This is now used as a location to store data.
Donor Listing
Tommy Bell (1) by McWilliams
Bill Chance (1) by ’62
John Clayton* (2)
William Doremus (1) by ’62
Joe Franklin (1)
Jerry Hagan (1) by ’62
Larry Herdman (1) by ’62
Frank Hicks (1) by ’62
Fred Kneiriem (1) by ’62
Dan Ludwig (3) by ’62
MG Carl McNair
James R. C. Miller (1) by ’62
William & Veronica McWilliams (13)
Ski Ordway (1) by J. Franklin and W. McWilliams
Bill Robinson (2) by ’62Benjamin
Roberts MAJ Alex Rupp* (6)
Paul Sullivan (1) by ’62
John Wing (1) by ’62
Al Worden (2) by ’62
Ed Zaborowski (1)
Nick Bruno (1) by ’62
Frank Burd (1) by ’62
Ralph Chesnauskas (1)
Bill Cody (1) by ’62
Donald Ernst (1) by ’62
Bob Farris (1)
Charles Glenn (3) by ’62
Howard Glock (1) by ’62
Don Holleder (1) by B. Farris and R. Chesnauskas
Pete Lash (1)
Paul Lasley (1) by ’62
Ron Melnick (1) by ’62
Col. Russell Mericle (1)
Don Shannon (1) by ’62
Donald Satterfield (1) by ’62
Pat Uebel (1) by ’62
Peter Vann (1) by B. Farris and R. Chesnauskas
Jerry Wynn (1) by B. Farris and R. Chesnauskas
Mike Zeigler (1) by ’62
1. Football Team
2. Cheerleader
3. Tumbler
4. Mule Rider
5. Victory Cannon
6. Navy Goat Procurer
7. Football Team Captain
8. Cadet Brigade Commander
9. Football Manager
10. Plebe Team Players
11. Chairman of the Honor Committee
12. M2 Honor Rep
13. Bill McWilliams ’55 –
Author of “A Return To Glory” –
A driving influence for this Room’s Dedication
driving influence for this Room’s Dedication
Bob Christiansen
Jospeh Cygler (10) 2 Army A’s
Donald & Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Howard Haupt (10)
Tom Kehoe (10)
Nick Monaco
James H. Morgan
Jerry Patterson
Dick Stephenson (10) by ’62 3 Army A’s
F.R. Stevens
John H. Stokes III
Leonard P. Wishart III
We became the Class of 1962 on 1 July 1958. From our original 815, we Graduated 601 on the 6th of June 1962. The Upper Classes insured we understood and appreciated what had gone before. The 1953 Football Season was one that touched both our need to appreciate the success of Army Football and our training in our Honor Code.
As a kid, one Classmate would climb a tall old oak tree on the North end of Michie to watch his Army Heroes play each Saturday. To this day he can still rattle off many of the names of the ’53 Team. Another Classmate’s Father took him to the Duke Game. To many, that may be Army’s Greatest Game.
In the years since our Graduation, the Cadet Corps has lost touch with not just the success of the 1953 Football Team but what the 1953 – 1954 Corps of Cadets actually accomplished.
We, members of the Class of 1962 cannot accept that. Room 405 links today’s Corps of Cadets and all future Cadet Corps with a piece of their Heritage.
Col. Blaik said to the Team after the Navy Game ” —- you have done more for Football at West Point than any other team in the history of the Academy”
Many members of the Class of 1962, and Wives & Children of some we have lost, thank the 1953 -1954 Corps of Cadets for what they did for our Alma Mater.
Col Blaik, Coaches Dobbs, Laslie, Amen, St Onge, Bevans, Deitzel, Lombardi – by ’62
Col Russell P. “Red” Reeder Class of 1926 by ’62
Morris Herbert – Class of 1950
“Number of us (classmates) listened to the ’53 Navy Game on the
radio — it was at Fort Bliss. We were all 1st Lts or Captains. When Pat Uebel
scored his 3rd touchdown of the day, one of my classmates leaped up in glee,
and accidentally sat down in the bowl of potato salad!”
Jesse Faber Class of 2012 – As a Yearling Jesse attempted to have his Class support the Nomination of the ’53 Team for the Army Sports Hall of Fame. The Academy Staff determined Cadets should not have any role in the Nomination process. Thanks for your support Jesse
Coach & Mrs. Hugh Wyatt
Created the Black Lion Award Honoring Don Holleder and the Other Black Lions Lost 10/17/1967
Terry & Mary Tibbetts – – Author
A Spartan Game: The Life and Loss of Don Holleder
MG Ames Albro* Fred Attaya (1) by McWilliams LTC Darrell Anderson* Gary Bacon John Bard (8) by ’62, Gary CPT Herbert Booth* James Carroll Bob Chapman (4) by ’62 Jack Charles (3) by ’62 Kirk Cockrell (1) by Schweiger Pat Dyer (12) by George Handy Col Paul Driscoll* Jay Edwards (2) by ’62 William Epling Howard Gabbert Paul Garneau Jay Gould (5) Hal Greer (9) by ’62 Frank Hicks (1) by ’62 Col Rufus Hutcheson* R. A. Ironside William Jessee* (9) Peter Jones (3) by ’62 Donald Kirklighter* John H. Klingberg Ken Kramer (1) by ’62 Jack Krause (1) by ’62 LTC Donald Lewis* Joe Lapchick (1) by ’62 Jan LeCroy (4) by ’62 Jerry Lodge (1) by ’62 Jack Logan Leroy Lunn (1,7) by ’62 Bill McVeigh* (2) Marion Meador (9) by ’62 Bob Mischak (1) by McWilliams LTC John Morris* Ed Moses (2) by ’62 LTC George O’Brien* G. Parshall George Perrin (4) by ’62 Cary Peyton 1LT William Purdue* (1) Melvyn D. Remus Col Teodorico Sanchez* Paul Schweikert (1) by ’62 Rox Shain (1) – my friend by John Shelter* Lowell Sisson (1) by McWilliams Ben Schemmer* (2,6) Fred Schweiger LTG Lawrence Skibbie* Norm Stephen (1) by ’62 W. C. “Tiny” Tomsen Col Scott Wetzel* CPT Don York* T. C. Young (11) by George Schein Class of ’62 Dick Ziegler (1) by ’62 * Classmates, Friends & A2 Company Mates |
Working Area
The Donor Listing will go in the Room
Tommy Bell by W. McWilliamsBill Chance by ’62John Clayton*William Doremus by ’62Joe FranklinJerry Hagan by ’62Larry Herdman by ’62Frank Hicks by ’62Fred Kneiriem by ’62Dan Ludwig by ’62MG Carl McNairWilliam & Veronica McWilliamsJames R.C. Miller by ’62Ski Ordway by J. Franklin and W. McWilliamsBill Robinson by ’62Benjamin RobertsMAJ Alex Rupp*Paul Sullivan by ’62John Wing by ’62Al Worden by ’62Ed Zaborowski
Nick Bruno by ’62Frank Burd by ’62Ralph ChesnauskasBill Cody by ’62Bob FarrisDonald Ernst by ’62Charles Glenn by ’62Howard Glock by ’62Don Holleder by B. Farris and R. ChesnauskasPete LashPaul Lasley by ’62Ron Melnick by ’62Col. Russell MericleDon Shannon by ’62Donald Shatterfield by ’62Pat Uebel by ’62Peter Vann by B. Farris and R. ChesnauskasJerry Wynn by B. Farris and R. ChesnauskasMike Zeigler by ’62
Bob Christiansen
Jospeh Cygler
Donald & Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Howard Haupt
Tom Kehoe
Nick Monaco
James H. Morgan
Jerry Patterson
Leonard P. Wishart III
F.R. Stevens
John H. Stokes III
We became the Class of 1962 on 1 July 1958. From our original 815, we Graduated 601 on the 6th of June 1962. The Upper Classes insured we understood and appreciated what had gone before. The 1953 Football Season was one area touched by both our need to appreciate the success of Army Football and as part of our training in the Honor Code.
As a kid, one Classmate would climb a tall old oak tree on the North end of Michie to watch his Army Heroes play each Saturday. To this day he can still rattle off many of the names of the ’53 Team. Another Classmate’s Father took him to the Duke Game. To many, that may be Army’s Greatest Game.
In the years since our Graduation, the Cadet Corps has lost touch with not just the success of the 1953 Football Team but what the 1953 – 1954 Corps of Cadets actually accomplished.
We, members of the Class of 1962 cannot accept that, and for that reason we have pushed for Room 405 so that today’s Corps of Cadets and all future Cadet Corps know and understand what the 1953 – 1954 Corps of Cadets did.
Col. Blaik said to the Team after the Navy Game ” —- you have done more for Football at West Point than any other team in the history of the Academy”
Many members of the Class of 1962, and Wives of our Classmates, thank the 1953 -1954 Corps of Cadets for what they did for our Alma Mater.
Col Blaik, Coaches Dobbs, Laslie, Amen, St Onge, Bevans, Deitzel – by ’62
Col Russell P. “Red” Reeder Class of 1926 by ’62
Morris Herbert – Class of 1950
“Number of us (classmates) listened to the ’53 Navy Game on the
radio — it was at Fort Bliss. We were all 1st Lts or Captains. When Pat Uebel
scored his 3rd touchdown of the day, one of my classmates leaped up in glee,
and accidentally sat down in the bowl of potato salad!”
Coach & Mrs. Hugh Wyatt
Created the Black Lion Award Honoring Don Holleder and the Other Black Lions Lost 10/17/1967
Terry & Mary Tibbetts – – Author
A Spartan Game: The Life and Loss of Don Holleder
|
MG Ames Albro* Fred Attaya by W. McWilliams LTC Darrell Anderson* John Bard – Cadet 1st Captain by ’62 CPT Herbert Booth* James Carroll Jack Charles by ’62 George Chapman by ’62 Kirk Cockrell by ’62 Col Paul Driscoll* Jay Edwards by ’62 William Epling Howard Gabbert Paul Garneau Jay Gould Frank Hicks by ’62 Col Rufus Hutchenson* William Jesse* Peter Jones by ’62 Donald Kirklighter* Ken Kramer by ’62 Jack Krause by ’62 Jan LeCroy by ’62 Joe Lapchick by ’62 LTC Donald Lewis* Jerry Lodge by ’62 Jack Logan Leroy Lunn by ’62 Bill McVeigh* Marion Meador Mgr by ’62 Bob Mischak by W. McWilliams LTC John Morris* Ed Moses by ’62 LTC George O’Brien* G. Parshall George Perrin by ’62 Cary Peyton 1LT William Purdue* M.D. Remus Col Teodorico Sanchez* Paul Schweikert by ’62 Rox Shain – my friend by W. C. “Tiny” Tomsen John Shelter* Lowell Sisson by W. McWilliams Ben Schemmer* Fred Schweiger LTG Lawrence Skibbie* Norm Stephen by ’62 Col Scott Wetzel* CPT Don York* Dick Ziegler by ’62 *Classmates, Friends & A2 Company Mates Dr. Jay Gould III |
As of 4 September
Draft for the Thayer web page
Need name of ’62 Classmate
Scroll down for Donor Listing
We entered on 1 July 1958. The Upper Classes insured we understood and appreciated what had gone before. The 1953 Football Season was one that touched both our need to appreciate the success of Army Football and our training in our Honor Code.
In the years since our Graduation, the Cadet Corps has lost touch with not just the success of the 1953 Football Team but with what the 1953 – 1954 Corps of Cadets actually accomplished.
We, members of the Class of 1962 cannot accept that. Room 405 links today’s Corps of Cadets and all future Cadet Corps with a piece of their Heritage.
Col. Blaik said to the Team after the Navy Game ” —- you have done more for Football at West Point than any other team in the history of the Academy”
The tears in Colonel Blaik’s eyes are clearly evident in Tiny Tomsen’s ’54 photo taken as Army’s Coach leaves Philadelphia’s Municipal Stadium after the Navy Game. Those tears reflect more than just the pride he has in his Team. They reflect what has been given back to his Alma Mater – to our Alma Mater.
The Class of 1962, and Wives of our Classmates, thank the 1953 -1954 Corps of Cadets for what they and their Team did for all future Classes.
With that said,
The 1953 – 1954 Corps of Cadets
From tragedy came inspiration. Following the 1953 Army football season, famed sports journalist Grantland Rice wrote of the small, captivating team of thirty-four men who came to play Navy in Philadelphia on November 29, “They came up the hard way, and there has never been a team with a finer spirit.” Their legendary coach, Earl “Red” Blaik, would write twenty-one years later, “They had lived with the coaching lash, dirt, blood, and defeat. They were afraid of nothing, awed by nothing, eager to do anything asked.” This was a special team, truly a team of “the twelfth man” – a team of heroes without stars, with different heroes each Saturday, all playing for honor and love of the game.
They were the same team Blaik spoke to in the locker room after their victory over Navy. His words would last a lifetime and continue to echo down through the years.
“I never coached a team that gave me more than you did.”
But there was more, much more, a determined band of men in the class of 1954 who led the team, and whose cheerleaders wanted to know and remember victories. The silence they imposed upon the Corps prior to the Duke Game proved potent when 2400 voices erupted in support of their team. They gave birth to the tradition of Army’s victory cannon, and in the sunshine and shadows of a now-vanished Polo Grounds in New York City, led the Corps of Cadets in relentless, thunderous chants of “GO! GO! GO!” – and for the first time outside of Michie Stadium fired the cannon, that over the years since, has shaken great stadiums. They were the same men who, on a Caribbean training cruise in the summer of 1951 fomented a small “Mutiny on the Whiskey,” – the battleship USS Wisconsin – while others, in pre-dawn’s dark spilled a reveille cannon into Camp Buckner’s Lake Popolopen.
In November 1952 along with the Class of ’53, they showed their spirit and fight once more when in “Operation Paintbrush” they painted and repainted a sign on the starboard side of a Navy destroyer-escort docked at West Point. Then came the fall of 1953, when the men of ’54 let it be known “This will be Army’s year!” and conceived the mischievous goat larceny. They, with ’55, marched Billy XII through Washington Hall at Sunday’s supper meal – and again with ’55 fomented the goat rebellion at West Point, not knowing that President Dwight D. Eisenhower, had summarily ordered the goat’s return to Annapolis.
They were leading a Corps of Cadets whose members in 1951 “walked on” in great numbers to play for their decimated football team. They were players who, with the Corps, became one, inseparable unit of men who refused to remember they hadn’t the skills or experience to play the great game of collegiate football. They were from the teams of 1951 and 1952, who felt the sting of adversity, embarrassment, humiliation and loss, sweated, bleed, played every game with a fury, gave all they had – and laid the foundation for the season of ’53. Men in the Class of 1955, the smallest West Point class in years, who walked on with all the others, and joined the class of ’54’s quest for victory. And ’56, with its bevy of talented yearlings who set the gridiron on fire that fall. Men from the Plebe Class, ’57, who surrounded the practice field each day, and with their entire class voiced thunderous encouragement on game days.
In The Pointer magazine published the day prior to the Navy game Cadet Allan C. Sterling, Jr., class of 1954, wrote, “Tomorrow afternoon, radio sets will be tuned on Philadelphia all the way from Berlin to Panmunjom. Graduates will be listening for news of an Army victory. But they’ll be listening for something more – something none of them talk about. They’ll be listening for evidence the Corps is on its way back. They want to know that the values which they stand for are still alive in the Corps. Most of the hundred thousand spectators tomorrow afternoon will be watching a football game and nothing else. The Corps will be watching eleven men shouldering the task of 2400.”
Coach Earl H Blaik was designated College Football Coach of the Year, while the 17 October defeat of the 7th ranked Duke Blue Devils at the Polo Grounds was designated as the Collegiate Game of the Year.
On Sunday, December 20, 1953, in a ceremony at the supper meal in Washington Hall, after a five minute speech describing the history of the Lambert Trophy, brothers Victor and Henry Lambert presented the trophy in recognition of Army’s Eastern Football supremacy – to team captain Leroy Lunn, ’54, who accepted it for both the Army team and the Corps of Cadets. It was the first time since the trophy’s inception in 1936, that it had been awarded outside New York City, and the first time ever, awarded to a team and its student body.
The four classes of 1953 – 1954 Corps of Cadets’ record
from the fall of 1953 to the fall of 1956 is
25-9-2, with 2 wins, one tie and one loss against Navy.
It was Bob Mischak’s 73 yard rundown of Duke’s All American Red Smith that set the standard for the teams over the next 3 years. But it was also Army holding on the four Duke thrusts toward the goal line from the 7, with Dick Ziegler’s big hand on the ball preventing Duke’s Worth Lutz from inching the ball forward over the goal line on fourth down that insured that standard. Bob Mischak was an All American.
The Philadelphia Inquirer erred in giving Howard Glock credit for recovering the Navy fumble on the opening kickoff. Rox Shain had not make the trip with the Team. He had been yanked off the Cadet Train because Col Blaik made the last minute decision to have Rox kick off. Rox’s kicks were hard to handle. Norm Stephen stormed down the field and slammed Navy’s John Riester to the ground causing the fumble. In the photo Howard can be seen some distance from the ball as it passes Lowell Sisson’s knee. Lowell dove on it and Army marched for its touchdown. MAJ Rox Shain’s F-105 was shot down in Vietnam, his remains were never recovered.
It was Ben Schemmer ’54 and Alex Rupp ’55 who procured the Navy Goat in 1953 and Jay Gould who with the Ordnance Department created the Victory Cannon from a German Rocket Gun captured at Kasserine Pass.
It was the miniature Beat Navy flags on the tables in Washington Hall, the chopper flyover hovering just above the field at Philadelphia’s Municipal Stadium, the Beat Navy streamer too big to lift (Academy Officials only finding out when the bill arrived in the weeks after the Navy Game), the Victory Cannon, the Cadet Bathrobe before Duke and Gray Jacket before Navy lifting to the heavens by weather ballons, Billy’s arrival in Washington Hall, the individual Cadet Company creations honoring their team, the Drums, the Bugles, the Constant, Thunderous never ending Chanting GO! – GO!! – GO!!!, that is recalled to this day by ??????? ??????? Class of ’62 who’s Father took him to the Duke Game (perhaps Army’s Greatest Game), The “Silence” imposed upon the Corps by the Cheerleaders, and it was General Van Fleet Class of 1915 taking off his Army uniform jacket to reveal his Cadet Sweater with his Army A at the evening meal that contributed to the success of that season.
Bob Mischak who as player and coach participated in 3 Super Bowl winning teams, 8 AFC Championship games and numerous playoff games including as a starter in the NFL’s famed Greatest Game Ever Played had this to say of the Duke Game.
“From a player’s stand point, that was the epitome of any game, team, and student body support that I’ve been associated with – bar none.”
Number 10 was Class of ’55 in the Fall of 1953. He joined the Class of 1956 when he was found in International Relations. Coach Lombardi spent hours on the field and in private sessions instructing Peter in the royal three “F’s” of Lombardi – faking, feeding and fleeing. The fleeing part was very important to protect your hide. If anything was unique about Lombardi was his attention to details almost to a point of being paranoia. Peter was inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame on September 17, 2010.
Col Blaik rotated the pulling guards, so Joe Franklin played both right and left guard. In the Duke Game Joe tore up his right knee when Ralph Torrance & Duke’s All American Eddie Meadows went high & low on him in the in 2d Quarter. He was out for the Season.
When Colonel Blaik retired after the 1958 Season, Joe Steffy ’49, (Army’s only Outland Trophy Recipient) asked his Coach which were his most memorable plays. One of the two mentioned was Pete Lash ’56 running around, between, over or through nearly every Navy Player in the 1955 Game. Colonel Blaik again mentioned that play to BG Joe Franklin in the early eighties.
(Of note – Joe Steffy attended every Army Home Game from 1952 till shortly before his death May 21, 2011.)
Coach Blaik’s decision regarding the 1955 Team had come under extreme criticism by the Sporting Press, the Academy Staff & Faculty and even a number of Cadets. On the evening of Friday, November 25, 1955 as Col Blaik expressed his concern for the game the next day, one player spoke up “Colonel you’re not going to take that walk tomorrow”
At the old Municipal Stadium the next day – Army 14 Navy 6.
That player was an All American End who for the good of the Team, took a step back from his All American position to quarterback the ’55 Team. He is a member of both the Hall of Fame and the Army Sports Hall of Fame.
Don’s Creed is Honored each year by Teams across American in their selection of their one player who best exemplifies “leadership, courage, devotion to duty, self-sacrifice, and – above all – an unselfish concern for the team ahead of himself”. The Black Lion Award honor’s Don and the other Black Lions lost on 17 OCtober 1967.
Ralph Chesnauskas, Yearling right guard in 1953 who kicked the 2 extra points, played the entire sixty minutes against Duke while his Teammate and Classmate Bob Farris played the 2d half of the Navy Game blind in one eye. Although Captain in 1954, Bob never played another down of football. In 2009 Ralph, an All American who earned 9 Army A’s, was inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame.
The devilishness of the Class of 1954 would be passed to what was to become know as West Point’s Black ’57. L-1 was one of the Cadet Company’s that did not Break.
The L-1 Cadet Company Commander was seen reaching forward with his saber, taping someone on the shoulder to speak – thus it became Cadet Lore that he was threatening to “Run Through” any one who broke. As the other Cadet Companies began to break he simply called out “Continue to March”
As a Tac stated “The action rippled out company by company toward both flanks ….. There was a notable exception, Company L-1 ignored the pandemonium on both sides and marched in perfect order to its Guidon. The L-1 Company Commander merely turned his head toward Company Classmates, spoke to them, and they never wavered.”
Of the members of ’62 involved in the contributing effort for Room 405, four were L-1 Company Mates, and the fifth the wife of Carl.
When as a Plebe Bob Anderson ’61 stopped to pick up his sock roll in the Gym he was issued an orange jersey told to report to the A Squad practice field. It was the week of the Syracuse Game and Bob was going to be Jim Brown. On the first play running with the B Squad, Bob knocked off 8 yards. It was then that the dreaded words for every B Squad were spoken by the Colonel. “Run it Again.” Bob went into the line and was immediately slammed to the ground by Dick Stephenson (3 Army A’s). Years later as an All American – Hall of Fame Running Back, Bob could still remembered that hit – his introduction to Army Football.
The Class of 1957’s Gift is perhaps the finest gift of any Class for it goes to the very essance of each and every Cadet. Situated against the East wall of Eisenhower Barracks, Honor Plaza cradles the words of our Honor Code which are the fiber for our Motto – Duty Honor Country.
Again, we members of the Class of 1962 thank the 1953 – 1954 Corps of Cadets and their Team.
For What They Gave on Saturday Afternoon 