NAVY’S NIGHT OF FIGHTS IS A BIG HIT

 

USA Today by Gary Mihoces                                                              February 21, 2001

 

Boxing tourney gets Mids in Ship Shape…….

 

Annapolis, MD. – The chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy houses the crypt of John Paul Jones, the Revolutionary War hero known for the epic words, “I have not yet begun to fight!”  In that spirit, Midshipmen are r-r-r-r-ready to rumble against one another Friday night in the finals of the 60th annual Brigade Boxing Championships.

 

“It’s awesome, You’re in front of like 4,000 people.  It’s crazy.  Everyone yelling, and screaming,” says junior Ben Zuber of Cherry Hill, NJ who’ll defend his 175 pound title.  Just mention of these battles brings it all back to a one-time welterweight named Oliver North, a 1967 Brigade champ who now pulls no punches as a conservative radio talk host.  “This is for the championship.  It’s a big deal,” says North, sounding as if he’s ready to lace on the gloves.  “The whole Brigade is there.  It’s a wonderful experience!  It’s just a tremendous occasion!”  North became a decorated Marine officer in Vietnam, but is remembered most as the focus of national debate in the Iran-Contra affair of the 1980’s.  His foe in the 145 pound final: James Webb, who also earned decorations in Vietnam and became a best-selling author and Secretary of the Navy.  Friday night’s finalists in 10 weight divisions will move on to their own careers, but their immediate test comes in the three two minute rounds.  “The longest three rounds of your life,” North says.

 

Sink or Swim

 

Like swimming, boxing is a required part of Navy’s physical education curriculum.  “It’s probably the best activity we have to put Midshipmen into an environment of controlled stress where they have to think and react under fire,” says Jim McNally, in his 15th year as Navy Boxing Coach.  Navy women and men taking boxing class in their second year.  Women box women and men box men.  There is no Brigade tournament for women at Navy – so far.  “I’m not going to say it couldn’t happen,” McNally says.  “Right now, the interest is not high enough.” 

 

In December, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point had its Brigade Boxing Open(for the first time, there was a separate 125-pund title bout for women).

 

Air Force had its Wing Open finals March 4th.  At Notre Dame, student boxers will battle March 2d in the 71st annual Bengal Bouts.

 

Boxing, a popular collegiate sport in the 1930’s and 1940’s was dropped by the NCAA in 1960 following a fatality in the finals.  About thirty(30) club teams now make up the National Collegiate Boxing Association, which has its finals April 5-7 in Reno, NV.

 

Navy’s Brigade Champs go to regionals.  Navy won three NCBA team titles from 1996-1998.  Air Force won the past two. 

 

Friday’s bouts will be in Halsey Field House, but the hub of Navy boxing is the gym on the third deck of Macdonough Hall, where wall placques list past champs and heavy bags hang from the girders.  Photos in the gym show the late Spike Webb, first Navy coach(1919-1947) and four time Olympic coach.  “The story is he haunts this place.” McNally says.  “At night, people say they’ve heard speed bags and jump ropes.”

 

Learning the Ropes

 

Not just any Mid can enter.  They must have competed since at least the prior semester in intramurals, where they are matched by ability.  “It’s not like a tough-man contest where they can jump in the week of the match,” says McNally.  However, most get their first taste of the sport at Navy.  Zuber, a reigning champ, had never been in the ring until he got to the Academy.  But he was a natural.  “I fought a lot as a kid,” he says with a laugh.

 

BOXING ALUMNI

 

Thomas Lynch, who captained the 1963 Navy football team that

Included Roger Staubach, also was a two-time Brigade Boxing

Champion.  Lynch went on to become a rear admiral and former

Naval Academy Superintendent.

Charles Bolden Jr. class of ’68, boxed for four years at Navy.

He went on to fly four missions as a space shuttle astronaut

And become deputy director of NASA and a major general

In the Marines.

“Boxing has produced a lot of strong leaders,” says McNally. “My list of

Brigade champs is full of admirals and generals.”

 

Sophomore Rick Weil of Huntington Beach, California, a 156-pound finalist who was a champ as a plebe, had a couple of amateur bouts in high school.  But he knows last year’s title will mean nothing when the bell rings Friday night: “If you’re not focused, its scary what can happen.”

 

From an initial group of about 120 hopefuls, about 60 entered this year’s tournament.  Semifinals and quarterfinals were the past two weeks.  They wear head gear, groin protection and mouth guards.  Thumbless gloves are used for extra safety.  But noses are exposed.

 

Junior Tommy Clarke of Coventry, RI a finalist in the 165-pound class, has a little bend in the bridge of his nose that wasn’t there when he started boxing.  “I asked the coach, ‘How do you know if your nose is broken?’ Clarke says.  “He said, ‘You probably just got it bent a little.  Somebody will bend it back.’”

 

Senior Justin Hartfelder from Hickory, NC fought hard in his quarter final loss in the 165-pound class, despite blood streaming from his nose into his mouth.  “It’s a lot of fun,” says Hartfelder, who lost a decision to plebe Tim Campbell of Houston.  Campbell was cheered by fellow plebes.  Freshmen are the dregs of the academy, but in the ring, they fight upper classmen as equals.  Campbell and Hartfelder even hugged after the bout.  “I met him(Hatrfelder) like five minutes before the match,” Campbell says.  “He said he was going into the Marine Corps.  He seems pretty cool.”  Campbell lost in the semifinals to senior Dustin Lonero of San Jose, CA, a champ as a sophomore, but loser in the quarterfinals last year.  “If you’re up against a tough guy, there is no way out unless you fight and defend yourself,: Lonero says.

 

Says North: “You can’t blame it on anyone else.  It’s you and the other guy in the ring.”  North tells the story about a time he was a guest referee and judge in the tournament.  He gave a victory to a guy who knocked his foe down.  The other judges agreed, except for one – former world champ Rocky Marciano.  North questioned Marciano on his choice. Marciano’s response: “You don’t get it, do you, kid?  You don’t give the fight to the guy that knocks him down.  You give the fight to the guy that’s got the guts to get back up.”

 

John Paul Jones would approve.