picture-a-day countdown

1 day until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 31, 2012 Football, Navy, Uncategorized

We’re at the end of the countdown. Let’s celebrate: A day before Notre Dame takes on Navy, here’s a picture all Annapolis fans can appreciate. Quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, center, leads the celebration after Navy’s 46-44 triple-overtime win over Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., on Nov. 3, 2007. The victory broke a Notre Dame win streak stretching back to 1963 (and this guy). The 2007 season would be head coach Paul Johnson’s last in Annapolis, with assistant coach Ken Niumatalolo taking over for the season-ending loss to Utah in the Poinsettia Bowl and holding the job ever since. Navy and…

2 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 30, 2012 Air Force, Army, Uncategorized

Our last black-and-white photo of the countdown. And what a way to go out: As 66-year-old action shots go, it’s tough to get much better. Somewhere in that melee are two Army Heisman Trophy winners, struggling to a scoreless tie against Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium in “The Game of the Century” on Nov. 9, 1946, at Yankee Stadium. Army fullback Felix “Doc” Blanchard fumbled the ball you see floating midframe; it would be recovered by Army’s Glenn Davis. Blanchard, Army’s first Heisman winner, took the trophy the previous year. Davis won it for the 1946 season — Army’s third-straight…

4 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 28, 2012 Army, Football, Uncategorized

Yet another completely natural, not-at-all-staged football photo from the 1950s: In 1958, Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik debuted the “Lonely End” formation, in which Bill Carpenter would split out up to 30 yards from his teammates, staying out of the huddle and generally giving opposing defensive coordinators fits (football junkies can get a breakdown here). That bit of offensive trickery helped Army to an undefeated season (8-0-1), wins over Notre Dame and Navy, and a fitting cap to the Blaik era at West Point. But none of that would’ve happened without Pete Dawkins. Dawkins, pictured above, a senior and West…

6 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 26, 2012 Football, Navy, Uncategorized

Two Democrats yesterday. And in the interest of equal time, two Republicans today (we’re not counting Gen. Eisenhower, if you’re scoring at home): Here, President Bush poses with Navy’s Reggie Campbell, left, and Irv Spencer during an April 14, 2008, ceremony in the Rose Garden. Skipping the traditional personalized jersey, the pair presented the president with a cowboy hat. The ceremony, celebrating Navy’s 2007 Commander in Chief’s Trophy win, came in the midst of a seven-year CINC streak for the Mids, which Air Force ended in 2010. The yearly trophy presentation wasn’t always as lavish or as reliably recorded for…

7 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 25, 2012 Air Force, Football

One side effect to football season, at least every four years: Somebody insists on holding an election. This year, the Republican National Convention will conclude the same day the college football season begins. And by the time Navy and Air Force kick off Sept. 1, the Democrats will be trickling into Charlotte for their gathering. Where do politics and academy football intersect? Why, at the top, of course: Here, President Obama shakes hands with Air Force quarterback Tim Jefferson during an April 23 ceremony in the East Room of the White House. At the ceremony, Obama presented the Falcons with…

8 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 24, 2012 Army, Football

Why would a picture of a West Point freshman practicing his punts, circa 1912, with his face half-hidden and the football not even in the frame, make the countdown? Maybe the credit line will give you a hint. That partially obscured punter is Dwight Eisenhower, Class of 1915 (“The Class the Stars Fell on”), future general, future supreme allied commander, future two-term president. But before all that, he lettered at Army in 1912. A knee injury — reportedly suffered trying to track down a halfway-decent running back out of Carlisle named Jim Thorpe — cut his career short. He became a…

9 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 23, 2012 Air Force, Football, Uncategorized

They say swimsuit shots equal Web traffic. So: These particular beach bums date from the pre-Hasselhoff era — 1980, to be exact. And they’re not exactly bums. That’s the Air Force football team jogging on Waikiki Beach, according to the caption provided by the National Archives, before facing Hawaii in a season-ending showdown. The details may be lost to history — for one thing, the National Archives dates the picture Dec. 3, 1980, and the teams played Nov. 29, according to the Air Force media guide. This much is clear: The Falcons wouldn’t have much reason to be gallivanting around…

11 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 21, 2012 Air Force, Football, Uncategorized

A picture that has everything: Two Air Force legends in their 1960s finest, painfully attempting to make a staged photo not look staged in the slightest: On the left is Ben Martin, who took over the Air Force program in 1958. In his first season, the Falcons’ fourth overall, he led Air Force to its only undefeated record and a berth in the Cotton Bowl, where his squad fought to a scoreless tie with TCU. Martin, a Naval Academy grad, coached 20 years at Air Force. He would later work as a broadcaster with ABC Sports, then return to Colorado…

12 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 20, 2012 Afghanistan, Army, Army-Air Force Game, Football, Navy, Uncategorized

The importance of the Army-Navy football rivalry never needs stressed to those on the field and is rarely questioned by those off it. But on Dec. 1, 2001, in Philadelphia, less than three months after terrorists attacked U.S. soil and less than two months after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, the game’s symbolic link to service and sacrifice resonated in a very real, very immediate way. In the postgame photo above, Army’s Brent Dial (21) and Navy’s Ed Malinowski (10), Chris Wade (43) and Chandler Sims (6) stand united. Dial shows none of the happiness one would expect after a 26-17…

13 days until kickoff: AA’s picture-a-day countdown

By Kevin Lilley on August 19, 2012 Army, Football, Uncategorized

It’s on a football field, so it counts: As part of a series of events surrounding their spring scrimmage at Fort Benning, Ga., last March, Army honored a number of heroes in an on-field pregame ceremony. A picture of all the honorees — part of an appreciation written by a retired Army colonel — is here, but let’s consider the above trio for a minute. On the left sits retired Lt. Gen. Harold “Hal” Moore Jr., Class of 1945, who earned a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during a three-day battle in Vietnam’s Ia Drang Valley in November 1965.…

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