Navy Midshipmen Football – Playing For the Love of the Game
The United States Naval Academy sponsors numerous varsity sports that participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) under Division I-A, which is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics. Both men’s and women’s teams are called Navy Midshipmen. They are also known as “Mids” and are under the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision independent schools that are four-year institutions whose football programs are not part of an NCAA-affiliated conference.
Having won the National Championship in 1926, Navy football can boast 19 players and 3 coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame. The most traditional and enduring interservice rivalry is the annual Army-Navy Game that is nationally televised. Instant replay made its debut in 1963 during the Army-Navy game. Since 1890 these two rivals have been playing for bragging rights to claim who is the better branch of the armed forces.
Since many midshipmen will serve in the military after graduation, few of them will ever play in the NFL. One of the few exceptions was Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach who not only was named MVP of Super Bowl VI, but was inducted to the Hall of Fame. Although others have been able to play professionally, Navy football is mostly about playing for the love of the game. Wartime makes these games more emotional especially for the seniors who will be playing their last competitive football game and who may not return once they are deployed overseas.
Each season the triangular college football series between the United States Military Academy (Army), the United States Naval Academy (Navy), and the United States Air Force Academy (Air Force) is played and the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is awarded to the winner. First awarded in 1972, Navy has had possession of the prestigious trophy from 2003 to 2010, the longest time for any academy. Another independent, Notre Dame, has played against Navy in 84 consecutive annual games since 1927. In 2007 Navy beat Notre Dame 46-44 in triple overtime ending the Fighting Irish’s forty-three successive winning streak over them.
Other rivalries include the in-state Crab Bowl Classic against Maryland. Even though the two teams have played sporadically over the years, Navy leads the series 14-7. Navy’s oldest active football rival since 1891 is Rutgers University. The U.S. Naval Academy also plays against Southern Methodist University for the Gansz Trophy. Created in 2009 through collaboration between their athletic departments, the trophy is named after a former Naval Academy linebacker, Frank Gansz.
The U.S. Naval Academy’s mascot is Bill the Goat. For centuries Navy ships sailed with livestock which often included goats. They used them not only for milk and butter, but goats were useful in eating garbage and other undesirable food. A live goat named El Cid, a gift to the Brigade of Midshipmen from officers of the USS New York, made his mascot debut during an 1893 Army-Navy Game. Navy defeated Army 6-3 and El Cid was adopted as part of the team. Although other mascots like two cats, a bulldog, a gorilla, and a carrier pigeon were used during that time as well, since 1904 the goat has served as official mascot.
The Navy’s fight song is “Anchors Aweigh” composed in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmerman and played by the United States Naval Academy Drum and Bugle Corps during games. The home field of the Navy Midshipmen football team is the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium near the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The stadium serves as a memorial to the Navy and Marine Corps and dedicated to all those who have served and who currently serve and uphold the traditions of the Navy and Marine Corps. Thousands of memorial plaques are displayed in honor and remembrance of battles since the early 1900s involving the Naval and Marine Corps.
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