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

Episode Transcript
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Karl (00:14):
Hi everybody, my name is Karl Darden and I'd like to
welcome and thank all of you forjoining us today on Navy Sports
Central.
I'm your host and this is theofficial podcast of the Navy
Sports Nation where we take adeeper dive into Navy sports.
We have got a very special showfor you today because a couple
of weeks ago I was back inAnnapolis for the class of 84's
40-year reunion.
So I had a chance to talk withseveral of my classmates and ask

(00:36):
them to recall some of theirfavorite Navy sports moments
over the years, and I got somepretty good stories too.
I'll be sharing them throughoutthe show.
Our sports update will be alittle bit short so we can get
to some of those stories, but Idid want to mention a
record-breaking performance inmen's cross country that took
place earlier Saturday beforethe game.
We've got our question of theday and mid-watch segments as
well, so please stay with us forwhat should really be a fun

(00:56):
episode.
All right, it's great to haveyou guys with us.
Thanks so much for dropping in.
I really appreciate you takingthe time.
So let's go ahead and jump intothe sports update and, like I
said in the opening, this willbe a little shorter than usual
because I really do want to getinto some of these stories that

(01:17):
I heard from my classmates at myreunion.
But first I do want to takesome time to talk about an
athlete that, unless you're atrack junkie like me, you've
probably never heard of.
His name is Murphy Smith.
Murphy is a senior fromCharlotte, north Carolina, and
he also happens to be one of thebest distance runners the Mids
have had over the last fouryears.
In the Men's Cross-Country StarMeet versus Army on Saturday

(01:39):
morning, smith set a new NavalAcademy course record, covering
the 4.9 mile distance in 23minutes 25.8 seconds, and that's
just over four seconds betterthan the previous record set
back in 2007.
Now, I don't know how many ofyou are familiar with the
cross-country course over there.
It's across the river and it'slaid out over the Naval Academy
golf course.
From what I understand, it'sone of the most difficult, if

(02:00):
not the most difficult, coursein the Patriot League.
I didn't get a chance to see therace, but my classmate Doug
Conkey did, and he shared someof the details with me before
the football game.
First of all, the first couplehundred yards of the race are
downhill, so you can imaginewhat that's like.
You've got all these runnerspumped full of adrenaline going
at each other in their biggestand really their only dual meet

(02:21):
of the year.
Doug mentioned it looked likethey were all in a full sprint
going down that hill, which isamazing because they still had
the whole race to run.
I mean, you run the 200 yardsand you go.
Oh my God, I still have to go4.8 miles to get done with this.
But Smith and his teammates wenton from there to execute their
strategy, which basically meantputting together a pack of

(02:42):
runners and the goal was toplace as many of them in the top
six as possible.
Those are the places that scorepoints.
So he ended up, like I said,running that record time and
finishing.
Right behind him was JustinMumford, who crossed the line
about 12 seconds later, and thatwas still good enough to
qualify as the second fastesttime on the course for a mid.
The guy whose record Smithbroke was actually a runner from

(03:03):
Louisville.
I believe there was an armyrunner who came in third to kind
of crash the party.
But the next three finishersall 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 countryit's the lowest score that wins.
All you do is add up the placesof the runners that finish in

(03:24):
the top six and that's yourscore.
So congratulations to the men'scross-country team on an
awesome win, and Navy neededthat one badly because, just
like last season, army hasjumped ahead really quickly in
the Star Series.
Right now they lead at 6-2.
The men's other one cameseveral weeks ago in men's rugby
.
Next up for the cross-countryteam in fact both cross-country
teams are the Patriot LeagueChampionships and they take

(03:45):
place November 2nd in Easton,pennsylvania.
And, by the way, the men willbe seeking their fourth straight
title.
Okay, we're going to step awayreal quick and when we come back
for a deep dive segment we'llstart a review of the game.
And all through that discussionI'll share the stories I got
from my classmates during thetailgater on Saturday talking
about their most memorable Navysports moments.
This is Carl Darden and you'relistening to Navy Sports Central

(04:21):
.
I've had the 17th through the20th of October circled on my
calendar pretty much since thebeginning of the year.
That's about the time I foundout that our 40-year reunion for
the class of 84 was scheduledfor that weekend.
Now, five years ago, everythingwent really smoothly for our
35th.
The weather was great, and Iwas hoping for more of the same

(04:43):
this year.
In fact, I started tracking theweather forecast about two
weeks in advance, hoping wewouldn't get the remnants of
some tropical storm, like we didfor our 25-year reunion back in
2009.
That game was unbelievable.
I mean, the rain just keptcoming down in bands.
It was definitely not a day forpassing the ball.
In fact, the mids beat WakeForest that day 13 to 10, and
they ran the ball on everysingle play.

(05:04):
Anyway, it turns out that theweather was fantastic and all
the planned events came togethereven better than anyone could
have imagined.
So before we get into ourstories, as well as some of the
game analysis, I just wanted tosend out a personal shout-out to
our class officers for theoutstanding work they did in
planning this milestone event Imean, everything just went off
without a hitch To our classpresident Brian Goodrow, vice

(05:29):
president Karen Halverson, classsecretary Kevin Monahan and
class treasurer Stephen Shepard.
Thank you, guys, so much foryour hard work and incredible
leadership you've provided overthe last five years.
It's just been amazing.
Okay, let's go ahead and get toSaturday and I'm going to sort
of take you through the daychronologically.
I think You're going to hearfive stories from classmates who
were at the game.
I spoke to them during thetailgater.
There are also a few people Iwasn't able to connect with, but

(05:51):
we touched base later and I'mgoing to add those stories at
the end.
By the way, our class tailgaterwas inside the stadium at the
Northeast Pavilion, and get thisit was a two-story tent.
I've never seen anything likethat before.
That was pretty wild.
So maybe that's a fairly commonoccurrence at some of these
football games, but certainlythat's the first time I've seen

(06:11):
it.
Okay, so I got to the stadiumaround two o'clock and I think
the kickoff was set to go off atjust around 3.30.
So the first classmate I had achance to speak with was Scott
Gordon.
Scott was a member of theheavyweight rowing team and I'd
like to share his story with younow.
Now, keep in mind that I wasrecording this live, so the
audio is not exactly what I'dcall studio quality.

(06:32):
In fact, actually, scott soundspretty good.
I'm a little bit muffled, butyou can clearly hear what's
going on.
So here it comes, all right.
So Navy Sports Central, we arehere at the Navy Charlotte
Tailgater Class of 84 40-yearreunion, and I'm here with Scott
Gordon, who's been on our showonce before, a little while ago
when we were talking about theIRA Championships back in 2021,

(06:56):
I think it was Yep.
So, scott, welcome, and, as youknow, I would put out a request
to the class to come up withtheir favorite sports moment,
either while they were at theacademy or since, and I know you
have a story to share with us.
So let's go ahead and kind ofgive me the backdrop of it first
and just kind of walk methrough as much or as little as
you want to, no time limit oranything like that.

Scott (07:17):
Okay, Karl, hey, thanks for having me on.
It was great that you showed upat the boathouse today for our
reunion row.
Ap showed up at the boathousetoday for our reunion row.
Apologize for not having allthe time to spend with you, but
anyways.
So I had a lot of greatexperiences on the Severn and
also at Hubbard Hall and all theraces we did in rowing.
But one of the ones that reallysticks out in my mind as like

(07:37):
one of the proudest moments wasafter my rowing shell, which is
a straight four.
I was on what was the thirdvarsity, 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, butrowing in the IRAs in 1984, I
was rowing the straight four, wehad already gone to the metal

(08:00):
dock and races were delayedbecause of high weather up in
Lake Onondaga in Syracuse, newYork.
So the varsity race, which wasthe culminating race of the
whole day and we were doingreally good in the small boats,
winning a lot of points toultimately get the overall
championship trophy.
But the varsity race wasgetting near dark, so my boat,

(08:21):
we'd gone to the metal dock.
Unfortunately we got a thirdplace but still a lot of crews
would like to get that.
So we were waiting in the waterin and around the finish line,
outside the race course and weheard that the varsity race was
off and that was with themajority of class of 84 in the
boat.
You know Chuck Melcher, AndyBigelow, Jim Schofield, you know
Bruce, Jan Goff, then we had abunch of 85 guys there and of

(08:44):
course, Johnny Steckle steeringthe boat and it was so dark we
were peering down the racecourse.
I mean, it's only 2,000 metersbut we're losing the light Right
and with parallax it was likelooking really close.
But as they were coming closertowards the finish line they had
a commanding lead and they hada great season that year and we,
we dominated, we did what weset out to do and our objectives

(09:05):
, you know, beat harvard, winthe adams cup, we tried to get
the eastern sprints but didn'tquite get it.
But the IRA, we dominated andthose guys they made it at the
end.
But it was so dark at thefinish line going up to get the
medals afterwards it was like itfelt like midnight.
And then all the pictures thatcommemorate the event.
Blackness man, it's so dark,they're getting the medals there

(09:26):
, but still it was.
I was so proud, everyone in ourboat, we were just so proud.
Greg Hayruth was in the boatwith me and, uh, you know, we in
the four and we had a coupleother underclassmen there, but
it was so good and I think youknow I was proud of a lot of
other races.
But you know, here it was.
We were already commissioned acouple weeks ahead of time.
We were out on our first dutyassignment to row for Navy and

(09:48):
then all those guys were thengoing to go to the Olympic
development camp after that.
Anyways, it was so neat, it wasa proud moment, but just the
darkness there.
It's like where are they?

Karl (09:59):
Where are they?
Who's the guy that was steeringthe boat?
Who's your coxswain?

Scott (10:02):
Johnny Steckle.

Karl (10:03):
So he gets thrown into the water in the middle of the
night.

Scott (10:05):
Basically, Yep pretty much, pretty much.
I'll tell you what, though.
And then, yeah, we had fun.
Afterwards, you know, we allhad to scramble back to unload
boats and tell you what it was.
Proud rowing back man.
It was like felt like a milliondollars.
You know, I was so happy forthose guys, for Navy, for the
legacy.
We had a lot of brothers thatwent before us and that had
followed us afterwards, but thatwas a great rowing year and

(10:29):
that was a great capstone eventto our first class year.
We were all a bunch of ensignsin the boat or a couple second
lieutenants in there too, andyand Bruce it was good.

Karl (10:42):
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'sa better-than-average chance
that you have at least half aboat full of guys who are
already commissioned and ontheir way.
So that's always been kind ofthe interesting thing about
these sports that have theirchampionships in the month of
June.
So thanks for sharing thatstory, scott.

(11:03):
I appreciate it.

Scott (11:03):
Glad their championships in the month of June.
So thanks for sharing thatstory, scott.
I appreciate it.
Glad to share, carl.
Thanks, and I love what you dowith Navy Sports Nation.
Keep it going, man.
All right, thanks a lot, sure.

Karl (11:12):
All right, okay, once again.
That was my classmate ScottGordon.
He was a member of the Navyheavyweight rowing team when
they won the IRA championshipsback in the spring of 1984.
A little while later, I raninto John Harbour.
John and I were in the samegroup during a second-class
summer and he shared a reallyfunny story with me, so I'm
going to go ahead and play thatright now.
So I'm talking with JohnHarbour here and he's a

(11:33):
classmate.
John, what company are you in?
33.
33rd Company and one of hismost memorable Navy sports
moments he shared, one that alot of us remember but we'd
rather forget.

Jon (11:46):
So Jon, tell me what you remember.
So what I remember was theArmy-Navy game in Philadelphia,
our youngster year, and it wascold, just above freezing, and
it was raining and the wind wasblowing and neither team could
do anything with the ball, youknow.
The defense couldn't take itaway, the offense couldn't move
it and we ended up with a finalscore of 3-3 in these

(12:06):
ultra-miserable conditions.
And I remember one timethinking back to that game, when
I was in a mission or on amission, and I can't really say
where, but it was raining, itwas in the tropics and it was
hot outside.
But because it was raining sohard and the wind was blowing so
hard and we were so soaking wetthat we were just freezing,
they said I can't remember ifthis is colder or warmer than

(12:29):
that day in Philadelphia in theextra year.
So it all depends on your pointof reference.

Karl (12:33):
That's true.
That's true.
One of my other classmates,rich Chukowski, a couple of
weeks ago he posted something toour page and he said and this
game reminded me of that when hesaid sometimes when Army-Navy
plays, it looks like two mulesfighting over a turnip.

Jon (12:48):
I've never seen mules fight over a turnip, but I get the
analogy.
That's like two tortoisestrying to race each other.
There you go.
Same kind of thing.
Somebody make a move already.
All right, Jon, thanks so muchfor sharing that story.
I appreciate it, my pleasure.
Good to see you, carl.
All right, john, thanks so muchfor sharing that story.
I appreciate it.
My pleasure.
Good to see you, Karl.
You too.

Karl (13:06):
So that was John Harbour thinking back to the Army-Navy
game from our youngster year,and he was right.
That weather was absolutelymiserable.
In fact, you're going to hearanother story related to that
game a little later on.
So shortly after I finishedtalking with John, the game had
started and in no time at allthe Mids were up 21 to nothing
their first score.
I remember hearing a roar of acrowd and I didn't actually see

(13:29):
it live.
I was grabbing something to eat, but then I jumped over to
watch on the big screen and thatwas a play where Blake Horvath
hit Alex Teska on that nicelittle wheel route that he took
in for a 46-yard touchdown.
Now, what I thought was so neatabout that play is that's
typically a pass that will go toEli Heidenreich.
So I'm wondering if CoachKronick was figuring that

(13:51):
Charlotte was thinking that theball was going to go to
Heidenreich and he set it up forAlex Teska instead.
So that put the Mids up 7-0,and, like I mentioned before,
they tacked on two moretouchdowns and then a field goal
to lead 24 to nothing.
Before the first quarter waseven over, and just as it ended,
I had a chance to talk withSteve Young, who was Navy's
kicker during our last couple ofyears at the Academy.
Ten years ago, at our 30-yearreunion, he told a story about

(14:14):
the Army-Navy game in Pasadena,our first class year.
Just picturing everything hewas saying in my mind struck me
as being really funny, so Iasked him to share the story
with us.
Really funny, so I asked him toshare the story with us.
All right, right now I haveSteve Young with me and Steve
was our place kicker for Navyback when we were seniors and he
told me a story about 10 yearsago that he's going to recap

(14:34):
right now.
That just left me in stitches.
So, steve, this has to do withArmy-Navy Pasadena, right, yeah,
okay, so continue with yourstory.
This is awesome.

Steve (14:45):
Well, interestingly enough, you know, the Army-Navy
game and the brigade ofmidshipmen and the Corps of
Cadets flying all the way toPasadena was an unbelievable
event.
But playing in the Rose Bowl,of course, was awesome, and, as
the kicker and I did this everygame, no matter if it was at
home, away or whatever, youwould always try to find out and
the captains went out beforethe team went out find out if we

(15:07):
were kicking off or if we werereceiving.
Because if we were kicking off Iwould 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 veryquickly after we left the locker
room In the case of thePasadena game and, just so you
know, if I wasn't kicking off, Istayed at the very end of the

(15:30):
group of players coming outbecause I wouldn't get trampled
that way, quite frankly, and I'mnot a big guy.
So, long story short, peoplewho remember the Pasadena game
will remember it was delayed anddelayed, and delayed even after
the captains went out and didthe coin toss because of the
accident that the you know,parachuting the ball.

(15:51):
They had an issue.
Anyway, long story short, wewere receiving, so I said, okay,
I don't have to worry aboutthis, I can just hang out in the
back and come out at my ownleisure, everything will be cool
.
So we go out and if youremember the game, we go out.
I get my tea, you know where Iwant it, I get a drink of water.
I'm standing there.
And that's when eric wallacehanded the ball, took the

(16:14):
handoff from napoleon mccallumand ran the opening kickoff by
army all the way back for atouchdown.
So I I go, running around going, oh, I've got to kick a PAT.
So I run out there, I kick aPAT, I go out, make my kickoff,
come to the sideline, grabanother drink, and I don't
remember what happened first,but they either fumbled the ball

(16:37):
, we picked it up and scored thenext play, or it was the
pickoff by Steve Brady.
I honestly don't remember whichhappened first, but we scored
again within one or two plays,ran out there, did the PAT,
kicked off again, came back tothe sideline, didn't even have
time to grab another drinkbecause, whatever, whether it
was the pick off or the fumbleand touchdown, we scored another

(17:00):
touchdown Immediately.
I think it might have been aplay or two and I had to come
out.
Yeah, like this is tough, comeout, kick a PAT and then do the
kickoff.
Well, I come off to thesideline after that, third
kickoff, within three minutes,third PAT, and I come to the
sideline and I'm huffing andpuffing.
I'm going ugh, ugh, ugh.

(17:22):
Maybe it had something to dowith the fact that Pasadena was
warm and you know Napa wasn't inDecember, but one of the
linemen said hey, we must reallybe kicking their ass, because
even the kicker's tired.
And it was a classic Everybodywas just cracking up, right
right.

Karl (17:40):
That was pretty awesome.
I mean the final score, I meanyou just murdered him, I mean it
was like Okay, yeah 42 to 12.

Steve (17:47):
Yeah, yeah, something like that, and that was actually
I had the record.
It was a silly record, but Ihad the record for the most PATs
in an Army-Navy game at six.
In that game, 42, obviouslydivided by six.
So it was a great game, yep,great way to end my career,

(18:07):
unbelievable venue and a greatmemory, and I have chills right
now just thinking of that.

Karl (18:13):
We haven't played it out there in Pasadena since and we
probably never will.
No, we never will.

Steve (18:17):
They can't make that illegal movement of troops ever
again.

Karl (18:22):
The one thing I remember saying is when we were flying
out there.
I said man, I hope to God Armywins this game, because that is
a long way to fly back if wedon't.
All right, Steve, thanks verymuch.
I appreciate you sharing thatstory.

Steve (18:33):
Sure Thanks, Karl, All right great.

Karl (18:36):
Okay, so that was my conversation with Steve Young.
You know the whole 10,000 stepsgoal wasn't a thing back then,
but he probably came prettyclose to getting them during the
first three minutes of thatArmy-Navy game in Pasadena.
By the way, you heard Stevemention the game being delayed
due to an accident, and here'swhat happened there and to this
day I'm amazed that the Armysoldier wasn't injured more
seriously, the Army has askydiving team called the Golden

(18:58):
Knights and they were given thetask of delivering the game
ball for the kickoff in thatgame.
I think they had about fourguys who parachuted in before
the very last skydiver.
Who was the one with the ball?
Anyway, those first four guyslanded right where they're
supposed to, on the field, andthe last guy was on target as
well, but with about 30 to 40feet to go.
It seemed like he was going alot faster than the others.
I couldn't exactly tell whathappened, but it looked like he

(19:23):
didn't get to the toggles intime to flare the chute in order
to slow down.
They grabbed these things onthe side of the chute there and
he hit the ground really, reallyhard, the entire stadium.
I mean just let out acollective 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 theywere able to revive him and he

(19:44):
was alert when they took him offthe field in a stretcher and he
acknowledged to the crowd thathe was okay.
I think they said afterwardsthat he had broken his leg and,
like I said, it was a miraclethat he wasn't hurt worse than
that.
Anyway, as Steve said, it wasan awesome game and certainly a
once-in-a-lifetime Army-Navyexperience for all of us who had
a chance to be a part of it.
I mean there's no way thatthey're going to do anything

(20:04):
like that again.
After I finished talking withSteve, it was still fairly early
in the second quarter, so Itook a little break and went out
to watch some more of the gameand I got there just in time to
see Blake Horvath hit CodyHoward on that nice little
11-yard TD pass.
And what was cool about thatwas that Howard caught it maybe
a couple yards upfield, but puta nice move on the defender to
score.
That put the mids up 31 tonothing.

(20:25):
So after that I went back tothe tailgater to get more to eat
and I happened to run into DanDoster, who played lacrosse all
four years at Navy, and Dan wasfrom Syracuse, new York, and he
was recruited to play defensemanand, by the way, he was also in
my company.
Now this isn't a story about agame, but more about a friendly
rivalry that developed betweenhim and Navy Hall of Famer Sid
Abernathy.
And here's what Dan had to sayAll right, I'm here with Dan

(20:49):
Doster, who is not only myclassmate but also my company
mate, and Dan was a lacrosseplayer.
He's a defenseman on the Navylacrosse team and he shared this
story with me.
God, Dan, it was about 20 yearsago, I think.
Yeah.

Dan (21:01):
But me, God damn, it was about 20 years ago.

Karl (21:03):
I think yeah.

Dan (21:04):
It's a great story.

Karl (21:04):
It has absolutely nothing to do with a regular game, but
it's so funny that we have togive it a shot.
So, Dan, go ahead and sharethat story.

Dan (21:11):
Yeah, this has got to do with long-term Navy camaraderie
and you know, good guys againstbad 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 putinto the hall of fame.
So great guy, uh.

(21:31):
So when we were uh, I was firstcame to the team, I was a
freshman in plebe, and guess whoyou 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 everyday in practice?
Yeah, hey, plebe, you know,watch me score six on you every

(21:53):
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 ribbingme.
Well, fast forward.
A couple years down the road Igo to my first squadron in Guam.
Sid actually joined thesquadron, so we were together in
the first squadron on ourisland.
And you know we were lacrosseguys, we knew each other so we

(22:15):
were really good friends.
And you know, one day, maybeover a few cocktails in Japan,
when we were on deploymentdeployment, you know, said yeah,
made the declaration he goes, Icould take you nine out of ten
times, any day, anytime, go withyour choice.
Yeah, I still own you.
You know, sleep, I was like noway, man, I grew up, I'm better.

(22:38):
So, anyways, this gets aroundthe squadron.
So everybody kind of knowsabout it, because we'd always
just pitch each other 9 out of10, 9 out of 10.
We get money on the bar, we'llbuy the bar, whoever wins this
thing.
So years go by, we both leavethe squadron.
A couple years go by, but weboth end up back at an alumni

(23:02):
game.
This is probably what early 90ssometimes, but they started
doing, even against odd years.
So, seniors, our first classwere 81.
We were 84.
So obviously, guess who's goingto play each other?
We both show up.
Yeah, we're like, okay, it's onNine out of ten.

(23:23):
We're finally on the field ofbattle.
Let's see how you do, old man.
So, anyways, we go through thisgame and you know we're
pitching each other.
Valerie, my wife was, you know,she knew about this because
she's talking about thesidelines.
Everybody, like nine out of ten, it's sitting down, they're
finally going to do it.
You know, they've been mouthingoff to each other for 10 years.
They're finally actually on thefield and we're going to see

(23:46):
who's going to happen.
So, anyway, it gets down to.
You know, it's like the scoreis 9-8.
You know, I think you knowwe're ahead.
You know the evens and it justhappens, like 30 seconds left,
who gets the ball one-on-one upon the wing?
Sid Abernathy.
Everybody's like, oh, this isgoing to be great, sid's going

(24:07):
to tie the game and then they'llwin it.
You know, and I go out to playhim.
You know I step out.
I'm like, okay, sid comes down,pulls his signature move and I
just like you hear this tick andthe ball comes out.
I didn't even pick it up, Ijust kicked it to the other end
of the field.

Scott (24:26):
And then you know, started erupting and, like you,
suck you suck Syd's head's low,Val's cheering.

Dan (24:32):
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 saidthe only reason that I got that
check on you is because I was sodamn tired.
I didn't go for your fake thatyou always would get me.

(24:57):
I just rested my stick on yourchest 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 weregoing to blow right by me.
I just didn't go for it becauseI was too damn tired.
So anyways, the big you know,after years of therapy, sid
admitted, you know, like he'sgrown up and accustomed to you

(25:19):
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 actuallytold that story.
So it was really, really I wasblessed to do that and I was
really happy and you know, wishthe best for him.
He's still working.

(25:40):
He's leading our Navy Old Goats.
You know we got teams 60-plusout in Vail every year.
I didn't know that.
Yeah, 60-plus.
Karl you're coming out andyou're in shape.
You're the man I told you.
You've been blowing me out foryears.
60-plus baby, you could be astar.
I didn't pick up a stick, gosh.

(26:02):
I don't know how long you.
You could be a star.
I didn't pick up a stick, gosh.
I don't know how long you don'thave to pick up a stick.
You just have to run the ball.
The rest of us just watchsomebody who's in shape run the
ball from one end to the other,right, right.

Karl (26:15):
So all right, Dan, that was a great story.
I remember when you told methat in one of our reunions, I
swear to God I was laughing forher Every time.
I thought about it, I juststarted laughing.
So thanks for sharing it.

Dan (26:22):
So hopefully, Sid.
I'll make sure I send the linkto Sid and make sure he hears.
Here's a story from the horse'smouth again Nine out of ten,
Sid, I won yeah.

Karl (26:33):
Woo, Thanks, Dan.
I swear that story Dan tellsnever gets old and I wish I
would have seen it go down inperson, because Sid Abernathy is
a Navy lacrosse legend gets oldand I wish I would have seen it
go down in person, because SidAbernathy is a Navy lacrosse
legend.
Now, just a couple minuteslater, I ran into Dave Gilear
and he shared another footballstory with me from our plea beer
.
Dave got his start playing onspecial teams and when he

(26:53):
mentioned this game before westarted recording, he said it
was a game against the Huskies.
So I got it in my head that hewas talking about UConn, but
you'll hear Dave say that it wasactually the game against the
University of Washington and itturned out to be one of Navy's
biggest wins that year becausethe Huskies were ranked in the
top 20 at the time.
The Mids ended up winning thatgame, I think 24 to 10.
But it didn't get off to a greatstart, at least not for the

(27:14):
guys on special teams.
So here's Dave's story.
So I'm talking with Dave Gilear.
Dave was in the 18th Company aswell and he's another football
player.
So, Dave, I don't know if thiswas our senior year or before,
but you had a pretty good choicerelated to a UConn game that we
played right.

Dave (27:34):
No, the Washington.

Karl (27:36):
Huskies.
Oh, Washington, that's right.
So that would have been On theWest Coast.
Yeah, yeah, yeah okay.

Dave (27:40):
So we flew out there and we flew right over Mount St
Helens, which was still smokingfrom the eruption, which was
kind of cool.
And then we, you know, landedand we start the game and the
opening kickoff, the kicker, andwe're all fired up, really
fired up like running down thefield screaming, and I hit my

(28:02):
guy guy, knocked him on theground, ball was kicked out of
them.
So we, okay, let's do thisagain, 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'relooking at Steve and saying keep

(28:26):
the ball in bounds, we can't dothis again, we're going to have
to swap out the whole team.
And three times in a row hekicked it out of bounds and by
the fourth time we were justlike just give him the damn ball
.
So that might be a record weshould look up to see what the

(28:50):
and then they switched it to apenalty years later, but way
back when that was now.

Karl (28:57):
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 (29:05):
And then special teams.
I was on the kickoff team andthe punt return team.

Karl (29:09):
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 upa whole lot of points, at least
the first couple of years thatwe were there.

Dave (29:22):
Yeah, it was tough.
I mean, the first time I playedwas against Notre Dame at Notre
Dame, and it was 38-0.
It was four minutes up in thereI was a sophomore and the coach
says Gilear, get in there.
And I go running out and thebig Italian guy was playing

(29:42):
tight end lacrosse for me andbefore I even got out there he
ran a sweep around my end.
That was Mark Bavaro playingtight end.
So that was my introduction toD1 football.

Karl (30:01):
Now, since you've graduated, has there been any
game that's kind of stuck out ofyour mind?

Dave (30:08):
Any games that we're watching?
Yeah, watching, I don't know.
Well, certainly beating NotreDame, because up until 2007, I
guess, was that game that wasspectacular.
We did have the Army-Navy flagfootball game too, and Bill

(30:30):
Squires, who's class of 76, wasrunning Giant Stadium at the
time and he turned on the lightsone night and we practiced at
Giant Stadium and then we had anArmy-Navy game at Flag football
game at Giant Stadium, and thenwe had one Flag football game

(30:53):
at West Point, and then that wasit.
I kind of dissipated after that.

Karl (30:59):
All right, dave, thanks so much.
I appreciate you sharing thatstory.
Thank you, okay, that coversall the stories I was able to
get to while at the game, but Ido have a few more that I wanted
to share, so we're going totake a quick break and get to
those when we come back.
Please stay with us.

(31:31):
By the way, there is one thing Iwanted to clarify regarding
Dave Gilear's story about thegame against the Washington
Huskies.
At one point you heard himrefer to his teammate handling
the kickoffs as Steve.
That was actually a guy namedSteve Fair who was Navy's kicker
that year, not Steve Young whoI'd spoken with earlier.
Fair had an excellent career atNavy and he actually got a
chance to try out with theCincinnati Bengals after he
finished his service obligation.

(31:52):
But that particular day againstthe Huskies was a rough one for
him when it came to thekickoffs.
So I just wanted to clear upany potential confusion.
I definitely didn't want toleave my manie hanging out there
.
Okay, let's move on.
You know, between the game andthe tailgater and everyone
catching up with each other, Irealized the next morning that I
didn't get a chance to get astory from one of my class of 84

(32:12):
sisters, but I have the perfectone in mind and I remember it
from an episode over a coupleyears ago when I had Chris
Gromick on as a guest.
In fact, I ran into Chris overthe weekend and told her that
I'd shared the story on morethan one occasion.
So what I want to do is play itfor you now from the
conversation we had during thatepisode, and I think the lead-in
question here was me askingChris what was the funniest

(32:32):
thing she remembers from hertime competing, but clearly it's
one of her most memorable aswell.

Chris (32:38):
So here it comes, I still tell this story.
So we're at the EasternRegionals Outdoor Meet and it's
in East Stroudsburg College inPennsylvania and we're in the
stands not very many people, andit's the four by one hundred
and we had three, four, fourcoaches.

(33:00):
So Sheedy, Major Sheedy I thinkhe might've been a colonel by
that point, but anyway thesprint coach and I it was a Navy
Lieutenant, I think he was acompany officer and
unfortunately I can't rememberhis name, but he was a really
great guy.
And so we're sitting in thestands right like midfield, and

(33:22):
so we had the heats and I ranthe four by the 400 meter
hurdles.
I didn't qualify for the finalsbut our top runner, Stephanie
Green class of 85, did.
But in her heat was also thisother woman from some school and
she and Stephanie was good, butthis woman left Stephanie in

(33:44):
the dust.
I mean, you know, and uh and uh.
So we come up and we're sittingin 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 anddo your best.
And this lieutenant says hegoes.
Oh, my gosh, I can't believeyou people.
He goes, you never.
You don't ever know what'sgoing to happen.

(34:05):
And we're like, like what'sgoing to happen, sir?
And he's like you know, youdon'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.
So we.
So we're like I, we're right,like midfield, which is the 10th
hurdle, and then there's Idon't know, maybe 15 yards

(34:29):
between the 10th hurdle and thein the finish, and so the gun
goes off and we're screaming forSteph and we're like go, steph,
and you know, and she's insecond, she's in second, and uh,
you know.
So the 10th hurdle is in rightfront of us, and and, uh, the
girl trips over the last hurdle.
Oh my god.

(34:49):
And and we're like and, andwe're just sitting there, I mean
stunned, and like there waslike this collective and we were
like, we're like, oh my gosh,oh my gosh.
And then we're like, and thenwe're like screaming for
stephanie and like at that point, like it's like a split second,
we see all this happen, we'rescreaming, we're screaming and
screaming, we're like go, go, go.

(35:10):
She fell, she fell, go, go, go.
And she won, stephanie greenwon, because she couldn't, the
woman just couldn't recoverquick enough off the fall.
But, but we were but.
And then the lieutenant comesup to us again, he goes see, you
never know what's going tohappen.
And I'm like going, oh my gosh,she must've had like an angel

(35:32):
or something or some devil orsomething on that hurdle Because
because there's like what wasthe likelihood of that happening
?
But I couldn't believe it and tothis day I'll never forget that
, because it was just like, ohmy gosh, she fell.

Karl (35:48):
Unreal.
That's a.
That's a pretty good story.
So, yeah, that was my classmateand Navy track and field hall
of famer, chris Gromek, sharingone of her memorable moments.
If you haven't heard thatepisode yet, go back and check
it out when you get a chance.
Look for episode number 24.
Next up we have CharlesFrederick.
He is one of the class of 84'sexpatriate Americans.
Charles currently lives inPoland, so, even though he

(36:09):
wasn't able to make it, he had astory to tell, and it's also in
connection with the Army-Navygame, our Youngster Year.
Here's Charles.
So, charles, thanks for takingsome time to join us today and
tell your story on Navy SportsCentral.
It is great to have you.

Charles (36:22):
Hey, my pleasure classmate, and yeah, beautiful
fall here in southern Poland.
I'm an hour south of Krakow butevery chance I get I watch Navy
play on my internet connectionand always talk with you and

(36:42):
exchange our sports triviaquestions.

Karl (36:44):
That's always fun, Right right Go Lewandowski.
So, Charles, you got a coupleof 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 seewhich ones you had to share
with us today.

Charles (36:59):
Okay, well, just to follow on with what we were
talking about last Saturday, ofthe four Army-Navy games that we
had, of course nothing's goingto beat the Rose Bowl in
Pasadena.
Right, our senior year, I meanit was so far still the only
Army-Navy game played west ofthe Mississippi.
There was one that had beenplayed at Chicago's shoulder

(37:22):
field, there was one that hadbeen played at Chicago's
shoulder field, but our senioryear, first-class year, rose
Bowl, pasadena, army-navy and ofcourse Navy won.
It was an awesome game.
But the one that sticks out forits uniqueness was our
youngster year in PhiladelphiaFrigid, cold weather, in that it

(37:43):
was right at freezing and itwas raining.
So it was a freezing rain, wet,cold.
Nobody could do anything on thefield.
It ended up a 3-3 tie, but whatstood out was the Army's punter
kept pinning us back, pinningus back.
Somebody could do the research,but I believe that at that time

(38:06):
he set NCAA record for averageyards per punt in a game.
It was just a miserableexperience Cold, wet.
Later on, after the Academy, Iwas on an LST in South Korea,

(38:28):
the USS Frederick.
It was February for Team Spiritand we were offloading Marines
in Pusan Harbor, and again, sametype of weather conditions in
terms of freezing rain right atzero.
But there the Siberian Expresswind was just howling across the
harbor nothing to stop itbefore it hit the ship.

(38:52):
Of course, during the offload Ihad all of our sailors and
myself in foul weather gear, butI had the quarter deck watch at
four o'clock Again bridge coat,dress, white gloves, nothing to
keep you warm, except for yourLong Johns, and it was cold.
I've experienced,temperature-wise, very cold

(39:13):
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 thanLong John's SBU and a bridge
coat, and you're still cold.
It was cold.
So those are the two games Iremember from the Army-Navy, the

(39:36):
four Army-Navy games that wehad while we were there at the
academy.

Karl (39:40):
Yeah, Now I know that there's been a few times you've
had occasion to make it back tothe States.
Yes, in fact, I think Iremember last winter you were
back and you were able to makeit to.
I think it was Army-NavyWrestling or something like that
.
Have there been other gamesthat you've made it back from
since you graduated?

Charles (39:58):
I had the opportunity to be back there in Annapolis
for work with one of ourclassmates, chris Decker, and it
just turned out that there weretwo home games those two weeks
I were there, so I was able tomake the tailgate the first one.
A classmate of ours, chuckBagwell, who goes to every game

(40:21):
he and I were in the samecompany 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 wasjust going to the tailgate
because right there they have abig screen tv and everybody you
know sits there in their campchairs and watches the game on
the big screen tv.
But I did go in and sit at thestadium.

(40:44):
Um, that that's the only navygame I've seen since graduation,
since pasadena.
Was that one back in the fallof uh 2018?
Okay?

Karl (40:58):
2000.
Oh, that wasn't a good year forus, so we won't ask about the
result.

Charles (41:03):
I don't recall.
I just remember it was my firsttailgates and my first fan, so
I had a blast.
I brought some special foodfrom Poland to share with
everybody at the tailgate.
So it was, it was fun.

Karl (41:16):
Right right, all right, good deal, Good deal.
You know, the funny thing isyou're the second one who's
mentioned that army Navy gamefrom our youngster year Earlier
in the podcast.
John're the second one who'smentioned that Army-Navy game
from our youngster year.
Earlier in the podcast, johnHarber gave us his recollection
of that game and he basicallysaid the same thing in terms of
how cold it was.
He compared it to one of themissions he was on as well.
So pretty interesting.

Charles (41:36):
Well, weather can be a big equalizer also, and so I
mean freezing rain on AstroTurf.
It must have been like askating rink out there.

Karl (41:45):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Well, thanks so much, Charles,for joining me, and I really
appreciate it and we'll talk toyou soon, ok, All right, go Navy
.

Charles (41:52):
All right, take care.

Karl (41:54):
That was my classmate Charles Frederick, coming to you
directly from Poland, and hadhe made it to the reunion he
would have been in the runningfor the title of Classmate
Traveling the Farthest Distance.
But I think Dan DeCruz from SixCompany would have still picked
that one up.
I had a great conversation withhim and his son I believe his
son's name was Racker and I'mpretty sure Dan said that they

(42:15):
came all the way from Dubai.
Okay, before we get to our lastguest, I did want to quickly
finish up my breakdown of theCharlotte game.
Navy took a 38-3 lead into thelocker room behind Deshaun
Peel's first of twointerceptions.
On this one he jumped thereceiver's route along the
sidelines and took it to thehouse from 61 yards out.
As the second half got going,things really started to slow

(42:37):
down and there wasn't nearly asmuch offense from the mids.
I guess when you're up fivescores that does tend to have an
impact.
But what caught my eye was thatthey only converted on two out
of ten third down opportunitiesand they also racked up nearly
70 yards in penalties, and thatjust can't happen against better
teams like Tulane, who they'llface in a couple of weeks.
Charlotte also had more totalyards than the mids.

(42:59):
But that stat is a little bitmisleading because quite a few
of those yards came in thefourth quarter when the outcome
was already decided.
And besides that, the 145 yardsin interception return yardage
that Deshaun Peel picked updidn't get counted anywhere.
I guess they just disappeareddown some statistical black hole
.
In any case, if you add thosein, navy's total comes out to be

(43:20):
just over 80 yards more thanCharlotte.
I think it worked out to belike 433 to 350.
So, moving forward, I imaginethat the coaching staff's
message will be for the Mids tokeep their foot on the gas for
60 minutes.
Rice and South Florida are roadgames coming up and say what
you want, but I don't think anyof those are ever easy.
And then there's a bigconference game with Tulane on
November, the 16th.

(43:40):
That will be the Mids last homegame of the season.
Okay, so that wraps things upfor the Charlotte game.
Let's go ahead and finish upwith our last guest here.
The last classmate I had achance to speak with was Bob
Clark.
We kept missing each other atthe tailgater, but fortunately
Bob had some time for me a fewdays later, so I wanted to make
sure I included our conversation, and the main reason I wanted

(44:01):
to do that is because Bob'sstories come from the time that
he was the Commandant ofMidshipmen, not too long ago,
relatively speaking, that is, Imean a dozen years compared to
40, so that's what I'm talkingabout.
Okay, joining me now is BobClark, my classmate from the
15th company, and Bob wasactually the commandant of
midshipmen from 2010 to 2013.
And, in fact and I forgot aboutthis, bob you were the 84th

(44:26):
commandant of midshipmen and wewere in the class of 84.
So that was kind of cool.
How did you manage to swingthat?

Bob (44:32):
I don't know, but I found that out going into one of the
interviews.
Once I got a call from DC, thesecretary said hey, you're
getting put up for this.
And I made a joke, and I can'tremember if it was Admiral
Fowler, who, but I'm like youknow 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 (44:52):
It's pretty cool, right?
So let me ask you this um, whenI know different, different
commandants always you know theythey have different
philosophies perhaps on you knowthe, the mark, the legacy they
want to leave from their time atthe academy, and and different
ones have their own idea of therole of varsity sports uh within
, uh within the academy.
So I was wondering if you couldshare with us your philosophy

(45:15):
uh regarding varsity athleticsat the Naval Academy while you
were there.

Bob (45:24):
Absolutely.
And you know, first andforemost, Carl, you know I was
never one that wherever I wentthroughout my career, it wasn't
step right in and just makechange for change sake.
You know, a lot of times, a lotof things are going great and
you, you kind of push thosethings 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 culturethat's very inclusive, very
collegial, and that's exactly,you know, what we have at Navy.

(45:45):
I mean very close, to checkGladchuk, the athletic director,
dr Christine Cooper, who wasthe faculty athletic
representative or FAR, which isan NCAA requirement when I was a
college president we had one aswell.
She was awesome.
So as I came in, really it wasmore kind of trying to assist
them, assist us collectively, tokind of bring a lot of things

(46:07):
together.
So specifically, yes, what wasmy philosophy?
It was basically one team, onefight.
I mean, we are all there forthe same reason.
Some of us are great inacademics, some of us are great
in athletics, some of us aregreat in drama, but we are all
there for the same reason.
Some of us are great inacademics, some of us are great
in athletics, Some of us aregreat in drama, but we are all
there for the same reason, andthat's to get through the Naval

(46:27):
Academy, hone our leadershipskills and then have the
privilege to go out to the fleetand lead.
So I wanted that to kind of bethe central focus, where, just
because you're a varsity athlete, well, that doesn't mean that
you know you have specialprivileges or you do that.
No, you have what you need soyou could do your job, and to do
that you need to get everybodyinvolved.
So we had a coaches to classprogram where the coaches would

(46:51):
sit in on class to see wow, lookat the load that these young
men and women are actually doingat this institution.
Now, as you know, a lot of ourcoaches have been there for a
long time and they fit thatculture.
But as we got new folks in, Ialways thought it was very
important to give them aninsight to the clay that they're
going to be molded.

Karl (47:09):
Right right.

Bob (47:10):
And then vice versa, we had professors to practice, so
those that were new, or just youknow what do those athletes do?
Well, go to practice, work outwith them, and I thought that
really brought a sense oftogetherness.
People could could understandbecause, as you know, it's very
important to to provide theinformation and, instead of

(47:31):
sticking it in a piece of paper,make it happen.
Right, and then people can seethrough their own eyes how
important that is.
We would do leadership offsitetrips with the varsity captains
and we'd have sessions with usand then that spread throughout
the brigade at other leadershiplevels and again the point is
we're all there for the samereason.
It's a leadership developmentinstitution.

(47:53):
I mean, it's one of ournational treasures.
And I also mentioned to you alittle bit about intramurals.
Well, some folks don't playvarsity athletes, but everybody
is an athlete at Navy.

Karl (48:05):
Right.

Bob (48:06):
You've got to pass a physical fitness test, you come
in in shape and I forget whatthe actual numbers are now, but
it fluctuates.
But around 90 to 95% of allstudents admitted were varsity
athletes where they came from.
So I wanted to keep that goingfor them.
So we actually had an agreementwith West Point and Air Force

(48:27):
where our intramural championswould play each other.
They would get that varsityexperience.
It's a great idea.
It was the coolest thing Iremember.
One year for the fall, chet'sfolks came over and Hospital
Point for your listeners thatdon't know, that's a huge
athletic field where we dointramurals there's an obstacle
course, it's just this massiveexpanse of grass.

(48:49):
Well, his folks chalked it up.
So if you didn't know better,you'd think you were in Navy
Marine Corps stadium playingfootball or, in this case, flag
football, or over at our soccerstadium and West Point's folks
when they showed up they haduniforms.
Our guys had uniforms and galsthey brought their mascots.
So I don't know if you rememberthe football games.

(49:10):
Every now and then you lookover to West Point and you'd see
that one company or regimentthat had like a frog mascot.
The frog was there and so it wasjust a great atmosphere.
So it was a way to offer orprovide opportunities for
inclusiveness and understandingand hopefully it paid off and

(49:32):
looking back on it, I think itdid.
But again, great partnerships,chet, the academic side with
Christine and the professors,character development and, if
you remember, art Athens.

Jon (49:44):
Right.

Bob (49:46):
Now Thomas, who runs the Stockdale Center.
They were all involved withthis, so everybody in every part
of the academy were involvedwith the athletics, and vice
versa.
So that was simple as that Oneteam, one fight, right, right.

Karl (49:59):
So for those of you guys listening out there, bob and I
ran into each other at thetailgater this past Saturday but
we weren't able to connect totell this story, and I
especially wanted to get thisone because it involved a really
great comeback by one of thewomen'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

(50:21):
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 yourmemories on those those three
moments real quick before we getto the one that is going to be
the focus of our discussion.

Bob (50:35):
Absolutely, and you know, no matter.
It's kind of, I guess, when youtalk to a musician and say
what's your favorite song, youknow 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 multitudeof just phenomenal athletic
competitions and it reallyspeaks to the soul of our

(50:58):
midshipmen and to theperseverance and will to win
attitude that they bring.
So I was not even in the seatas 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 (51:18):
Yeah, that was like a Notre Dame-type losing streak.

Bob (51:20):
Oh, exactly right.
Well, it wasn't that day and itwas just amazing.
So you know, a couple secondsinto overtime, a young man, a
second class at the time if mymemory serves me right, it was
Andy Warner Whips it in gameover and I think it was 36

(51:41):
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 toMetLife, my first couple months
as commandant Notre Dame versusNavy, and I remember watching
warmups with Chuck Gladschuk andwe're watching the guys and
visually it almost looks likecollege pop water.

(52:02):
I mean they were huge, but theywere smoking and joking and our
guys were locked in and I toldJed, I said we're going to win,
I we're going to beat these guys.
And sure enough, first driveNotre Dame gets the ball, goes
to the one foot line.
We stop them.
In fact, one of the greatthings afterwards and I'm not
necessarily a big Kelly fan, butCoach Kelly, who's now at LSU,

(52:24):
was a Notre Dame coach and inthe press conference he said my
line outweighs him by almost 150pounds.
My quarterback's bigger thananybody on their team.
We couldn't get a foot and ahalf.
We deserve to lose.
And that was followed up byAlex Teach our fullback 54-yard
run.
And then this I was right onthe sidelines this one hand
catch on a screen goes in.
We beat them 35 to 17.

(52:45):
It was just incredible.
Another football thing 2012,.
First time we beat a Big Tenschool since the 70s right on
the sidelines, 31 to 30, watchedParis Gaines second class
intercept game over.
But there was other things.
I mean, our women's basketballprogram won three Patriot League
championships in a row, themen's hockey club won the crab

(53:08):
pot and the final score waseight to four.
So they get back.
It's right over there in myoffice.
So in fact, it's next to the2011 Patriot League Baseball
Championship.
The boys signed, but eight tofour on the puck and all signed.
So I could go on and on.
I could pick every sport, butthere was one that, to this day,

(53:31):
I remember, and I remember veryclearly, in fact really quick
before I jump into thatcompetition, when we were at our
reunion together.
I'm coming out of the Supesoffice and I knew we were going
to hook up at some time.
I was going to see and I'mthinking about how I'm going to
tell this story, becauseeverybody can figure out the
score.
You can go to press release,but I want to try to give you
the you know, sitting there withthe girls listening to what

(53:53):
their concerns were, just thatgut feeling and all of a sudden
I hear excuse me, sir, I turnaround, 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 horneryes, sir, but I'm now powers.
This is my husband, powers.
She was one of the goalkeepersthat was standing right next to
me, who I was going to talkabout to you, and here, after

(54:15):
all these years, we cometogether and how about that?
and I forwarded them to you.
She gave me a couple pictures.
So that brings me to the game.
So, um, 2011, women's soccerand uh, you know, I I learned
through the midshipmen thingslike soccer, lacrosse, you know,
for me it was football,basketball, track and baseball
occasionally, but so I waslearning the rules.

(54:37):
But what I found out reallyearly is if you can get ahead
and ahead being like two goals,it's usually game over right
right especially when you do inthe first couple minutes.
So here we are.
It was, uh, october 21st,chilly night, um, and I was
invited to sit on the sidelineswith the women, which was
immediately absolutely it waspacked.

(54:58):
Have you ever been to a soccergame at Navy Crawl?

Karl (55:01):
Yeah, Three years ago I went to one.

Bob (55:03):
Okay, well, so you know where the stands are.
On the opposite side of wherethe ladies sit, you couldn't see
metal.
And then you could barely seethe 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 upand the game starts.

(55:23):
And it wasn't more than acouple minutes, boom First goal
for Army.
A couple minutes later, boomsecond goal for Army.
And you could sense there was alittle bit of wane.
But the captains werephenomenal.
They kept the ladies pumped upand we get closer to half and we
thought that we were going toget a goal.
And I don't have any of thestatistics.

(55:45):
You may have them for yourfolks, but if, if I remember
right, we outshot them by likean order of magnitude.
I mean it was.

Karl (55:53):
it was something like yeah , I think it was like 22 to 8.

Bob (55:57):
Yes.
So you know I'm watching this,not being a soccer aficionado,
but going.
You know these ladies arepushing them.
Okay, and like I used to tellmy son, who was a basketball
player, you'll miss a hundredpercent of the shots you don't
take.
Right, right and they were justpounding, pounding.
So you know, keep the fight,keep the fight, nothing.
And I was sitting with a coupleof young ladies, uh, midship

(56:18):
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 greatthings about being a commandant
or, my case, a former commandantis when you go to these things,
you run in to those young menand women that you served with,

(56:40):
and what an incredible honor anda blessing to now see them in
light of like the officers andleaders they are today.
It just, and I'm gettinggoosebumps.
It's like being a grandpa times10.
So I was sitting with them andwe were talking and I'm like you
know you've got this.
And it was either Lily or Hanwas like come on, don, you know
you've got this.
And it was either Lily orHannah was like come on, don, of

(57:01):
course you're going to say thatyou're the commandant.
I said no, I'm taking mycommandant half.
This is my athlete.
I mean, we're just poundingthem with the ball, the crowd's
nuts, nobody's hanging theirhead.
We haven't sat.
You stood the whole time.
I know you can win.

(57:21):
In fact I know you're going towin.
Just keep imposing your will.
And so one of my favoritequotes and though it's an army
quote, but on this day Navyprevailed it's one I love
because it speaks to that willto win.
It speaks to that never say dieethos that Navy athletics has.
And it was by.
General Grant, it goes like thisIn every battle.

(57:43):
There comes a time when bothsides consider themselves beaten
.
Then he who continues theattack wins.
And I told him just continuethe attack, come out of the half
.
Army comes running out, navycomes, comes flying out.
I don't know what the coachsaid there in halftime, but they
were pumped.

(58:03):
Lily comes by high fives handI'm like high five in the team
and then we settle into where wewere standing and then the
plebe looks up at me, goescommandant, I know you said
we're gonna win.
I'm telling you, my team knowswe're going to win.
And it wasn't a couple minuteslater that another one of her
classmates, rachel Hunter, putsin a goal and then it just

(58:27):
slowly whittles away and thepunchline is we beat them three
to two.
In fact, the game winning goalwas by this plebe, rachel Hunter
, who turned out to be aphenomenal women's soccer player
.
And I tell you, you know, I'vebeen on sidelines for countless
Army-Navy football games.
I've been on the sidelines forthe Army-Navy lacrosse game,

(58:48):
where there's, you know, tens ofthousands of people.
There's probably 2,000 at thisgame, maybe 1,500 or so.
It was the noise, the energy,the tears.
It was the, the noise, theenergy, the, the, the tears.
That it was great.
It was something I will neverforget.
So that was my most memorable,if I have to pick one uh

(59:10):
sporting event, because I sawthese young ladies faced with
incredible adversity, uh willthemselves to win and never,
ever gave up.

Karl (59:19):
Yeah, yeah, and that's a.

Bob (59:21):
That's Navy.
That's Navy in a heartbeat.

Karl (59:23):
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 muchlined up just like you said.
You're pretty much spot on onthe crowd.
It was right around 1500.
And at the time it was thethird largest crowd that watched
a soccer game there.
I'm sure it's been eclipsedsince then because they've had

(59:44):
some classic games since.
But yeah it, it seems like itwas quite an atmosphere and oh
it was.

Bob (59:51):
It was off the charts and I guess it's probably.
I get a little bit from my dadand living in a submarine most
of my life and it helped me atschool.
That was before I became asubmariner.
I almost have a photographicmemory.
So names, things like that,I'll miss several, but I can
usually pretty much bracket orget things in the ballpark, and
especially this one, literallyas I'm telling you this story

(01:00:13):
I'm looking at you now on ourcomputer screen but as I'm
looking I can see the crowd.
I see Steve Vossen who was thechief of staff now he's now a
senior advisor to thesuperintendent, him and his wife
Wendy sitting there.
I can see them, you know.

(01:00:34):
I can see Rachel Hunter turningback, running to her classmates
.
All of you know she was alittle one but boy she could.
Just her leg was awesome.
I could hear screams in theparking lot that people couldn't
get close enough, but saw thescoreboard.
And the other distinct memory Ihave is from the track area
where we'd come out All of asudden and they didn't know why.
All of a sudden they heard andprobably saw the score.
There must have been a coupledozen midshipmen just running

(01:00:56):
towards the soccer field.
It was an amazing moment.
Must have been a couple dozenmidshipmen just running towards
the soccer field.
It just it was an.
It was an amazing moment yeah,I mean.

Karl (01:01:01):
And quite a dramatic win too, because that that deciding
gold was scored like in the 88thminute, so it was like right
towards the end there right andit was again.

Bob (01:01:10):
I don't have the exact, but I know when she tied it again
not being that, not being asoccer aficionado, but when she
tied it, r Rachel was what Iwould consider within the paint.
You know she got it kind ofboom.
The one she won was she was outof ways.
I mean, it was one of thesewhere she just let it rip and
you're like, oh my God, that'sgoing in and boom.

(01:01:31):
Yeah, you know, it was from anarea where, again, a soccer
novice would say that's probablywhere people pass to somebody
else to kick it Right.
She launched it and went in andgame over, Wow, that's pretty
cool, All right.

Karl (01:01:44):
So, yeah, that was.
That was an awesome win.
And Navy soccer certainly hasbeen one of the Navy.
Women's soccer specifically hasbeen one of the, I would say,
flagship sports for the women inNavy athletics.
I mean, they've put togetherseveral you know a couple of
Patriot League championships andalways been competitive.
Carin Garbarra has just donephenomenal work there.
She's the only coach that themids have ever had and it's just

(01:02:07):
fantastic work.
So, Bob, I really appreciateyou sharing that story.
It's so great to cap off thisepisode on the occasion of our
43rd reunion with yourperspective on Navy athletics
while you were the commandant ofmid shipment.
So thank you very much.

Bob (01:02:21):
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 thisbecause you're a classmate, Now
I'm putting my fan head on.
I really your podcasts are veryinformative, insightful.
It gives a lot of yourlisteners a different aspect
that they may or may not see orhear, and our class is real

(01:02:43):
proud of you and I'm blessed tocall you a friend as well.
But I also love your podcast.

Karl (01:02:47):
Thank you so much, bob, I appreciate it.

Bob (01:02:49):
You bet my friend.

Karl (01:02:50):
Okay, we're going to go ahead and take a short break now
, but before we do that, I didwant to give you all a couple of
ways to stay up to date on Navysports.
Want to give you all a coupleof ways to stay up to date on
Navy sports.
The first is to join the NavySports Nation group Facebook
page.
I've got a link to that in theshow notes.
Just click on it, answer acouple of questions and you'll
be good to go.
The second way takes even lesstime.
Just hit the follow button onwhichever platform you're
listening to this podcast rightnow.

(01:03:11):
It can be Apple Podcasts,spotify, iheartradio, it doesn't
matter.
Once you do that, every episodewill be downloaded to your
directory when it's released andyou can listen to it whenever
you're ready.
So please consider becoming amember of our group and you can
actually tap that follow buttonright now to show your support
for the podcast.
I'm looking forward to havingyou join us.
We'll be right back.
Thanks for staying with us onNavy Sports Central, carl Darden

(01:03:48):
, here with you, and before wewrap things up with our question
of the day and mid-watchsegments, I wanted to send out a
special shout out to NavySenior Cornerback Deshaun Peel.
As I mentioned earlier in theshow, peel came up with not one
but two pick sixes in thehomecoming game versus Charlotte
, and it was the secondinterception.
That is especially significantto me and everyone in our class.
Just a quick backstory first.

(01:04:09):
I think most academy classeshave a special affinity for
their graduation year, but Ithink with our class it borders
on being what I'd call apleasant obsessive compulsion,
you know if there is such athing.
So in the Charlotte game,deshaun Peel came down with that
second interception on theNavy's 16-yard line, which meant

(01:04:29):
that when he shouldered thatlast defender out of the way to
score, he'd covered exactly 84yards.
So, deshaun, if this episodefinds its way to you, the class
of 84 thanks you for puttingsuch a definitive stamp on
Navy's bowl qualifying win onour 40-year reunion weekend.
That was pretty awesome andvery much appreciated.
Now let's get to our question ofthe day and, as usual, we'll
start with a look back at theone from our last episode.
And here was the question.
Blake Horvath has opened theseason with five consecutive

(01:04:53):
games where he's passed for 100yards or more In the last 23
years.
What is the record for the mostnumber of games where a Navy
quarterback has had 100 or morepassing yards.
Is it A 5, b 6, c 7, or D 8?
And, looking back at theanswers, we have 42% of you that
came up with six games.
The next most popular answerwas seven games.

(01:05:14):
31% of you selected that one.
That was followed by five, 22%went with that choice and then,
finally, 5% of those whoanswered picked eight games.
Okay, so for now, the correctanswer is B six games.
Horvath actually matched thatnumber against Charlotte and
that pulled him even with AaronPolanco, who did it in 2004.
After that, the mids went 12years before Will Wirth passed

(01:05:36):
for 100 or more yards six timesin 2016, and then Malcolm Perry
did it in 2019.
Ricky Dobbs and Kenan Reynoldshad seasons where they had five
100-yard passing games, but theynever got that sixth one.
So congratulations to those ofyou who came up with the right
answer and the way Horvath hasbeen playing, he could easily
bump that number up to eight ormore before the season is over.

(01:05:57):
Okay, now it's time for thisweek's question.
In the game against Charlotte,navy had a 38-3 halftime lead.
What is the most number ofpoints the Mids have put up in
the first half of a game since2003?
Is it A 40, b 42, c 45, or D 49?
And in case you're wonderingwhy I'm selecting 2003, that is

(01:06:21):
basically as far back as thestats go on ESPN, which is where
I usually can pull a lot ofthese game stats fairly quickly.
There might be some way to doit on the Navy Athletics site,
but ESPN I just kind of knowexactly where to go.
All right, so anyway, take sometime to think about that
question.
You can answer through the NavySports Nation group Facebook
page or you can just text theshow directly by clicking on the

(01:06:41):
link in the show notes.
I look forward to reading yourresponses.
All right, now it's time toclose things out with our
mid-watch segment, so let's seehow our athletes are doing.
First up we have Amanda Grazianofrom the Navy Women's Soccer
Team.
The Mids just completed theirregular season.
A couple of days ago, theyfought Lafayette to a scoreless
tie that gave them a 3-4-2record in the Patriot League and

(01:07:02):
9-9-2 overall, so they'rebasically just even across the
board.
The team did earn a spot in thePatriot League tournament,
though.
They will be taking on Army onNovember 3rd and my hope is that

(01:07:23):
the Mids will be prettymotivated.
After getting shut out by theBlack Knights in the star match
a couple weeks ago, that one hadto sting a little bit.
The mids lost four zip.
As for Amanda Graciano, she ledthe team in points, going into
the conference tournament with14.
That's on the strength of fourgoals and six assists.
Now you may note that thosenumbers have not changed since
the last update, so Graciano hasbeen quiet the last three games
of the season.
For the mids to have any kindof chance against Army, who's a
pretty decent team, the offenseis going to have to find a way
to get her going and that can beeither through scoring
opportunities or where Gracianocan get the ball to either

(01:07:44):
Marley Heaven or Alexa Riddle.
They are two of Navy's otherbig scoring threats.
So we'll see how things go inthe first round of the
tournament.
Moving over to the men, we'vebeen tracking Luke Wagner and
Luke O'Connell from the sprintfootball team.
Following that tough loss toArmy in the star game, the Mids
won their next two games 17-10over Chestnut Hill and also 34-0

(01:08:06):
over Malloy.
The team has two gamesremaining against Penn and
Caldwell.
If they win both of thosethey'll score off against Army
for the CSFL championship in acouple of weeks.
In the Chestnut Hill game, navytrailed 10-7 until the fourth
quarter, but they kicked a fieldgoal a few minutes into it.
And then Luke Wagner scored ona 15-yard touchdown run with
five and a half minutes left inthe game and, by the way, there
was a late interception thatsealed the win for the Mids.

(01:08:26):
Wagner finished with 130 yardsrushing and 91 passing, and then
in the following game againstMalloy, the Mids offense finally
got rolling a little bit.
Now.
To be fair, this was the Lions'first year in the CSFL and they
were a little overmatched.
Both Wagner and O'Connell tooksnaps for the mids.
O'connell actually led the teamin passing with 78 yards, going
a perfect three for three, andhis longest completion was for

(01:08:49):
47 yards.
Wagner completed three passeson seven attempts, with his
longest being 20 yards.
Again, the final score in thatgame was 34 to nothing.
I think the next two games willbe better indicators of where
the team is offensively.
Wagner is doing a pretty decentjob at quarterback and
O'Connell is developing at theposition as well.
So we'll see if Wagner canclose out his senior year on a

(01:09:10):
high note and then turn thingsover to O'Connell, who will
likely take over the offensenext fall.
That's going to do it for thisedition of Navy Sports Central.
Thank you all so much forjoining us Now.
If you like what you've heard,please be sure to hit that
follow button wherever you getyour podcasts, and remember to
get the word to all the otherNavy fans out there.
Once again, I'd like to thankall my classmates who shared
their stories with me, eitherlive at our reunion or remotely

(01:09:33):
so, to Scott Gordon, Jon Harber,Steve Young, Dan Doster, Dave
Gallaer, Chris Gromek, CharlesFrederick and Bob Clark.
I really appreciate you alltaking the time.
Our question of the daycontinues to be a show favorite.
You can get in on that byjoining the Navy Sports Nation
group Facebook page and givingyour answer to this week's
question.
You can also respond by sendingus a text.
All you need to do is click onthe link in the show notes.

(01:09:55):
And just a quick reminder theviews expressed on Navy Sports
Central are my own and do notreflect those of the US Naval
Academy or Navy Athletics.
By the way, the music used inNavy Sports Central comes to you
courtesy of Audio Jungle.
This is a great site forpurchasing the rights to use the
music from thousands of artistsaround the world, and those
featured in the podcast will becredited in our show notes.
Talk to you soon, .

(01:10:16):
Until next time, this is KarlDarden.

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