November 29, 2000|By Kent Baker and Laura Sullivan | Kent Baker and Laura Sullivan,SUN STAFF
For more than a century, spectators have counted on the annual Army-Navy football game for the pageantry, pride and tradition of one of the most spirited rivalries in college sports.
But one thing the game has not been known for lately is football.
The Naval Academy and West Point have had an increasingly difficult time staying competitive during the past 20 years because their service requirements make it hard to attract talented players and because their academic standards are tougher than those at most football powers.
There was a time, however, when Army and Navy were among the titans of college football.
During World War II, it was common for the two service academies to be ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the country as they were in 1944, when they last played in Baltimore.
Army was the national champion three consecutive seasons (1944 to 1946) during the era of Heisman Trophy winners Glenn Davis and Felix "Doc" Blanchard, posting a combined 27-0 record during that period.
The football glory of Army and Navy continued intermittently through the 1950s and early 1960s with Army's Pete Dawkins (1958) and Midshipmen Joe Bellino (1960) and Roger Staubach (1963) capturing Heismans and Navy playing in four major bowl games, the Cotton (twice), the Sugar and the Orange.
In 1963, second-ranked Navy was matched in the Cotton against top-rated Texas in what was the national title showdown.
But as both the world and the football landscape changed, the academies' stature on the gridiron slowly declined. Now, they stand at the point where they compete satisfactorily against mid-level NCAA Division I-A teams, but rarely against the powers of the game.
Army and Navy have still had their moments in recent years. In 1996, both made bowl games: Army lost to Auburn, 32-29, in the Independence Bowl and Navy beat California, 42-38, in the Aloha Bowl. But it is improbable either will ever regain the status they commanded during the World War II period, when some top players transferred to the academies to avoid the draft for four years.
The academies also offered a sense of patriotism for some players at a time when America was solidly behind its armed forces. Many went on to long and distinguished military careers, including Navy's Don Whitmire, who became an admiral and supervised the evacuation of Saigon during the close of the Vietnam War.
But since 1982, the Air Force Academy has been the dominant service team, winning all but four of the Commander in Chief's trophies (Army took those four). Navy is 65-133-1 during that 19-year period, while Army is slightly better at 93-103-2, including four bowl appearances.
Long-standing series against national heavyweights like Penn State and Michigan have long since disappeared from the academies' schedules. Navy continues to play as an independent school, but three years ago, Army joined Conference USA and so far has enjoyed scant success (4-14 record) against moderately talented teams like Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Southern Mississippi, Tulane and Louisville.
So, what happened to change the power structure? The answers lie in institutional priorities, the anti-military sentiment that accompanied Vietnam and the rapid growth of professional football, which made recruiting top players much more difficult for the academies.
"The influence of the pros has taken the Oklahomas to a new level, very close to the NFL," said Navy athletic director Jack Lengyel. "The academies have never been in that particular race and have kept football in context. That is the most significant difference."
Stringent academic requirements and a five-year service commitment after graduation do not attract players with professional aspirations. They opt for schools with big football names, widespread television exposure and greater opportunities to be drafted into the NFL.
Army and Navy players can have pro careers if they are good enough, but Pro Football Hall of Famer Staubach, for instance, did not join the Dallas Cowboys until after he spent four years in the Navy, including a tour of Vietnam. Navy running back Napoleon McCallum could not play for three seasons because of a change in his military assignment after practicing and playing with the Los Angeles Raiders.
In addition to the service commitment, the academies lost recruits because of anti-war sentiment that carried over from the 1960s and 1970s.
"There was definitely a backlash from Vietnam," said Lengyel. "People were not as receptive to the academies, and it definitely became harder to recruit. But since then, the pride in our military has changed significantly."
Budget considerations also factor in. The major powers produce enormous revenue through game admissions, television appearances and bowl games and, in turn, provide their players with state-of-the-art conditioning and weight equipment and expensive game and practice facilities. Army and Navy have struggled to keep pace, although both have upgraded the conditioning capabilities.
