Game at West Point serves to teach valuable lessons to HS teams
WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Sept. 11 is personal with me. Very emotional. Especially standing in New York and on the campus of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Here on the Banks of the Hudson, in historic Michie Stadium one feels the honor of the granite buildings and green glad cadets -- those who were running past Trophy Point on Thursday carrying American flags, racing across The Plain past statues of MacArthur, Eisenhower and Patton.
Duty. Honor. Country.
Two parochial high school football powers -- No. 1 ranked St. Thomas Aquinas and 16th-ranked Don Bosco Prep from nearby Ramsey, N.J. -- are heading this way, too, for Saturday's nationally televised matchup (4 p.m. on FOX Sports Florida). Their rosters are filled by incredibly talented young boys on the cusp of manhood who were all of 4 and 5 years young when American Airlines flights 11 and 77 as well as United 93 and 175 opened a lexicon of terror that may never end. But they are learning of what America faces and of the commitment of our armed forces to fight, and it is their schools and coaching staffs pointing the way.
St. Thomas Aquinas' George Smith, who raised generations through 34 years as a demanding and highly successful coach before becoming the school's athletic director and handing the reigns to fourth-year head man Rocco Casullo, made this journey a pilgrimage for his institution.
"This will be a tremendous experience for everyone involved," Smith said. "We had hosted Bosco two years ago and I thought if we're going to play up north I want it to be at West Point. Especially given the times in which we live. Our players need to learn and experience who protects us given what's going on this world."
His counterpart and now good friend at Bosco, Brian McAleer, concurred: "We are all of 30 miles away and have never brought our football team to West Point. I don't think a high school team from New Jersey has ever played at Michie. Both programs are focused on teaching the hardest lessons to learn: commitment to a cause, overcoming adversity through hard work, being only as strong as the teammate next to you."
Both schools compete with remarkable dominance. Add to the two St. Thomas national titles two more earned by Greg Toal, for 16 years the coach of a Bosco program that has overshadowed New Jersey prep ranks, capturing the 2009 and 2011 national crowns and 14 state championships. He owns 285 wins.
"On the field, this is the ultimate challenge," Toal said. "We played about as well as we could two years ago in Miami (winning 20-10). But as close as it is, we've never played at Michie. A beautiful setting with great tradition. My teams have been many places and in many stadiums. This will be special.
"These kids will have an experience they will never forget. They will be telling their grandchildren they played at West Point and walked on the same grounds as so many who have defended this nation."
Since that horrific autumn day in 2001, more than 100 members of Army's Long Gray Line have perished in the Middle East, including Maj. Thomas Kennedy, killed in Afghanistan. Kennedy spent three years at Bosco prior to his academy appointment.
"We are going to honor Tommy at the coin toss," McAleer said. "His family will be there, with the team captains. He was a smiling, happy man who had served multiple tours. He didn't have to go back. But he wanted to serve his country.
"And we'll have two color guards. One from the New Jersey State Police, and one from the cadets of West Point."
The lessons of West Point, since its founding to thwart the British two centuries past at a strategic bend in a broad river well north of Manhattan, are immediate and timeless. Hall of Fame basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, Army's team captain under Bobby Knight, and a 1969 grad, brought Team USA here in August in advance of the World Championships. Hardened NBA veterans with still much to learn about leadership and sacrifice.
Vincent Viola, USMA '77, will join his Florida Panthers at his alma mater this fall as the Panthers take to the Holleder Center ice in preparation for the demands of the NHL grind. The arena, just across the street from Michie, is named for Maj. Donald Holleder. He was a dashing football star for Hall of Fame coach Red Blaik, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated. A decade later he received the Medal of Honor in Vietnam -- and lost his life.
Vince Lombardi knew Holleder as a Blaik assistant coach. And it was while at West Point that the future Green Bay icon would slip into the Waldorf Astoria residence of a retired Douglas MacArthur and show perhaps this nation's most famed general highlights of the Black Knights in action. Lombardi gleaned lessons in Michie and later applied many in a career that saw the National Football League name its championship trophy in his honor.
"We are taking the players on a tour of the West Point museum," said Casullo, breaking with protocol in a football-is-a-business focus required for high level success. "They will get a great deal out of this. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity."
Like many, my life changed 13 years ago. The world changed. I was in the air. My Delta flight taking me back to Florida from a Falcons-49ers assignment in San Francisco put down in Tallahassee. These kids don't remember that day, but it stays with me. I carry my boarding pass still. Seat 13D.
To some, this appears to be just a high school game and a nice trip.
"But there are 50 million athletes who would trade places with these two teams to be playing at West Point on Saturday," McAleer said.
"I get emotional thinking about it."
