Army-Navy: Impact and Legacy of the 1963 Classic Continues on Saturday

None of the games were televised. At that time, there were only three TV networks and some independent stations. All of them were covering the assassination.

Army and Navy were scheduled to play on November 30. It was assumed the game would be canceled.

The Decision: A First Lady and Grieving Widow Intervenes 

It was a different time in 1963. Americans were just a generation removed from the carnage of World War II. The country was bold, dynamic, thriving, and resilient. It was a tougher, sharper nation. Getting in touch with one’s feelings and hypersensitivity were not priorities. Trivial matters like Kennedy’s vision of putting a man on the moon were of greater importance. It was a time when Americans dared greatly, knowing that pain, sacrifice, and losses would be encountered along the way.  They confronted this way of life fearlessly.  The sport of football was emblematic of America's culture.  

Jacqueline Kennedy reflected those traits and more. She was elegant, refined, and classy. The late President’s widow intervened to insist that the Army-Navy game be played. So, too, did John F Kennedy’s immediate family demand the game be played.

Football was JFK’s game. En route to vacations in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, he would stop by the United States Naval Academy to visit his favorite team and watch summer camp practice for a bit. Kennedy had been a Navy man in World War II and felt a connection to the Academy.

The Kennedy family was famous for its touch football games in which the entire clan would participate. Football, like America and Kennedy, was symbolic of a country on the move. The sport was overtaking baseball as the number one game in the land.

The Kennedy family would not have allowed the Army-Navy Game to be canceled, especially with JFK having attended the 1961 and 1962 matchups and scheduled to attend the 1963 clash. Instead, it was rescheduled for December 7, ironically on the 22nd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.  

Captain America 

The last great Navy team was fielded in 1963. The 8-1 Middies would face a good but still building Army team that was 7-2.

Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach quarterbacked the Midshipmen. Although Staubach is best known for his NFL Hall of Fame heroics as QB of the Dallas Cowboys, he led a Navy team that was ranked second in the polls and contending for a national championship.

Staubach epitomized the All-American scholar-athlete and was a national hero.  Staubach graced the cover of Sports Illustrated leading up to the game, which was as good as it got in 1963.

Instant Replay

CBS would televise the game and introduce a new innovation. For the first time, instant replay video would be used during the telecast. Previously, the only serious exposure Americans had to instant replay was two weeks prior when networks used the technology on newscasts that showed Dallas nightclub owner and mafia associate Jack Ruby shoot and kill alleged Kennedy assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

CBS Sports director Tony Verna worked on the technology, which required equipment the size of two full refrigerators.

During the 1963 Army-Navy Game, viewers were confused when CBS showed Army QB Rollie Stichweh score on a 1-yard TD run twice in a matter of seconds. During the confusion, countless fans called the CBS switchboard, asking what was going on.

Finally, famed play-by-play announcer Lindsay Nelson told viewers that the video was not live and that Army did not score again. At that moment, CBS wet the bed and stopped using the instant replay equipment for the rest of the game.

In those primitive, bizarre times, the videotape being used was borrowed from the shelf of the popular “I Love Lucy” show. Thus, there was the risk that the game could be interrupted by scenes of Lucy eating chocolate off an assembly line, among other possibilities. 

In fact, Varna’s CBS bosses did not want an acknowledgment made to the viewers that instant replay was being used in case the technology failed.  Compare that lack of marketing to now.  These days, there would have been a one-month promotional buildup and X-blitz to get everyone to tune in.  

Navy Holds Off Army Rally  

After a 7-7 first-half tie, Navy took a 21-7 lead with ten minutes to play. Stichweh rallied the Cadets to within 21-15 with six minutes to go. Next was a successful onside kick for Army. The Cadets were determined to go in for the win. But the noise from over 102,000 fans in Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium confused Army and the game officials. Controversy followed as the refs briefly stopped the clock per a Stichweh request, only to restart it without Army knowing the clock was running, and the game ended.

Subsequently, Navy went on to the Cotton Bowl, losing to Texas 28-6 in what was the de facto national championship game. The Naval Academy's program never reached such heights again.

The days of Army and Navy being serious national contenders passed away on December 7, 1963, two weeks after the tragic loss of the Commander in Chief. Neither team would get that close to a national championship ever again.

On Saturday, College Football Desperately Needs America’s Game 

Fast-forward to now, and it has been a tumultuous week for college football.  The perfect storm of the coaching carousel, transfer portal, NIL, and College Football Playoff eat at the game's fabric. But on Saturday, we get a well-deserved respite from the new world of college football. Instead, we get a temporary return to the essence of the game we fell in love with.

Army and Navy are not about the transfer portal, NIL, or the CFP. It is about two teams that play for the love of the game, the tradition of their academies, and a grand, historic rivalry like no other. 

America's Game is about the pageantry of marching the Cadets and Midshipmen into the stadium and the singing of the school's songs at the game’s end. The losing team sings first, followed by the winning team. A flood of tears from players, coaches and fans accompanies the ceremony.

And while nothing in this world is pure, the Army-Navy game comes the closest to capturing what the original spirit of college football was supposed to be about—players who play for their schools and each other—competitors who lay it all on the line for love of game and country and nothing more. There will be no NIL deals or transfer portal snits on Saturday.

It’s unlikely any of the players on Saturday will see the NFL. They face the likelier prospect of confronting life-and-death situations in battle. But on Saturday, all that will matter is the game. And what may be lacking in 5-star talent making millions from NIL or mercenaries newly arrived off the portal will be offset by ferocious hearts and unmatched competitive fire.

Sixty years ago, the Army-Navy Game helped heal a grieving nation. On Saturday, America’s Game will help heal, albeit briefly, fans of an out-of-control sport that is losing its way.