Commander Henry Brus, U.S. Navy (Retired)
It was Plebe Year 1973. Neither team was doing well, and Army was winless going into the game. Navy won in a blowout, giving my class carry-on until Christmas leave. With ten seconds remaining, the scoreboard showed Navy 51 and Army 0—the time remaining (0:10) reflected Army’s record.
Rick Campbell, U.S. Navy Veteran
Once upon a time I was a season-ticket holder. I attended more than 20 games between 1996 and 2019. Most memorable was the 2017 game in Philadelphia in near-blizzard conditions (14–13, Army) with Army wearing all-white uniforms. We could not even see them on the field.
Commander John B. Tata, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)
My only game was in 1970. Teaching at the Naval Academy, I was a Yard Patrol Squadron advisor. We sailed to Philadelphia up the Chesapeake Bay and through the Delaware Canal. It was a transit from midday through the night. A piloting adventure, followed by a Navy 11–7 win.
Commander Frank Hughes, U.S. Navy (Retired)
I have attended only six or seven games, but my most memorable was when I was a flag-bearer in the Naval Academy color guard and we were saluted by President John F. Kennedy as we marched by.
Theodore Kuhlmeier, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran
In the early 1970s, the Army-Navy game was played at JFK stadium in Philadelphia. Before one game, the buses carrying the Brigade dropped us at the Philly Navy Yard next to a sandlot field and a Peewee football game for seven and eight year olds. Suddenly, instead of just playing in front of their parents, the kids had more than 4,000 midshipmen cheering them on. Right before formation was sounded, one player broke free and hundreds of midshipmen raced alongside cheering him on. That boy was walking on air.
Captain John Cordle, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Singing the national anthem with the Naval Academy and West Point glee clubs at the 84th Army-Navy Game in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, in 1983. Napoleon McCallum rushed for 182 yards and Eric Wallace returned the opening kickoff 95 yards after a lateral from McCallum, leading Navy to a 42–13 victory. This also was the only time the Army-Navy game was played on the West Coast.
James M. Doumas, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran
I have been to 21 Army-Navy games. In 2012 (17–13, Navy), I obtained a field pass and was able to go on the field and have my picture taken with the Navy Goat and cheerleaders. Navy scored a come-from-behind touchdown in the fourth quarter to win the game.
Richard C. Etherton, U.S. Navy Veteran
I served in naval aviation (P-3 Orion squadron VP-66 from 1970 to 1976), attaining the rate of aviation technician first class, senior air crew. I now live in the greater Philadelphia area and I have never been to an Army-Navy football game. I am 75 years old, and hopefully I will realize this dream in my lifetime.
Commander Michael Donohue, U.S. Navy (Retired)
I have been to one game, in 1982 in Philadelphia. There was a stoner guy sitting in front of us who offered our destroyer commanding officer a “toke.” The stoner guy took major offense when the CO instinctively brushed his hand holding the weed away. The wardroom (six big guys) stood up at once on either side of the CO. This cooled the situation down fast.
Bob Warwick, U.S. Navy Veteran
The first, and only, Army-Navy football game I attended was the 2017 “Snow Bowl.” It was a most memorable experience—six hours in the snow only to see the wrong team win!
Captain James B. Suffern, U.S. Coast Guard
I have been to three games. The most memorable one was in 2017. We were in Philadelphia, it was snowing, and my brother and sister-in-law came from New Orleans and froze with us in the stands. It was a wonderful time and one of my fondest memories with my brother.
Russel Brooks
The 1983 game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, is my best memory. I attended with my aunt and cousins who lived very close and I was able to drive down from San Jose. While my father, retired Marine Corps Brigadier Generl Donald H. Brooks, couldn’t come, he was able to get us the game tickets so we could.
