USMA IN THE NEWS

Air Force guests of honor at West Point

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Late in the third quarter of Saturday’s men’s lacrosse game between Army and Air Force at Michie Stadium, many of the Black Knights’ fans began cheering for the Falcons. 

No, they weren’t deserting their team, which was trailing at the time. They were recognizing Air Force men’s basketball players, who had quietly filed into the stadium.

 The Falcons face Clemson at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Tuesday in the National Invitation Tournament semifinals. But with the academy on spring break, the team decided to travel east Friday and stay at West Point until heading to the city today. The team practiced at Army’s Holleder Center on Saturday morning before watching part of the second half of the lacrosse game. 

“West Point has been very gracious to us in opening their doors,” Air Force coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “We might be rivals on the athletic field, but we’re, to take a quote, ‘Brothers in arms,’ so to speak.” 

So it was that moments after gleefully cheering a jarring hit on an Air Force lacrosse player, Army fans were patting Air Force basketball players on their backs and telling them to “Give ’em hell at Madison Square Garden.” 

“We would do anything for them if they came to our neck of the woods,” Air Force senior forward Ryan Teets said. “There’s a mutual respect. We’re both doing the same thing when we graduate, we know that. And nowadays — I know this sounds a little corny — but most likely some of us are going to go overseas. . . . We’ll probably see some of these fellas over there, or at least someone that knows them. And it makes that bond tighter.” 

Service academy rivalries are among the most heated in collegiate sports — as seen by how tough it was for Army’s eighth-ranked lacrosse team to pull away for a 7-3 victory Saturday. But the military bond gives the rivalries a unique twist. Michigan, for instance, probably wouldn’t let Ohio State’s basketball team practice in Crisler Arena if the Buckeyes happened to be rolling through Ann Arbor. 

“You’d never see something like that,” senior forward Jacob Burtschi said. 

But Saturday afternoon, the Falcons walked through the West Point Museum, and then took a tour of the campus led by Army assistant basketball coach Chris Hollender. Players admired the granite, Gothic style buildings, took pictures in the Cadet chapel that sits above the Hudson River and marveled at the history — West Point was founded more than two centuries ago, while the Air Force Academy is just more than 50 years old. 

They walked around the Battle monument, erected in memory of those who died during the Civil War, and felt the 13 remaining links of the chain that was stretched across the Hudson during the revolutionary war to deter British ship traffic. 

Hollender was hired when Jim Crews took over five years ago. Their first recruit was Air Force senior center John Frye. He re-introduced himself to Frye during the tour and congratulated him. “I know sometimes the rivalries get in the way, but these guys have done such a great job representing all of the academies this year,” Hollender said. “We were more than happy to help them, and we wish them all the success.”