The 2024 Army-Navy football game is Saturday, matching the teams of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy. Played annually since 1890, the game is a pivotal tradition for the future military officers who attend both schools and a major draw in the big-business world of college sports.
Unlike the players in other high-profile college football games, virtually none of the players on the field expect to play professionally, instead knowing that they’ll soon be in uniform as active duty military officers. Many will be expected to lead soldiers, sailors and Marines in combat.
The game has produced hundreds of combat veterans, many highly decorated. But only seven Cadets or Midshipmen who played football for their school have gone on to be awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest valor award, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, which maintains a large archive of historical information on Medal recipients. Six of the seven played in or were at least on a team roster for an Army-Navy game, while one sailor missed out through no fault of his own — the school’s teams didn’t play each other during his four years on campus.
Though soldiers in the Army have been awarded more than 2,400 of the roughly 3,500 Medals in U.S. military history, alums of the Naval Academy’s football team have six while West Point’s roster has produced just one. Notably, four of those midshipmen were awarded the Medal before World War II rules, including one during peacetime, when the Medal was often awarded as a general of valor award rather than under modern criteria of exceptionally rare combat bravery.
US Military Academy
Gen. Douglas MacArthur became one of America’s most venerated combat leaders, but he began his military career on the football field — first at the West Texas Military Academy, where he was the starting quarterback and team captain, and then at West Point. MacArthur became the Black Knight’s team manager in 1899 during their season finish with a record of 4-5.
MacArthur graduated in 1903 and served in combat in World War I. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor twice during the Great War, finishing the war with four Silver Stars and two Distinguished Service Crosses.
He was awarded the Medal of Honor after his third nomination for his actions defending the Phillipines during WWII.
“[MacArthur] mobilized, trained, and led an army which has received world acclaim for its gallant defense against a tremendous superiority of enemy forces in men and arms,” reads MacArthur’s Medal of honor citation. “His utter disregard of personal danger under heavy fire and aerial bombardment, his calm judgement in each crisis, inspired his troops, galvanized the spirit of resistance of the Filipino people, and confirmed the faith of the American people in their Armed Forces.”
In total, MacArthur was awarded four high valor awards throughout his storied career after WWI:
- Distinguished Flying Cross during the Korean War
- Distinguished Service Cross during WWII
- Army Distinguished Service Medal during WWII
- Navy Distinguished Service Medal during WWII
US Naval Academy
Six football players from the Naval Academy have gone on to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Four came prior to World War II, including three for action in the same campaign in Mexico. The fourth was a rare peacetime recipient of the award in 1938, which was allowed under the Navy’s criteria for the award until 1963.
Two former Midshipmen — one a sailor, the other a Marine pilot — were awarded the Medal for actions during World War II.
Allen Buchanan
Buchanan played football for the Naval Academy from 1895 to 1898, earning a varsity letter in his final year. His on-field career had unfortunate timing — though the first Army-Navy game was played in 1890, the schools skipped the games between 1894 and 1899, meaning Buchanan never faced Army.
But Buchanan entered Navy legend by earning the Medal of Honor on April 21, 1914 during the Battle of Vera Cruz. In Vera Cruz, Mexico, Buchanan — then a lieutenant commander of the 1st Seaman Regiment — led his men into battle under heavy fire.
“His duties required him to be at points of great danger in directing his officers and men, and he exhibited conspicuous courage, coolness, and skill in his conduct of the fighting,” reads Buchanan’s Medal of Honor Citation. “Upon his courage and skill depended, in great measure, success or failure. His responsibilities were great, and he met them in a manner worthy of commendation.”
Jonas H. Ingram
Ingram played as a Midshipmen fullback and linebacker from 1903 to 1906, scoring the only touchdown in the1906 Army-Navy game, a 10-0 Navy victory. The win broke a five-year winless streak for Navy. He returned as the team’s head coach in 1915 and 1916.
Like Buchanan, Ingram earned the Medal of Honor during the Mexican Campaign in Vera Cruz, Mexico, on April 22, 1914.
Not much is known about what he did but his citation for his Medal of Honor citation highlighted that Ingram was skilled in the “handling of the artillery and machine guns of the Arkansas battalion,” which he was “specially commended” for in official reports from the battle.
Frederick McNair, Jr.
McNair played for the Midshipmen from 1899-1902, lettering in his final two years. As a baseball player and track athlete, he was named the Academy’s top athlete as a senior.
He earned the Medal of Honor during the same engagement of the Mexican Campaign as Buchanan and Ingram on April 22, 1914.
“Lt. McNair was eminent and conspicuous in command of his battalion,” reads his Medal of Honor citation. “He exhibited courage and skill in leading his men through the action of the 22d and in the final occupation of the city.”
Carlton Hutchins
Hutchins played football for the Naval Academy from 1922-1925, earning a varsity letter as a senior. Hutchins earned the Medal of Honor, sacrificing himself to ensure his crew could parachute to safety from his Navy PBY-2 seaplane crashed on Feb. 2, 1938 during training off the coast of California.
“Lt. Hutchins remained at the controls endeavoring to bring the damaged plane to a safe landing and to afford an opportunity for his crew to escape by parachutes,” reads Hutchins’ Medal of Honor citation. “His cool, calculated conduct contributed principally to the saving of the lives of all who survived.”
Richard Antrim
Antrim played football for the Navy’s Midshipmen football team from 1927 to 1930, earning a varsity letter as a senior.
As a lieutenant, Antrim was assigned to the USS Pope, a Clemson-class destroyer, in the Pacific in 1942. After the Pope ship was attacked while escorting a British Navy ship, Antrim and other survivors drifted at sea for three days before being picked up by a Japanese ship. He was held as a prisoner of war in the city of Macassar in the Dutch East Indies, today part of Indonesia.
During one vicious beating of a fellow naval officer, Antrim stepped in to take the rest of the beating and was directly responsible for saving the officer’s life.
“By his fearless leadership and valiant concern for the welfare of another, he not only saved the life of a fellow officer and stunned the Japanese into sparing his own life but also brought about a new respect for American officers and men and a great improvement in camp living conditions,” reads Antrim’s Medal of Honor citation.
Antrim survived as a POW and was promoted to commander in November 1942. Pres. Harry S. Truman presented him the Medal of Honor on Jan. 30, 1947, at the the White House, in Washington, D.C. Two years later, the Navy made Antrim’s rank of commander permanent in 1949.
Harold Bauer
Bauer was a three-year letterman at quarterback for Navy from 1927 to 1929. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1930 and trained as a Marine Corps aviator, graduating in February 1936. Soon after the attack on Pear Harbor in 1941, Bauer was tasked with standing up Marine Fighting Squadron 212.
As a lieutenant colonel, Bauer volunteered to fly combat missions at Guadalcanal from throughout 1942. He took on a Japanese aerial force that doubled his and instructed his pilots in air-to-air combat with Japanese zeros. Bauer shot down a Japanese bomber on Sept. 28 and shot down four enemy fighter planes on Oct. 3, leaving a fifth “smoking badly.” Then, on Oct. 16, he engaged a full Japanese squadron of enemy planes attacking the USS McFarland.
“Undaunted by the formidable opposition and with valor above and beyond the call of duty, he engaged the entire squadron and, although alone and his fuel supply nearly exhausted, fought his plane so brilliantly that four of the Japanese planes were destroyed before he was forced down by lack of fuel,” reads Bauer’s Medal of Honor citation.
The most recent service academy football player to eventually be awarded the Medal of Honor never played in the Army-Navy game. Capt. Lance Sijan, who was awarded the medal for his actions as prisoner of war in Vietnam, attended the U.S. Air Force Academy. Sijan never earned a varsity letter, according to the Air Force Academy football media guide, but the National Air Force museum a picture released by the Air Force of Sijan in a football uniform depicts hin on the school’s junior varsity team.
After graduating in 1965, Sijan trained to fly F-4 Phantoms. In Nov. 1967, during a flight over North Vietnam, a bomb attached to his plane detonated. Sijan ejected and — after a 20-aircraft rescue force failed to find him — evaded capture for six weeks. By the time he was captured, he was deeply malnourished.
Despite his crippled condition, he overpowered a guard in his POW camp, and crawled into the jungle before being recaptured and transfered to another POW camp. There he was held in solitary confinement. .
“He was severely tortured; however, he did not divulge any information to his captors. Capt. Sijan lapsed into delirium and was placed in the care of another prisoner,” reads Sijan’s Medal of Honor citation. “During his intermittent periods of consciousness until his death, he never complained of his physical condition and, on several occasions, spoke of future escape attempts.”
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