Army-Navy: It Isn’t Just Football

By Jeff Jowett: The Army-Navy football game is one of the longest-running, intensely contested, and mythically portrayed events in all of sports. But the potential for legend doesn’t stop with the annual game. Both academies have outstanding boxing programs that engage in a competitive season of their own against other schools. So why not extend the natural rivalry from the gridiron to the ring? The only question might be, what took so long?

Actually, the two teams have been battling each other for decades, but most often during invitationals involving numerous schools rather than mano a mano. But whenever West Point and Annapolis meet, whether in dual meet or invitational matches, the rivalry is most intense, the competition exciting and battled to the wire. So for the past three years, the Army-Navy boxing meet has been combined with the gridiron classic, held on the eve of the football game and in the same city. “The rivalry starts here…The game is tomorrow…” proclaimed the opening line of the program, held on 12/11 at Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. A banquet for dignitaries, alumni and prominent associates of both schools preceded the competition. When the doors opened, Exhibit Hall A was quickly filled to SRO with a boisterous, partisan crowd on both sides and electricity enough to light up Billy Penn’s hat.

The Navy squad, coached by Jimmy McNally, got off to a dominating start, sweeping the first four bouts! They were all furiously contested, the boxers going full tilt not just for themselves but for their schools and the rabid fans urging them on. But Navy’s competitive level was unquestioned, winning all four by unanimous decisions. Included for the first time was a women’s bout, and they left nothing on the table. Although Navy’s entrant was more skilled and dominated the point scoring cleanly, Army never quits and goes home. Putting all she could muster into a desperate final round, Army’s entrant made it a crowd pleaser to the last bell.

But this is a rivalry with a beating heart that goes far beyond the techniques of execution. The West Point team, coached by Ray Barone, was evidently unfazed by the early setbacks. And they got into the win column in bout five, a furious slugfest that resulted in the only stopped fight on the card. Army would not relent and carried a non-stop assault into the third and final round before the referee called a halt. This marked the beginning of an incredible turnaround that turned the show from a Naval bombardment into a beachhead invasion that carried literally to the final blow! West Point took the next two bouts and the show went into the eighth and final contest with Navy needing a win to take the meet but Army in position to spoil all that with an equal share of pride.

The final contest was fought at 180 pounds, pitting Navy’s experienced Jourdan Looney against a determined West Pointer, Christian Bledsoe. The red hot contest never allowed more than a temporary advantage to either, with Looney in possession of a long reach advantage and years of experience making use of it, against the stocky Bledsoe’s vigorous physical attack. With the hall going crazy, the contest went to the final bell, producing the only disputed decision on the card. It was dead even going into the final round, with Army taking that on all cards for literally a one-point victory. It’s hard to imagine a more poetic ending between two great schools, two great teams.

Results:

119 – Zoe Wang, Navy, dec. Gaby Barrera, Army, 3-0

132 – J. V. Saubun, Navy, dec. Jordan Isham, Army, 3-0.

147 – Danny O’Neill, Navy, dec. Colt Sterk, Army, 3-0.

156 Women – Samantha Glaeser, Navy, dec. Sarah Gold, Army, 3-0.

156 – Josh Melendez, Army, RSC3 John Makilling, Navy.

156 – Anders Freiberg, Army, dec. Dave Von Savage, Navy, 3-0.

175 – William Estes, Army, dec. Reuben Druckrey, Navy, 3-0.

180 – Christian Bledsoe, Army, dec. Jourdan Looney, Navy, 2-1.

Danny O’Neill won Outstanding Boxer. National Collegiate Boxing Ass’n President Ken Cooper hosted the show. Officials were Lou Codella, Tim Duffy, Pete Quinones, Wendell Douglas, Jamil Ali, Tom Brennan, and Dennis Garner.