Navy wants the trophy back from Air Force After Navy beat Army in 2003 and completed its first sweep of its service academy rivals in 22 years, the celebration went deep into the night at a Philadelphia hotel.
Amid the revelry, it suddenly dawned on athletic director Chet Gladchuck that the Mids also had captured the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy. So he instructed Capt. Greg Cooper, a deputy AD, to fetch the trophy and return it to Annapolis as soon as possible.
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When Cooper arrived at the Air Force Academy, he was surprised to discover there was no way to fit the massive chunk of hardware through the doors of a commercial plane.
| UP NEXT |
| Air Force at Navy |
| When » Saturday, noon |
| Where » Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Annapolis |
| TV » CBS |
| Radio » 1500 AM |
“Nobody at Navy knew how big the trophy was,” said Cooper, now a high school athletic director in Ohio. “That’s how long it had been since anyone had seen it in Annapolis.”
In a rented car and a U-Haul trailer, Cooper drove the trophy 1,650 miles across the country, phoning periodic updates to Gladchuck on his location.
For seven years the trophy was displayed prominently in a glass case in the Rotunda at Bancroft Hall, the huge dormitory that houses all 4,600 of the midshipmen. When the trophy departed last November, its absence was conspicuous.
When Navy (2-1) plays host to Air Force (2-1) on Saturday, the Mids have a chance to avenge last year’s bitter 14-6 defeat in Colorado Springs and can take the first of two steps required to regain the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
“It hurts. The day we showed up, the trophy was here,” Navy fullback Alexander Teich said. “Last year’s loss, it was hard to take, the hardest loss I’ve ever had playing any sport. You just felt like you let so many guys down. All the guys that came before us, that started that tradition.”
Schools don’t wait for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy to be delivered. Last November, hours after Air Force beat Army, the truck that carried the Falcons’ equipment from Colorado Springs to West Point pulled up at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium to pick it up.
Two days later, the trophy arrived to a raucous afternoon reception as the Falcons interrupted practice to celebrate the end of Navy’s seven-year reign.
Losing the trophy has been particularly traumatic for veteran Mids who were used to seeing it every day and making the annual trip to the White House.
“My first three years, during this week and Army week, they would move the trophy out in the middle of our locker room for the week to see what we were working towards,” senior safety Kwesi Mitchell said. “A lot different this year.”
On Saturday, Navy hopes to make amends for the galling defeat in which it scored two field goals on eight possessions in Air Force territory.
“It was us that dropped the ball,” Teich said. “We felt really bad for the seniors. They should have got out of here with four trophies, and they didn’t. That’s definitely motivated us all year — all offseason, spring ball. It’s been easy to work because you know that trophy’s sitting over there in Colorado and it should be here.”
