Remembering the Greatest Army-Navy Game Ever Played
By Gary Lambrecht
 
When he conjures up memories of his participation in such an indelible event – in this case, the classic 64^th meeting between Army and Navy in Philadelphia 60 years ago – Skip Orr, Navy's junior wide receiver/defensive back way back then, is back in touch with his cherished days as a member of the greatest team in Naval Academy football history.
 
"We are all 80-plus in years now," says Orr, speaking of his surviving ex-teammates. "Each year we get further away from [1963] and the events of that year just become bigger, more significant, more memorable. Our friendships as Midshipmen have become very long friendships. That was my first Army game, and it was one heck of a game."
 
The snapshots from the fall of 1963 remain vivid for many of the old players, who matched up in a fiercely physical battle on December 7 at Municipal Stadium, where Navy prevailed, 21-15. The game ended infamously for Army, as the Cadets unintentionally ran out the clock, forever stalled at Navy's two-yard line. Time ticked away and literally ended Army's chance to tie or win the game with its final punch.
 
The snapshots from that Navy season included the dazzling work of Roger Staubach, Navy's junior quarterback who was awarded the Heisman Trophy, still college football's most prestigious honor, before the two archrivals met.
 
It included the hard-nosed play and leadership of Tom Lynch, Navy's senior middle linebacker/center and captain. It included the Mids finishing 9-2 after losing to top-ranked, unbeaten Texas, 28-6, in the national title game at the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1964. Navy wound up ranked No. 2 in the country, the highest place in school history.
 
During their 9-1 regular season, the Mids earned resounding victories over top 10 opponents Michigan and Pittsburgh in October. They also blew out West Virginia and Notre Dame on the road and crushed Maryland at home. In 1963, Navy averaged 29 points on offense and allowed 15 points per game.
 
Army, led by junior quarterback Carl "Rollie" Stichweh and senior two-way lineman and captain Dick Nowak, entered its annual confrontation with the Mids with a 7-2 record. The Cadets had shown their mettle by taking down fifth-ranked Penn State in State College, Pa., in mid-October, and by recording four shutouts in their first six games and allowing only 24 combined points in their seven wins.
 
Since the winner of the 64^th Army-Navy game was set to be the Texas opponent in the Cotton Bowl – with a deserving Pitt squad left out of the national championship equation – it only increased Army's pain. And elevated Navy's relief, following its close call.
 
"The relief of not losing that Army game was tremendous," Staubach recalls. "We wouldn't even be talking about the '63 team if we hadn't beaten Army."
 
The most unprecedented snapshot of that football season was the saddest, darkest moment in 1963 for Army, Navy and America at large to process.
 
When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on Friday, November 22, it shocked the nation to its core, and that of course included the Brigade of Midshipmen in Annapolis and the Corps of Cadets in West Point, where the loss of the country's Commander In Chief cut deeply. Besides being a beloved figure throughout much of the nation, President Kennedy was a World War II hero as a U.S. Navy Lieutenant.
 
The Mids, who had knocked off Duke on November 16, had just gotten back into pads and were accelerating their practice and preparation for the Cadets, since the schools were originally scheduled to play on November 30. After the horrible news broke in the early afternoon on November 22, the contest was postponed. The ensuing weekend left uncertainty in the air, as the Mids and Cadets wondered if the game would be played – or even should be played.
 
"I remember it like it was yesterday," recalls Richard Earnest, then a Navy senior halfback/receiver. "I remember the building where I was in a calculus class, what time it was and how our teacher left the room, came back and told us class was dismissed and to return to our company area, because President Kennedy had been shot in an attempted assassination."
 
Navy coach Wayne Hardin called off practice on Friday and the rest of the weekend and instructed players to stay in shape by lifting weights and getting in mile runs each day. The normal half day of Saturday classes went on.
 
By early the following week, the teams were back on the practice field, after First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy stated that her late husband would have wanted the game played. The President was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on November 25. The game was rescheduled for December 7.
 
There were nearly two weeks for the teams to prepare. And there would be none of the usual pep rallies, bonfires, practical jokes or other fun that typically accompany the anticipation of "The Game" at each academy.
 
"The assassination had a huge impact on us at West Point. We went into a very quiet, somber period," Stichweh says. "It was a traumatic, mind-boggling experience. I did not think it was unusual that some of us felt we should forget about the game. We were worried about what was going to happen next to our country. We were prepared to accept a decision that the game was canceled."
 
"I think of how lively and tough the practices were when we were getting ready to play Michigan or Pittsburgh or Notre Dame, with lots of guys screaming and yelling at each other," recalls Alex Krekich, then a senior guard/linebacker for the Mids. "The Army-Navy practices weren't like that. We pressed on, just tried to get ready for the game."
 
"We knew we had a chance to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl, but still things just felt different," Krekich adds. "To me, what had occurred was very serious for the country and where we could be headed. We were the same class that lived through Kennedy's Cuban missile crisis speech [in October of 1962]. We wondered back then if we might be going to war against the Russians."
 
"We didn't see it as a 'heal the nation' moment, but we were happy to be playing the game," recalls Bob Wittenberg, then a sophomore offensive tackle who would be Navy's team captain as a senior. "Once we ran on the field [at Municipal Stadium, soon to be renamed JFK Stadium], it felt like Army-Navy again. It felt more normal."
 
Before winning the '63 game, the Mids had beaten Army four consecutive times, including a 34-14 rout over the favored Cadets to close out the 1962 season by salvaging a 5-5 year. Staubach started that season as a sophomore on the bench. A month later, he had secured the starting job.
 
Staubach threw for two touchdowns and ran for another against Army that day, showcasing his attacking ability with a strong, accurate arm and startling athleticism as a runner who could scramble out of trouble and make defenders miss while dashing downfield.
 
"I still feel like that game [in 1962] was one of the best games I've ever played. It came against a real good Army team," Staubach recalls. "We picked it up from there. I remember our two-a-days later in the spring of '63, how everything just clicked. The [about to be] juniors and seniors could feel it. I think it would show up later, in the way we played together the whole year. In terms of caring about each other, that '63 team was as good as it gets."
 
"We got used to seeing Roger doing unbelievable things on the field," Wittenberg says.
 
It did not surprise the Cadets that they went into the 64^th edition of arguably the most passionate rivalry in sports as the decided underdog.
 
"Navy was favored, and with good reason," recalls Stichweh, who would begin a 60-year friendship (and counting) with Staubach the following spring, when they spent time as roommates at each other's school in the service academy exchange program. "[Navy] had had a really good season and they had the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback. But we were not intimidated by them."
 
"Our overwhelming challenge was Staubach. We knew we were playing against a great quarterback," says John Carber, then a 6-feet-4, 225-pound sophomore two-way tackle who started the last two games in the '63 season for Army. "Pass rushers had a hard time getting their hands on him and hanging on to him. He had deceptive speed.
 
"I mean, we are talking about a guy who spent four years in the Navy, then went on to win two Super Bowls [with the Dallas Cowboys] during a Hall of Fame career," he adds. "We are talking about an amazing athlete."
 
"Roger had eaten us alive the year before. He was so fast and smart and huge [6-feet-3] for a college quarterback [of that time]," recalls Rhesa Barksdale, then a Cadets' team manager, who eventually would be appointed as a federal judge with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, on which Barksdale has served for the past 33 years. "The key for us was to put a good pass rush on Staubach, but fence him in with good gap control and be careful not to give him chances to run too much."
 
On Pearl Harbor Day in Philly, Army drew first blood, as Stichweh started what would be an outstanding performance by leading the Cadets down the field on their opening possession.
 
Stichweh rushed for the game's first score. He was upended by Navy defenders as he leaped across the goal line, and nearly landed on his head in the end zone. Army led, 7-0, then stopped the Mids with a goal-line stand. Stichweh would be heard from again and again later.
 
Navy's defense made effective adjustments in the second and third quarters, while the Mids' offense brought the heat in the form of junior fullback Pat Donnelly, who pounded the Army defense behind an excellent offensive line.
 
Donnelly scored all three of Navy's touchdowns. His last TD was a 20-yard burst that completed a 91-yard drive and gave Navy a seemingly commanding 21-7 advantage with 10:32 left in the fourth quarter.
 
"In my opinion [Donnelly] was the best fullback in the nation. When he got going with his size and speed and running style, he was difficult to stop," says John Sai, Navy's senior halfback, who was named All-America honorable mention, played in the Hula Bowl with Lynch and observed with disappointment as national football recognition did not reach Donnelly as a junior in 1963.
 
Donnelly was recognized as an honorable mention All-American as a senior. He also earned First-Team All-America recognition in lacrosse as a senior.
 
Before Navy could celebrate its fifth straight victory over its rival, Army staged a stunning, fourth-quarter comeback, behind Stichweh, halfback Ken Waldrop and fullback Ray Paske.
 
Navy never saw the ball again.
 
Orr, who was a boyhood pal of Stichweh in Long Island, N.Y., says he cannot forget his old buddy's late-game heroics that put Army in a position to pull off an upset. Stichweh revived the Cadets' hopes by scoring a touchdown and two-point conversion on roll-outs, cutting Navy's lead to 21-15.
 
Stichweh then one-upped himself by recovering a perfect onside kick by Army placekicker Dick Heydt at Navy's 49-yard line, with 6:13 left in the contest.
 
"I'm not sure Navy knew how good Rollie was," recalls Judge Barksdale. "Rollie was everywhere that day."
 
Stichweh had set the stage for a possible game-winning Army drive that had 102,000 fans roaring at the sold-out stadium, right to the bitter finish for the Cadets and the improbable yet glorious ending for Navy.
 
Army, which had operated in deliberate fashion on offense for much of that day, once again drained significant chunks of time off the clock during the drive in which it pounded a tiring Navy defense, almost exclusively on the ground.
 
After arriving at Navy's seven-yard line with 1:38 to go, the Cadets faced first-and-goal and moved closer to paydirt. Before a third-down play from Navy's 4, Army, out of timeouts with well under a minute left and the clock ticking, got a break from the officiating crew.
 
Unable to communicate signals to his teammates amid the high-decibel noise in the closed end of the massive stadium, Stichweh was granted a short clock stoppage by referee Barney Finn. But Army lost additional precious seconds huddling after the clock was restarted.
 
Fullback Ray Paske then was stopped after a two-yard gain, and the Mids defensive linemen slowly untangled themselves from a pile at the two-yard line. Eight seconds remained when Stichweh, again unable to be heard screaming signals to his offense, threw his hands up, attempting to get another clock stoppage. Officials called time briefly and Army rehuddled as the clock, per the rules, had started again.
 
The game ended with both teams dug in at the line of scrimmage. Krekich is the first defensive lineman from Navy to throw his hands up in celebration as he comes out of his stance upon hearing an official yell, "Gentlemen, the game is over!"
 
"Some Army linemen still will tell you that, if they had one more play, they would have won the game," Krekich says. "Father Time doesn't work that way."
 
As the Cadets realized the finality of the moment, Nowak pounded the ground after tossing his helmet into the air. Carber says he slammed his helmet to the turf so hard that the padding inside popped out.
 
"From my linebacker position, I could see the clock…..11, 10, 9, 8, 7," Lynch recalls. "After we'd stopped them on an off-tackle run [right} on third down, we felt pretty confident we were going to stop them one more time."
 
On the sideline, Staubach had stood next to his head coach for much of the drive, praying. Orr, who had been injured on the previous defensive series, watched with high anxiety from the sideline, as did so many Mids.
 
Lynch was not about to take any chances. As he had watched the clock winding down to zero, he moved up to the line of scrimmage, picked up the game ball and ran off the field with it, straight into a loud celebration that was unfolding in the Navy locker room.
 
"We were so excited to go to a bowl game, I don't even remember shaking hands with anyone from Army," Lynch says. "I remember grabbing the ball as I saw an official coming in and saying the game was over. I think instinct took over. I didn't want to give them a chance to run another play."
 
Stichweh accepted blame for the way a riveting game had played out.
 
"For a new Cadet, the acceptable answers are either 'yes sir, no sir or no excuse, sir.' My job is to manage the clock and get that play off. It didn't happen," he says. "No excuse, sir."