. So, scott, welcome, and, as you know, I would put out a request to the class to come up with their favorite sports moment, either while they were at the academy or since, and I know you have a story to share with us. So let's go ahead and kind of give me the backdrop of it first and just kind of walk me through as much or as little as you want to, no time limit or anything like that.

Scott:

Okay, Karl, hey, thanks for having me on. It was great that you showed up at the boathouse today for our reunion row. Ap showed up at the boathouse today for our reunion row. Apologize for not having all the time to spend with you, but anyways. So I had a lot of great experiences on the Severn and also at Hubbard Hall and all the races we did in rowing. But one of the ones that really sticks out in my mind as like one of the proudest moments was after my rowing shell, which is a straight four.

Scott:

I was on what was the third varsity, my senior year, and we were so competitive, you know, like you know, we were within seconds of like second varsity, first varsity we were not so close to the first varsity, but rowing in the IRAs in 1984, I was rowing the straight four, we had already gone to the metal dock and races were delayed because of high weather up in Lake Onondaga in Syracuse, new York. So the varsity race, which was the culminating race of the whole day and we were doing really good in the small boats, winning a lot of points to ultimately get the overall championship trophy. But the varsity race was getting near dark, so my boat, we'd gone to the metal dock. Unfortunately we got a third place but still a lot of crews would like to get that. So we were waiting in the water in and around the finish line, outside the race course and we heard that the varsity race was off and that was with the majority of class of 84 in the boat.

Scott:

You know Chuck Melcher, Andy Bigelow, Jim Schofield, you know Bruce, Jan Goff, then we had a bunch of 85 guys there and of course, Johnny Steckle steering the boat and it was so dark we were peering down the race course. I mean, it's only 2,000 meters but we're losing the light Right and with parallax it was like looking really close. But as they were coming closer towards the finish line they had a commanding lead and they had a great season that year and we, we dominated, we did what we set out to do and our objectives, you know, beat harvard, win the adams cup, we tried to get the eastern sprints but didn't quite get it. But the IRA, we dominated and those guys they made it at the end. But it was so dark at the finish line going up to get the medals afterwards it was like it felt like midnight. And then all the pictures that commemorate the event. Blackness man, it's so dark, they're getting the medals there, but still it was.

Scott:

I was so proud, everyone in our boat, we were just so proud. Greg Hayruth was in the boat with me and, uh, you know, we in the four and we had a couple other underclassmen there, but it was so good and I think you know I was proud of a lot of other races. But you know, here it was. We were already commissioned a couple weeks ahead of time. We were out on our first duty assignment to row for Navy and then all those guys were then going to go to the Olympic development camp after that. Anyways, it was so neat, it was a proud moment, but just the darkness there. It's like where are they?

Karl:

Where are they? Who's the guy that was steering the boat? Who's your coxswain?

Scott:

Johnny Steckle.

Karl:

So he gets thrown into the water in the middle of the night.

Scott:

Basically, Yep pretty much, pretty much. I'll tell you what, though. And then, yeah, we had fun. Afterwards, you know, we all had to scramble back to unload boats and tell you what it was. Proud rowing back man. It was like felt like a million dollars. You know, I was so happy for those guys, for Navy, for the legacy. We had a lot of brothers that went before us and that had followed us afterwards, but that was a great rowing year and that was a great capstone event to our first class year. We were all a bunch of ensigns in the boat or a couple second lieutenants in there too, andy and Bruce it was good.

Karl:

So for those of you guys that follow the show but are not familiar with the scheduling, the IRAs always take place after commissioning week, so there's a better-than-average chance that you have at least half a boat full of guys who are already commissioned and on their way. So that's always been kind of the interesting thing about these sports that have their championships in the month of June. So thanks for sharing that story, scott. I appreciate it.

Scott:

Glad their championships in the month of June. So thanks for sharing that story, scott. I appreciate it. Glad to share, carl. Thanks, and I love what you do with Navy Sports Nation. Keep it going, man. All right, thanks a lot, sure.

Karl:

All right, okay, once again. That was my classmate Scott Gordon. He was a member of the Navy heavyweight rowing team when they won the IRA championships back in the spring of 1984. A little while later, I ran into John Harbour. John and I were in the same group during a second-class summer and he shared a really funny story with me, so I'm going to go ahead and play that right now. So I'm talking with John Harbour here and he's a classmate. John, what company are you in? 33. 33rd Company and one of his most memorable Navy sports moments he shared, one that a lot of us remember but we'd rather forget.

Jon:

So Jon, tell me what you remember. So what I remember was the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia, our youngster year, and it was cold, just above freezing, and it was raining and the wind was blowing and neither team could do anything with the ball, you know. The defense couldn't take it away, the offense couldn't move it and we ended up with a final score of 3-3 in these ultra-miserable conditions. And I remember one time thinking back to that game, when I was in a mission or on a mission, and I can't really say where, but it was raining, it was in the tropics and it was hot outside. But because it was raining so hard and the wind was blowing so hard and we were so soaking wet that we were just freezing, they said I can't remember if this is colder or warmer than that day in Philadelphia in the extra year. So it all depends on your point of reference.

Karl:

That's true. That's true. One of my other classmates, rich Chukowski, a couple of weeks ago he posted something to our page and he said and this game reminded me of that when he said sometimes when Army-Navy plays, it looks like two mules fighting over a turnip.

Jon:

I've never seen mules fight over a turnip, but I get the analogy. That's like two tortoises trying to race each other. There you go. Same kind of thing. Somebody make a move already. All right, Jon, thanks so much for sharing that story. I appreciate it, my pleasure. Good to see you, carl. All right, john, thanks so much for sharing that story. I appreciate it. My pleasure. Good to see you, Karl. You too.

Karl:

So that was John Harbour thinking back to the Army-Navy game from our youngster year, and he was right. That weather was absolutely miserable. In fact, you're going to hear another story related to that game a little later on. So shortly after I finished talking with John, the game had started and in no time at all the Mids were up 21 to nothing their first score. I remember hearing a roar of a crowd and I didn't actually see it live. I was grabbing something to eat, but then I jumped over to watch on the big screen and that was a play where Blake Horvath hit Alex Teska on that nice little wheel route that he took in for a 46-yard touchdown. Now, what I thought was so neat about that play is that's typically a pass that will go to Eli Heidenreich. So I'm wondering if Coach Kronick was figuring that Charlotte was thinking that the ball was going to go to Heidenreich and he set it up for Alex Teska instead. So that put the Mids up 7-0, and, like I mentioned before, they tacked on two more touchdowns and then a field goal to lead 24 to nothing.

Karl:

Before the first quarter was even over, and just as it ended, I had a chance to talk with Steve Young, who was Navy's kicker during our last couple of years at the Academy. Ten years ago, at our 30-year reunion, he told a story about the Army-Navy game in Pasadena, our first class year. Just picturing everything he was saying in my mind struck me as being really funny, so I asked him to share the story with us. Really funny, so I asked him to share the story with us. All right, right now I have Steve Young with me and Steve was our place kicker for Navy back when we were seniors and he told me a story about 10 years ago that he's going to recap right now. That just left me in stitches. So, steve, this has to do with Army-Navy Pasadena, right, yeah, okay, so continue with your story. This is awesome.

Steve:

Well, interestingly enough, you know, the Army-Navy game and the brigade of midshipmen and the Corps of Cadets flying all the way to Pasadena was an unbelievable event. But playing in the Rose Bowl, of course, was awesome, and, as the kicker and I did this every game, no matter if it was at home, away or whatever, you would always try to find out and the captains went out before the team went out find out if we were kicking off or if we were receiving.

Steve:

Because if we were kicking off I would have to get out there, get my tea, get the ball ready, get myself calmed down and get ready to kick off. Because it happened very quickly after we left the locker room In the case of the Pasadena game and, just so you know, if I wasn't kicking off, I stayed at the very end of the group of players coming out because I wouldn't get trampled that way, quite frankly, and I'm not a big guy. So, long story short, people who remember the Pasadena game will remember it was delayed and delayed, and delayed even after the captains went out and did the coin toss because of the accident that the you know, parachuting the ball. They had an issue. Anyway, long story short, we were receiving, so I said, okay, I don't have to worry about this, I can just hang out in the back and come out at my own leisure, everything will be cool. So we go out and if you remember the game, we go out. I get my tea, you know where I want it, I get a drink of water. I'm standing there.

Steve:

And that's when eric wallace handed the ball, took the handoff from napoleon mccallum and ran the opening kickoff by army all the way back for a touchdown. So I I go, running around going, oh, I've got to kick a PAT. So I run out there, I kick a PAT, I go out, make my kickoff, come to the sideline, grab another drink, and I don't remember what happened first, but they either fumbled the ball, we picked it up and scored the next play, or it was the pickoff by Steve Brady. I honestly don't remember which happened first, but we scored again within one or two plays, ran out there, did the PAT, kicked off again, came back to the sideline, didn't even have time to grab another drink because, whatever, whether it was the pick off or the fumble and touchdown, we scored another touchdown Immediately.

Steve:

I think it might have been a play or two and I had to come out. Yeah, like this is tough, come out, kick a PAT and then do the kickoff. Well, I come off to the sideline after that, third kickoff, within three minutes, third PAT, and I come to the sideline and I'm huffing and puffing. I'm going ugh, ugh, ugh.

Steve:

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Pasadena was warm and you know Napa wasn't in December, but one of the linemen said hey, we must really be kicking their ass, because even the kicker's tired. And it was a classic Everybody was just cracking up, right right.

Karl:

That was pretty awesome. I mean the final score, I mean you just murdered him, I mean it was like Okay, yeah 42 to 12.

Steve:

Yeah, yeah, something like that, and that was actually I had the record. It was a silly record, but I had the record for the most PATs in an Army-Navy game at six. In that game, 42, obviously divided by six. So it was a great game, yep, great way to end my career, unbelievable venue and a great memory, and I have chills right now just thinking of that.

Karl:

We haven't played it out there in Pasadena since and we probably never will. No, we never will.

Steve:

They can't make that illegal movement of troops ever again.

Karl:

The one thing I remember saying is when we were flying out there. I said man, I hope to God Army wins this game, because that is a long way to fly back if we don't. All right, Steve, thanks very much. I appreciate you sharing that story.

Steve:

Sure Thanks, Karl, All right great.

Karl:

Okay, so that was my conversation with Steve Young. You know the whole 10,000 steps goal wasn't a thing back then, but he probably came pretty close to getting them during the first three minutes of that Army-Navy game in Pasadena. By the way, you heard Steve mention the game being delayed due to an accident, and here's what happened there and to this day I'm amazed that the Army soldier wasn't injured more seriously, the Army has a skydiving team called the Golden Knights and they were given the task of delivering the game ball for the kickoff in that game. I think they had about four guys who parachuted in before the very last skydiver. Who was the one with the ball? Anyway, those first four guys landed right where they're supposed to, on the field, and the last guy was on target as well, but with about 30 to 40 feet to go. It seemed like he was going a lot faster than the others. I couldn't exactly tell what happened, but it looked like he didn't get to the toggles in time to flare the chute in order to slow down. They grabbed these things on the side of the chute there and he hit the ground really, really hard, the entire stadium. I mean just let out a collective gasp I mean you could just hear it. And the guy did not move. He was down for the count. But a little while later they were able to revive him and he was alert when they took him off the field in a stretcher and he acknowledged to the crowd that he was okay. I think they said afterwards that he had broken his leg and, like I said, it was a miracle that he wasn't hurt worse than that. Anyway, as Steve said, it was an awesome game and certainly a once-in-a-lifetime Army-Navy experience for all of us who had a chance to be a part of it. I mean there's no way that they're going to do anything like that again.

Karl:

After I finished talking with Steve, it was still fairly early in the second quarter, so I took a little break and went out to watch some more of the game and I got there just in time to see Blake Horvath hit Cody Howard on that nice little 11-yard TD pass. And what was cool about that was that Howard caught it maybe a couple yards upfield, but put a nice move on the defender to score. That put the mids up 31 to nothing. So after that I went back to the tailgater to get more to eat and I happened to run into Dan Doster, who played lacrosse all four years at Navy, and Dan was from Syracuse, new York, and he was recruited to play defenseman and, by the way, he was also in my company.

Karl:

Now this isn't a story about a game, but more about a friendly rivalry that developed between him and Navy Hall of Famer Sid Abernathy. And here's what Dan had to say All right, I'm here with Dan Doster, who is not only my classmate but also my company mate, and Dan was a lacrosse player. He's a defenseman on the Navy lacrosse team and he shared this story with me. God, Dan, it was about 20 years ago, I think. Yeah.

Dan:

But me, God damn, it was about 20 years ago.

Karl:

I think yeah.

Dan:

It's a great story.

Karl:

It has absolutely nothing to do with a regular game, but it's so funny that we have to give it a shot. So, Dan, go ahead and share that story.

Dan:

Yeah, this has got to do with long-term Navy camaraderie and you know, good guys against bad guys, freshmen against seniors. So anyways, long story short. Syd Abernathy, you all know him, he's seniors. So anyways, long story short. Syd Abernathy, y'all know him, he's like a All-American lacrosse guy, just recently put into the hall of fame. So great guy, uh. So when we were uh, I was first came to the team, I was a freshman in plebe, and guess who you get to play against as the plebe? You know the first string 80, grad 81. I'm left-handed. Sid's my guy. So guess who got beaten every day in practice? Yeah, hey, plebe, you know, watch me score six on you every day in practice. Anyways, I learned a lot. And then Sid probably, yeah, didn't learn a lot, but anyways. So he had a good time ribbing me. Well, fast forward. A couple years down the road I go to my first squadron in Guam. Sid actually joined the squadron, so we were together in the first squadron on our island.

Dan:

And you know we were lacrosse guys, we knew each other so we were really good friends. And you know, one day, maybe over a few cocktails in Japan, when we were on deployment deployment, you know, said yeah, made the declaration he goes, I could take you nine out of ten times, any day, anytime, go with your choice. Yeah, I still own you. You know, sleep, I was like no way, man, I grew up, I'm better. So, anyways, this gets around the squadron. So everybody kind of knows about it, because we'd always just pitch each other 9 out of 10, 9 out of 10. We get money on the bar, we'll buy the bar, whoever wins this thing.

Dan:

So years go by, we both leave the squadron. A couple years go by, but we both end up back at an alumni game. This is probably what early 90s sometimes, but they started doing, even against odd years. So, seniors, our first class were 81. We were 84. So obviously, guess who's going to play each other? We both show up. Yeah, we're like, okay, it's on Nine out of ten. We're finally on the field of battle.

Dan:

Let's see how you do, old man. So, anyways, we go through this game and you know we're pitching each other. Valerie, my wife was, you know, she knew about this because she's talking about the sidelines. Everybody, like nine out of ten, it's sitting down, they're finally going to do it. You know, they've been mouthing off to each other for 10 years. They're finally actually on the field and we're going to see who's going to happen. So, anyway, it gets down to. You know, it's like the score is 9-8. You know, I think you know we're ahead. You know the evens and it just happens, like 30 seconds left, who gets the ball one-on-one up on the wing? Sid Abernathy. Everybody's like, oh, this is going to be great, sid's going to tie the game and then they'll win it. You know, and I go out to play him. You know I step out. I'm like, okay, sid comes down, pulls his signature move and I just like you hear this tick and the ball comes out. I didn't even pick it up, I just kicked it to the other end of the field.

Scott:

And then you know, started erupting and, like you, suck you suck Syd's head's low, Val's cheering.

Dan:

Everybody's like pitching him. Like you know, give us a beer. So anyways, later, you know, sid says after years of therapy he's kind of gotten over it. Well, probably, yeah, I had to. Finally admit. About 10 years later he said the only reason that I got that check on you is because I was so damn tired. I didn't go for your fake that you always would get me. I just rested my stick on your chest and you put that stick when you were doing the fake. The ball came out. You know, I got lucky. I was too damn tired, you were going to blow right by me. I just didn't go for it because I was too damn tired. So anyways, the big you know, after years of therapy, sid admitted, you know, like he's grown up and accustomed to you know, like okay, I didn't, yeah, I did it. So he actually told that story. I felt pretty. We attended his, like last year, year before he was put in the Hall of Fame, and he actually told that story. So it was really, really I was blessed to do that and I was really happy and you know, wish the best for him.

Dan:

He's still working. He's leading our Navy Old Goats. You know we got teams 60-plus out in Vail every year. I didn't know that. Yeah, 60-plus. Karl you're coming out and you're in shape. You're the man I told you. You've been blowing me out for years. 60-plus baby, you could be a star. I didn't pick up a stick, gosh. I don't know how long you. You could be a star. I didn't pick up a stick, gosh.

Dan:

I don't know how long you don't have to pick up a stick.

Dan:

You just have to run the ball. The rest of us just watch somebody who's in shape run the ball from one end to the other, right, right.

Karl:

So all right, Dan, that was a great story. I remember when you told me that in one of our reunions, I swear to God I was laughing for her Every time.

Karl:

I thought about it, I just started laughing. So thanks for sharing it.

Dan:

So hopefully, Sid. I'll make sure I send the link to Sid and make sure he hears. Here's a story from the horse's mouth again Nine out of ten, Sid, I won yeah.

Karl:

Woo, Thanks, Dan. I swear that story Dan tells never gets old and I wish I would have seen it go down in person, because Sid Abernathy is a Navy lacrosse legend gets old and I wish I would have seen it go down in person, because Sid Abernathy is a Navy lacrosse legend. Now, just a couple minutes later, I ran into Dave Gilear and he shared another football story with me from our plea beer. Dave got his start playing on special teams and when he mentioned this game before we started recording, he said it was a game against the Huskies. So I got it in my head that he was talking about UConn, but you'll hear Dave say that it was actually the game against the University of Washington and it turned out to be one of Navy's biggest wins that year because the Huskies were ranked in the top 20 at the time. The Mids ended up winning that game, I think 24 to 10.

Karl:

But it didn't get off to a great start, at least not for the guys on special teams. So here's Dave's story. So I'm talking with Dave Gilear. Dave was in the 18th Company as well and he's another football player. So, Dave, I don't know if this was our senior year or before, but you had a pretty good choice related to a UConn game that we played right.

Dave:

No, the Washington.

Karl:

Huskies. Oh, Washington, that's right. So that would have been On the West Coast. Yeah, yeah, yeah okay.

Dave:

So we flew out there and we flew right over Mount St Helens, which was still smoking from the eruption, which was kind of cool. And then we, you know, landed and we start the game and the opening kickoff, the kicker, and we're all fired up, really fired up like running down the field screaming, and I hit my guy guy, knocked him on the ground, ball was kicked out of them. So we, okay, let's do this again, great, and we go running down the field not quite as fast, not quite as crazy, kicked it out of bounds again. Now, the third time, now we're looking at Steve and saying keep the ball in bounds, we can't do this again, we're going to have to swap out the whole team. And three times in a row he kicked it out of bounds and by the fourth time we were just like just give him the damn ball. So that might be a record we should look up to see what the and then they switched it to a penalty years later, but way back when that was now.

Karl:

I remember you playing, but I'm trying to remember if you were an offensive defense, defensive end okay, yeah, that's how I'm back.

Dave:

And then special teams. I was on the kickoff team and the punt return team.

Karl:

Right, right, so what do you remember most about those defensive teams when you played? I mean they were fairly stingy, as I remember. I mean you guys didn't give up a whole lot of points, at least the first couple of years that we were there.

Dave:

Yeah, it was tough. I mean, the first time I played was against Notre Dame at Notre Dame, and it was 38-0. It was four minutes up in there I was a sophomore and the coach says Gilear, get in there. And I go running out and the big Italian guy was playing tight end lacrosse for me and before I even got out there he ran a sweep around my end. That was Mark Bavaro playing tight end. So that was my introduction to D1 football.

Karl:

Now, since you've graduated, has there been any game that's kind of stuck out of your mind?

Dave:

Any games that we're watching? Yeah, watching, I don't know. Well, certainly beating Notre Dame, because up until 2007, I guess, was that game that was spectacular. We did have the Army-Navy flag football game too, and Bill Squires, who's class of 76, was running Giant Stadium at the time and he turned on the lights one night and we practiced at Giant Stadium and then we had an Army-Navy game at Flag football game at Giant Stadium, and then we had one Flag football game at West Point, and then that was it. I kind of dissipated after that.

Karl:

All right, dave, thanks so much. I appreciate you sharing that story. Thank you, okay, that covers all the stories I was able to get to while at the game, but I do have a few more that I wanted to share, so we're going to take a quick break and get to those when we come back. Please stay with us.

Karl:

By the way, there is one thing I wanted to clarify regarding Dave Gilear's story about the game against the Washington Huskies. At one point you heard him refer to his teammate handling the kickoffs as Steve. That was actually a guy named Steve Fair who was Navy's kicker that year, not Steve Young who I'd spoken with earlier. Fair had an excellent career at Navy and he actually got a chance to try out with the Cincinnati Bengals after he finished his service obligation. But that particular day against the Huskies was a rough one for him when it came to the kickoffs. So I just wanted to clear up any potential confusion. I definitely didn't want to leave my manie hanging out there.

Karl:

Okay, let's move on. You know, between the game and the tailgater and everyone catching up with each other, I realized the next morning that I didn't get a chance to get a story from one of my class of 84 sisters, but I have the perfect one in mind and I remember it from an episode over a couple years ago when I had Chris Gromick on as a guest. In fact, I ran into Chris over the weekend and told her that I'd shared the story on more than one occasion. So what I want to do is play it for you now from the conversation we had during that episode, and I think the lead-in question here was me asking Chris what was the funniest thing she remembers from her time competing, but clearly it's one of her most memorable as well.

Chris:

So here it comes, I still tell this story. So we're at the Eastern Regionals Outdoor Meet and it's in East Stroudsburg College in Pennsylvania and we're in the stands not very many people, and it's the four by one hundred and we had three, four, four coaches. So Sheedy, Major Sheedy I think he might've been a colonel by that point, but anyway the sprint coach and I it was a Navy Lieutenant, I think he was a company officer and unfortunately I can't remember his name, but he was a really great guy. And so we're sitting in the stands right like midfield, and so we had the heats and I ran the four by the 400 meter hurdles. I didn't qualify for the finals but our top runner, Stephanie Green class of 85, did. But in her heat was also this other woman from some school and she and Stephanie was good, but this woman left Stephanie in the dust. I mean, you know, and uh and uh.

Chris:

So we come up and we're sitting in the stands and we're talking. We're like, oh, it's okay, Steph, you'll get second, It'll be fine, It'll be great. And you know, just go out and do your best. And this lieutenant says he goes. Oh, my gosh, I can't believe you people. He goes, you never. You don't ever know what's going to happen. And we're like, like what's going to happen, sir? And he's like you know, you don't know, it might rain, she might trip over the last hurdle, you might, I'm like yeah, right, uh-huh, sure, sure, yeah, right, yes, sir, uh-huh.

Chris:

So we. So we're like I, we're right, like midfield, which is the 10th hurdle, and then there's I don't know, maybe 15 yards between the 10th hurdle and the in the finish, and so the gun goes off and we're screaming for Steph and we're like go, steph, and you know, and she's in second, she's in second, and uh, you know. So the 10th hurdle is in right front of us, and and, uh, the girl trips over the last hurdle. Oh my god. And and we're like and, and we're just sitting there, I mean stunned, and like there was like this collective and we were like, we're like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

Chris:

And then we're like, and then we're like screaming for stephanie and like at that point, like it's like a split second, we see all this happen, we're screaming, we're screaming and screaming, we're like go, go, go. She fell, she fell, go, go, go. And she won, stephanie green won, because she couldn't, the woman just couldn't recover quick enough off the fall. But, but we were but. And then the lieutenant comes up to us again, he goes see, you never know what's going to happen. And I'm like going, oh my gosh, she must've had like an angel or something or some devil or something on that hurdle Because because there's like what was the likelihood of that happening?

Chris:

But I couldn't believe it and to this day I'll never forget that, because it was just like, oh my gosh, she fell.

Karl:

Unreal. That's a. That's a pretty good story. So, yeah, that was my classmate and Navy track and field hall of famer, chris Gromek, sharing one of her memorable moments. If you haven't heard that episode yet, go back and check it out when you get a chance. Look for episode number 24. Next up we have Charles Frederick. He is one of the class of 84's expatriate Americans. Charles currently lives in Poland, so, even though he wasn't able to make it, he had a story to tell, and it's also in connection with the Army-Navy game, our Youngster Year. Here's Charles. So, charles, thanks for taking some time to join us today and tell your story on Navy Sports Central. It is great to have you.

Charles:

Hey, my pleasure classmate, and yeah, beautiful fall here in southern Poland. I'm an hour south of Krakow but every chance I get I watch Navy play on my internet connection and always talk with you and exchange our sports trivia questions.

Karl:

That's always fun, Right right Go Lewandowski. So, Charles, you got a couple of stories for us from some of the Navy memories that you had, I think, basically from the time we were at the Academy actually. So I was kind of curious to see which ones you had to share with us today.

Charles:

Okay, well, just to follow on with what we were talking about last Saturday, of the four Army-Navy games that we had, of course nothing's going to beat the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Right, our senior year, I mean it was so far still the only Army-Navy game played west of the Mississippi. There was one that had been played at Chicago's shoulder field, there was one that had been played at Chicago's shoulder field, but our senior year, first-class year, rose Bowl, pasadena, army-navy and of course Navy won. It was an awesome game. But the one that sticks out for its uniqueness was our youngster year in Philadelphia Frigid, cold weather, in that it was right at freezing and it was raining. So it was a freezing rain, wet, cold. Nobody could do anything on the field. It ended up a 3-3 tie, but what stood out was the Army's punter kept pinning us back, pinning us back. Somebody could do the research, but I believe that at that time he set NCAA record for average yards per punt in a game. It was just a miserable experience Cold, wet.

Charles:

Later on, after the Academy, I was on an LST in South Korea, the USS Frederick. It was February for Team Spirit and we were offloading Marines in Pusan Harbor, and again, same type of weather conditions in terms of freezing rain right at zero. But there the Siberian Express wind was just howling across the harbor nothing to stop it before it hit the ship. Of course, during the offload I had all of our sailors and myself in foul weather gear, but I had the quarter deck watch at four o'clock Again bridge coat, dress, white gloves, nothing to keep you warm, except for your Long Johns, and it was cold. I've experienced, temperature-wise, very cold weather here in southern Poland, where I live, down to minus 40 Celsius or minus 40 Fahrenheit, it's the same thing, but I dress appropriately. Fahrenheit, it's the same thing, but I dress appropriately. You can't dress any warmer than Long John's SBU and a bridge coat, and you're still cold. It was cold. So those are the two games I remember from the Army-Navy, the four Army-Navy games that we had while we were there at the academy.

Karl:

Yeah, Now I know that there's been a few times you've had occasion to make it back to the States. Yes, in fact, I think I remember last winter you were back and you were able to make it to. I think it was Army-Navy Wrestling or something like that. Have there been other games that you've made it back from since you graduated?

Charles:

I had the opportunity to be back there in Annapolis for work with one of our classmates, chris Decker, and it just turned out that there were two home games those two weeks I were there, so I was able to make the tailgate the first one. A classmate of ours, chuck Bagwell, who goes to every game he and I were in the same company he showed up at the tailgate and said hey, charles, I got an extra ticket. You want to come to the game? Go sure. So I sat with him. I didn't have tickets, I was just going to the tailgate because right there they have a big screen tv and everybody you know sits there in their camp chairs and watches the game on the big screen tv. But I did go in and sit at the stadium. Um, that that's the only navy game I've seen since graduation, since pasadena. Was that one back in the fall of uh 2018? Okay?

Karl:

2000. Oh, that wasn't a good year for us, so we won't ask about the result.

Charles:

I don't recall. I just remember it was my first tailgates and my first fan, so I had a blast. I brought some special food from Poland to share with everybody at the tailgate. So it was, it was fun.

Karl:

Right right, all right, good deal, Good deal. You know, the funny thing is you're the second one who's mentioned that army Navy game from our youngster year Earlier in the podcast. John're the second one who's mentioned that Army-Navy game from our youngster year. Earlier in the podcast, john Harber gave us his recollection of that game and he basically said the same thing in terms of how cold it was. He compared it to one of the missions he was on as well. So pretty interesting.

Charles:

Well, weather can be a big equalizer also, and so I mean freezing rain on AstroTurf. It must have been like a skating rink out there.

Karl:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, thanks so much, Charles, for joining me, and I really appreciate it and we'll talk to you soon, ok, All right, go Navy.

Charles:

All right, take care.

Karl:

That was my classmate Charles Frederick, coming to you directly from Poland, and had he made it to the reunion he would have been in the running for the title of Classmate Traveling the Farthest Distance. But I think Dan DeCruz from Six Company would have still picked that one up. I had a great conversation with him and his son I believe his son's name was Racker and I'm pretty sure Dan said that they came all the way from Dubai. Okay, before we get to our last guest, I did want to quickly finish up my breakdown of the Charlotte game. Navy took a 38-3 lead into the locker room behind Deshaun Peel's first of two interceptions. On this one he jumped the receiver's route along the sidelines and took it to the house from 61 yards out. As the second half got going, things really started to slow down and there wasn't nearly as much offense from the mids. I guess when you're up five scores that does tend to have an impact. But what caught my eye was that they only converted on two out of ten third down opportunities and they also racked up nearly 70 yards in penalties, and that just can't happen against better teams like Tulane, who they'll face in a couple of weeks. Charlotte also had more total yards than the mids. But that stat is a little bit misleading because quite a few of those yards came in the fourth quarter when the outcome was already decided. And besides that, the 145 yards in interception return yardage that Deshaun Peel picked up didn't get counted anywhere. I guess they just disappeared down some statistical black hole. In any case, if you add those in, navy's total comes out to be just over 80 yards more than Charlotte. I think it worked out to be like 433 to 350. So, moving forward, I imagine that the coaching staff's message will be for the Mids to keep their foot on the gas for 60 minutes. Rice and South Florida are road games coming up and say what you want, but I don't think any of those are ever easy. And then there's a big conference game with Tulane on November, the 16th. That will be the Mids last home game of the season. Okay, so that wraps things up for the Charlotte game.

Karl:

Let's go ahead and finish up with our last guest here. The last classmate I had a chance to speak with was Bob Clark. We kept missing each other at the tailgater, but fortunately Bob had some time for me a few days later, so I wanted to make sure I included our conversation, and the main reason I wanted to do that is because Bob's stories come from the time that he was the Commandant of Midshipmen, not too long ago, relatively speaking, that is, I mean a dozen years compared to 40, so that's what I'm talking about. Okay, joining me now is Bob Clark, my classmate from the 15th company, and Bob was actually the commandant of midshipmen from 2010 to 2013. And, in fact and I forgot about this, bob you were the 84th commandant of midshipmen and we were in the class of 84.

Karl:

So that was kind of cool. How did you manage to swing that?

Bob:

I don't know, but I found that out going into one of the interviews. Once I got a call from DC, the secretary said hey, you're getting put up for this. And I made a joke, and I can't remember if it was Admiral Fowler, who, but I'm like you know what it's got to be 84th Commandant. They're like nice to meet you, bob, but we'll get back to you, so that's pretty cool.

Karl:

It's pretty cool, right? So let me ask you this um, when I know different, different commandants always you know they they have different philosophies perhaps on you know the, the mark, the legacy they want to leave from their time at the academy, and and different ones have their own idea of the role of varsity sports uh within, uh within the academy. So I was wondering if you could share with us your philosophy uh regarding varsity athletics at the Naval Academy while you were there.

Bob:

Absolutely. And you know, first and foremost, Carl, you know I was never one that wherever I went throughout my career, it wasn't step right in and just make change for change sake. You know, a lot of times, a lot of things are going great and you, you kind of push those things forward and I'm, I've always been, a big believer in, in try to empower and inspire. Vice intimidate. So try to create a culture that's very inclusive, very collegial, and that's exactly, you know, what we have at Navy.

Bob:

I mean very close, to check Gladchuk, the athletic director, dr Christine Cooper, who was the faculty athletic representative or FAR, which is an NCAA requirement when I was a college president we had one as well. She was awesome. So as I came in, really it was more kind of trying to assist them, assist us collectively, to kind of bring a lot of things together. So specifically, yes, what was my philosophy? It was basically one team, one fight. I mean, we are all there for the same reason. Some of us are great in academics, some of us are great in athletics, some of us are great in drama, but we are all there for the same reason. Some of us are great in academics, some of us are great in athletics, Some of us are great in drama, but we are all there for the same reason, and that's to get through the Naval Academy, hone our leadership skills and then have the privilege to go out to the fleet and lead.

Bob:

So I wanted that to kind of be the central focus, where, just because you're a varsity athlete, well, that doesn't mean that you know you have special privileges or you do that. No, you have what you need so you could do your job, and to do that you need to get everybody involved. So we had a coaches to class program where the coaches would sit in on class to see wow, look at the load that these young men and women are actually doing at this institution. Now, as you know, a lot of our coaches have been there for a long time and they fit that culture. But as we got new folks in, I always thought it was very important to give them an insight to the clay that they're going to be molded.

Karl:

Right right.

Bob:

And then vice versa, we had professors to practice, so those that were new, or just you know what do those athletes do? Well, go to practice, work out with them, and I thought that really brought a sense of togetherness. People could could understand because, as you know, it's very important to to provide the information and, instead of sticking it in a piece of paper, make it happen.

Bob:

Right, and then people can see through their own eyes how important that is. We would do leadership offsite trips with the varsity captains and we'd have sessions with us and then that spread throughout the brigade at other leadership levels and again the point is we're all there for the same reason. It's a leadership development institution. I mean, it's one of our national treasures. And I also mentioned to you a little bit about intramurals. Well, some folks don't play varsity athletes, but everybody is an athlete at Navy.

Karl:

Right.

Bob:

You've got to pass a physical fitness test, you come in in shape and I forget what the actual numbers are now, but it fluctuates. But around 90 to 95% of all students admitted were varsity athletes where they came from. So I wanted to keep that going for them. So we actually had an agreement with West Point and Air Force where our intramural champions would play each other. They would get that varsity experience. It's a great idea. It was the coolest thing I remember.

Bob:

One year for the fall, chet's folks came over and Hospital Point for your listeners that don't know, that's a huge athletic field where we do intramurals there's an obstacle course, it's just this massive expanse of grass. Well, his folks chalked it up. So if you didn't know better, you'd think you were in Navy Marine Corps stadium playing football or, in this case, flag football, or over at our soccer stadium and West Point's folks when they showed up they had uniforms. Our guys had uniforms and gals they brought their mascots. So I don't know if you remember the football games. Every now and then you look over to West Point and you'd see that one company or regiment that had like a frog mascot.

Bob:

The frog was there and so it was just a great atmosphere. So it was a way to offer or provide opportunities for inclusiveness and understanding and hopefully it paid off and looking back on it, I think it did. But again, great partnerships, chet, the academic side with Christine and the professors, character development and, if you remember, art Athens.

Jon:

Right.

Bob:

Now Thomas, who runs the Stockdale Center. They were all involved with this, so everybody in every part of the academy were involved with the athletics, and vice versa. So that was simple as that One team, one fight, right, right.

Karl:

So for those of you guys listening out there, bob and I ran into each other at the tailgater this past Saturday but we weren't able to connect to tell this story, and I especially wanted to get this one because it involved a really great comeback by one of the women's soccer teams. But before we do that, bob also, you said you wanted to mention a couple others very quickly, that in fact, I remember seeing each of the ones you mentioned, except for the, except for the Hopkins lacrosse game. I did not actually see that one, but I did see the other two, obviously. So go ahead and give us your memories on those those three moments real quick before we get to the one that is going to be the focus of our discussion.

Bob:

Absolutely, and you know, no matter. It's kind of, I guess, when you talk to a musician and say what's your favorite song, you know they're all their favorites, just like your children. So I was blessed to be there, as is anybody who serves at the Naval Academy to see a multitude of just phenomenal athletic competitions and it really speaks to the soul of our midshipmen and to the perseverance and will to win attitude that they bring. So I was not even in the seat as commandant for a couple of weeks. And here comes John Hopkins, nationally ranked in the Navy Marine Corps Stadium. On paper we hadn't beaten them, I think, since 1975.

Karl:

Yeah, that was like a Notre Dame-type losing streak.

Bob:

Oh, exactly right.

Bob:

Well, it wasn't that day and it was just amazing. So you know, a couple seconds into overtime, a young man, a second class at the time if my memory serves me right, it was Andy Warner Whips it in game over and I think it was 36 consecutive losses wiped away. So that was awesome. Right after that in the fall, in fact, I'm going up to MetLife Saturday, my first trip to MetLife, my first couple months as commandant Notre Dame versus Navy, and I remember watching warmups with Chuck Gladschuk and we're watching the guys and visually it almost looks like college pop water. I mean they were huge, but they were smoking and joking and our guys were locked in and I told Jed, I said we're going to win, I we're going to beat these guys.

Bob:

And sure enough, first drive Notre Dame gets the ball, goes to the one foot line. We stop them. In fact, one of the great things afterwards and I'm not necessarily a big Kelly fan, but Coach Kelly, who's now at LSU, was a Notre Dame coach and in the press conference he said my line outweighs him by almost 150 pounds. My quarterback's bigger than anybody on their team. We couldn't get a foot and a half. We deserve to lose. And that was followed up by Alex Teach our fullback 54-yard run. And then this I was right on the sidelines this one hand catch on a screen goes in. We beat them 35 to 17. It was just incredible. Another football thing 2012,.

Bob:

First time we beat a Big Ten school since the 70s right on the sidelines, 31 to 30, watched Paris Gaines second class intercept game over. But there was other things. I mean, our women's basketball program won three Patriot League championships in a row, the men's hockey club won the crab pot and the final score was eight to four. So they get back. It's right over there in my office. So in fact, it's next to the 2011 Patriot League Baseball Championship. The boys signed, but eight to four on the puck and all signed. So I could go on and on. I could pick every sport, but there was one that, to this day, I remember, and I remember very clearly, in fact really quick before I jump into that competition, when we were at our reunion together.

Bob:

I'm coming out of the Supes office and I knew we were going to hook up at some time. I was going to see and I'm thinking about how I'm going to tell this story, because everybody can figure out the score. You can go to press release, but I want to try to give you the you know, sitting there with the girls listening to what their concerns were, just that gut feeling and all of a sudden I hear excuse me, sir, I turn around, they go, you're. You're a commandant. She reached out, shake my hand. I go I was and she goes. You probably don't remember. I go elizabeth or bits horner yes, sir, but I'm now powers.

Bob:

This is my husband, powers. She was one of the goalkeepers that was standing right next to me, who I was going to talk about to you, and here, after all these years, we come together and how about that?

Bob:

and I forwarded them to you. She gave me a couple pictures. So that brings me to the game. So, um, 2011, women's soccer and uh, you know, I I learned through the midshipmen things like soccer, lacrosse, you know, for me it was football, basketball, track and baseball occasionally, but so I was learning the rules. But what I found out really early is if you can get ahead and ahead being like two goals, it's usually game over right right especially when you do in the first couple minutes.

Bob:

So here we are. It was, uh, october 21st, chilly night, um, and I was invited to sit on the sidelines with the women, which was immediately absolutely it was packed. Have you ever been to a soccer game at Navy Crawl?

Karl:

Yeah, Three years ago I went to one.

Bob:

Okay, well, so you know where the stands are. On the opposite side of where the ladies sit, you couldn't see metal. And then you could barely see the parking lot because the whole fence was lined with folks. It was absolutely crowded. So I'm with the girls. You know, we're all fired up and the game starts. And it wasn't more than a couple minutes, boom First goal for Army. A couple minutes later, boom second goal for Army. And you could sense there was a little bit of wane. But the captains were phenomenal. They kept the ladies pumped up and we get closer to half and we thought that we were going to get a goal. And I don't have any of the statistics. You may have them for your folks, but if, if I remember right, we outshot them by like an order of magnitude. I mean it was.

Karl:

it was something like yeah, I think it was like 22 to 8.

Bob:

Yes. So you know I'm watching this, not being a soccer aficionado, but going. You know these ladies are pushing them. Okay, and like I used to tell my son, who was a basketball player, you'll miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take.

Bob:

Right, right and they were just pounding, pounding. So you know, keep the fight, keep the fight, nothing. And I was sitting with a couple of young ladies, uh, midship and second class, hannah Legler, she was one of the goalies and a plebe um was Lily's last name, lily Kramer. She was a forward and in fact, a couple of years ago I ran into Hannah and that's. You know, one of the great things about being a commandant or, my case, a former commandant is when you go to these things, you run in to those young men and women that you served with, and what an incredible honor and a blessing to now see them in light of like the officers and leaders they are today.

Bob:

It just, and I'm getting goosebumps. It's like being a grandpa times 10. So I was sitting with them and we were talking and I'm like you know you've got this. And it was either Lily or Han was like come on, don, you know you've got this. And it was either Lily or Hannah was like come on, don, of course you're going to say that you're the commandant. I said no, I'm taking my commandant half. This is my athlete. I mean, we're just pounding them with the ball, the crowd's nuts, nobody's hanging their head. We haven't sat. You stood the whole time. I know you can win. In fact I know you're going to win. Just keep imposing your will. And so one of my favorite quotes and though it's an army quote, but on this day Navy prevailed it's one I love because it speaks to that will to win. It speaks to that never say die ethos that Navy athletics has.

Bob:

And it was by.

Bob:

General Grant, it goes like this In every battle. There comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten. Then he who continues the attack wins. And I told him just continue the attack, come out of the half. Army comes running out, navy comes, comes flying out. I don't know what the coach said there in halftime, but they were pumped. Lily comes by high fives hand I'm like high five in the team and then we settle into where we were standing and then the plebe looks up at me, goes commandant, I know you said we're gonna win. I'm telling you, my team knows we're going to win. And it wasn't a couple minutes later that another one of her classmates, rachel Hunter, puts in a goal and then it just slowly whittles away and the punchline is we beat them three to two. In fact, the game winning goal was by this plebe, rachel Hunter, who turned out to be a phenomenal women's soccer player.

Bob:

And I tell you, you know, I've been on sidelines for countless Army-Navy football games. I've been on the sidelines for the Army-Navy lacrosse game, where there's, you know, tens of thousands of people. There's probably 2,000 at this game, maybe 1,500 or so. It was the noise, the energy, the tears. It was the, the noise, the energy, the, the, the tears. That it was great. It was something I will never forget. So that was my most memorable, if I have to pick one uh sporting event, because I saw these young ladies faced with incredible adversity, uh will themselves to win and never, ever gave up.

Karl:

Yeah, yeah, and that's a.

Bob:

That's Navy. That's Navy in a heartbeat.

Karl:

I mean that was a great recap and in fact when I went back and reviewed that game, just reading the press release and everything, it's pretty much lined up just like you said. You're pretty much spot on on the crowd. It was right around 1500. And at the time it was the third largest crowd that watched a soccer game there. I'm sure it's been eclipsed since then because they've had some classic games since. But yeah it, it seems like it was quite an atmosphere and oh it was.

Bob:

It was off the charts and I guess it's probably. I get a little bit from my dad and living in a submarine most of my life and it helped me at school. That was before I became a submariner. I almost have a photographic memory. So names, things like that, I'll miss several, but I can usually pretty much bracket or get things in the ballpark, and especially this one, literally as I'm telling you this story I'm looking at you now on our computer screen but as I'm looking I can see the crowd.

Bob:

I see Steve Vossen who was the chief of staff now he's now a senior advisor to the superintendent, him and his wife Wendy sitting there. I can see them, you know. I can see Rachel Hunter turning back, running to her classmates. All of you know she was a little one but boy she could. Just her leg was awesome. I could hear screams in the parking lot that people couldn't get close enough, but saw the scoreboard. And the other distinct memory I have is from the track area where we'd come out All of a sudden and they didn't know why. All of a sudden they heard and probably saw the score. There must have been a couple dozen midshipmen just running towards the soccer field. It was an amazing moment. Must have been a couple dozen midshipmen just running towards the soccer field. It just it was an. It was an amazing moment yeah, I mean.

Karl:

And quite a dramatic win too, because that that deciding gold was scored like in the 88th minute, so it was like right towards the end there right and it was again.

Bob:

I don't have the exact, but I know when she tied it again not being that, not being a soccer aficionado, but when she tied it, r Rachel was what I would consider within the paint. You know she got it kind of boom. The one she won was she was out of ways. I mean, it was one of these where she just let it rip and you're like, oh my God, that's going in and boom. Yeah, you know, it was from an area where, again, a soccer novice would say that's probably where people pass to somebody else to kick it Right. She launched it and went in and game over, Wow, that's pretty cool, All right.

Karl:

So, yeah, that was. That was an awesome win. And Navy soccer certainly has been one of the Navy. Women's soccer specifically has been one of the, I would say, flagship sports for the women in Navy athletics. I mean, they've put together several you know a couple of Patriot League championships and always been competitive. Carin Garbarra has just done phenomenal work there. She's the only coach that the mids have ever had and it's just fantastic work. So, Bob, I really appreciate you sharing that story. It's so great to cap off this episode on the occasion of our 43rd reunion with your perspective on Navy athletics while you were the commandant of mid shipment. So thank you very much.

Bob:

Oh, anytime my friend, like I said, 84 and a classmate says hey, can ya . . it's a quick yes and and again, Karl, thanks for what you do. I'm not just saying this because you're a classmate, Now I'm putting my fan head on. I really your podcasts are very informative, insightful. It gives a lot of your listeners a different aspect that they may or may not see or hear, and our class is real proud of you and I'm blessed to call you a friend as well. But I also love your podcast.

Karl:

Thank you so much, bob, I appreciate it.

Bob:

You bet my friend.

Karl:

Okay, we're going to go ahead and take a short break now, but before we do that, I did want to give you all a couple of ways to stay up to date on Navy sports. Want to give you all a couple of ways to stay up to date on Navy sports. The first is to join the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page. I've got a link to that in the show notes. Just click on it, answer a couple of questions and you'll be good to go. The second way takes even less time. Just hit the follow button on whichever platform you're listening to this podcast right now. It can be Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheartradio, it doesn't matter. Once you do that, every episode will be downloaded to your directory when it's released and you can listen to it whenever you're ready. So please consider becoming a member of our group and you can actually tap that follow button right now to show your support for the podcast. I'm looking forward to having you join us. We'll be right back. Thanks for staying with us on Navy Sports Central, carl Darden, here with you, and before we wrap things up with our question of the day and mid-watch segments, I wanted to send out a special shout out to Navy Senior Cornerback Deshaun Peel. As I mentioned earlier in the show, peel came up with not one but two pick sixes in the homecoming game versus Charlotte, and it was the second interception. That is especially significant to me and everyone in our class. Just a quick backstory first. I think most academy classes have a special affinity for their graduation year, but I think with our class it borders on being what I'd call a pleasant obsessive compulsion, you know if there is such a thing. So in the Charlotte game, deshaun Peel came down with that second interception on the Navy's 16-yard line, which meant that when he shouldered that last defender out of the way to score, he'd covered exactly 84 yards. So, deshaun, if this episode finds its way to you, the class of 84 thanks you for putting such a definitive stamp on Navy's bowl qualifying win on our 40-year reunion weekend. That was pretty awesome and very much appreciated.

Karl:

Now let's get to our question of the day and, as usual, we'll start with a look back at the one from our last episode. And here was the question. Blake Horvath has opened the season with five consecutive games where he's passed for 100 yards or more In the last 23 years. What is the record for the most number of games where a Navy quarterback has had 100 or more passing yards. Is it A 5, b 6, c 7, or D 8? And, looking back at the answers, we have 42% of you that came up with six games. The next most popular answer was seven games. 31% of you selected that one. That was followed by five, 22% went with that choice and then, finally, 5% of those who answered picked eight games. Okay, so for now, the correct answer is B six games. Horvath actually matched that number against Charlotte and that pulled him even with Aaron Polanco, who did it in 2004. After that, the mids went 12 years before Will Wirth passed for 100 or more yards six times in 2016, and then Malcolm Perry did it in 2019. Ricky Dobbs and Kenan Reynolds had seasons where they had five 100-yard passing games, but they never got that sixth one. So congratulations to those of you who came up with the right answer and the way Horvath has been playing, he could easily bump that number up to eight or more before the season is over.

Karl:

Okay, now it's time for this week's question. In the game against Charlotte, navy had a 38-3 halftime lead. What is the most number of points the Mids have put up in the first half of a game since 2003? Is it A 40, b 42, c 45, or D 49? And in case you're wondering why I'm selecting 2003, that is basically as far back as the stats go on ESPN, which is where I usually can pull a lot of these game stats fairly quickly. There might be some way to do it on the Navy Athletics site, but ESPN I just kind of know exactly where to go. All right, so anyway, take some time to think about that question. You can answer through the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page or you can just text the show directly by clicking on the link in the show notes. I look forward to reading your responses. All right, now it's time to close things out with our mid-watch segment, so let's see how our athletes are doing.

Karl:

First up we have Amanda Graziano from the Navy Women's Soccer Team. The Mids just completed their regular season. A couple of days ago, they fought Lafayette to a scoreless tie that gave them a 3-4-2 record in the Patriot League and 9-9-2 overall, so they're basically just even across the board. The team did earn a spot in the Patriot League tournament, though. They will be taking on Army on November 3rd and my hope is that the Mids will be pretty motivated. After getting shut out by the Black Knights in the star match a couple weeks ago, that one had to sting a little bit. The mids lost four zip. As for Amanda Graciano, she led the team in points, going into the conference tournament with 14. That's on the strength of four goals and six assists. Now you may note that those numbers have not changed since the last update, so Graciano has been quiet the last three games of the season. For the mids to have any kind of chance against Army, who's a pretty decent team, the offense is going to have to find a way to get her going and that can be either through scoring opportunities or where Graciano can get the ball to either Marley Heaven or Alexa Riddle. They are two of Navy's other big scoring threats. So we'll see how things go in the first round of the tournament.

Karl:

Moving over to the men, we've been tracking Luke Wagner and Luke O'Connell from the sprint football team. Following that tough loss to Army in the star game, the Mids won their next two games 17-10 over Chestnut Hill and also 34-0 over Malloy. The team has two games remaining against Penn and Caldwell. If they win both of those they'll score off against Army for the CSFL championship in a couple of weeks. In the Chestnut Hill game, navy trailed 10-7 until the fourth quarter, but they kicked a field goal a few minutes into it. And then Luke Wagner scored on a 15-yard touchdown run with five and a half minutes left in the game and, by the way, there was a late interception that sealed the win for the Mids. Wagner finished with 130 yards rushing and 91 passing, and then in the following game against Malloy, the Mids offense finally got rolling a little bit.

Karl:

Now. To be fair, this was the Lions' first year in the CSFL and they were a little overmatched. Both Wagner and O'Connell took snaps for the mids. O'connell actually led the team in passing with 78 yards, going a perfect three for three, and his longest completion was for 47 yards. Wagner completed three passes on seven attempts, with his longest being 20 yards. Again, the final score in that game was 34 to nothing. I think the next two games will be better indicators of where the team is offensively. Wagner is doing a pretty decent job at quarterback and O'Connell is developing at the position as well. So we'll see if Wagner can close out his senior year on a high note and then turn things over to O'Connell, who will likely take over the offense next fall. That's going to do it for this edition of Navy Sports Central.

Karl:

Thank you all so much for joining us Now. If you like what you've heard, please be sure to hit that follow button wherever you get your podcasts, and remember to get the word to all the other Navy fans out there. Once again, I'd like to thank all my classmates who shared their stories with me, either live at our reunion or remotely so, to Scott Gordon, Jon Harber, Steve Young, Dan Doster, Dave Gallaer, Chris Gromek, Charles Frederick and Bob Clark. I really appreciate you all taking the time.

Karl:

Our question of the day continues to be a show favorite. You can get in on that by joining the Navy Sports Nation group Facebook page and giving your answer to this week's question. You can also respond by sending us a text. All you need to do is click on the link in the show notes. And just a quick reminder the views expressed on Navy Sports Central are my own and do not reflect those of the US Naval Academy or Navy Athletics. By the way, the music used in Navy Sports Central comes to you courtesy of Audio Jungle. This is a great site for purchasing the rights to use the music from thousands of artists around the world, and those featured in the podcast will be credited in our show notes. Talk to you soon, . Until next time, this is Karl Darden.

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