By Gary Lambrecht
 
Over its 145-year history, the Navy football program has created its share of successful eras. And the teams that highlighted the 1950s arguably put together a stretch of excellence that has yet to be surpassed in Annapolis.
 
From 1952 through 1959, Navy produced eight straight winning seasons, went 50-18-8, and twice finished ranked No. 5 in the nation, following huge victories in prestigious bowl games. On New Year's Day in 1955 and 1958, respectively, the Mids won the Sugar Bowl by trouncing SEC champion Ole Miss, 21-0. Three years later, Navy whipped favored Rice with a dominant, 20-7 victory in the Cotton Bowl.
 
The Midshipmen, who finished 8-2 in 1954, earned the trip to the school's first bowl game in 31 years with a 27-20 win over a favored Army team that included four All-Americans.
 
There is no argument that two former Navy football stars from that decade – wide receiver Ron Beagle and tackle Bob Reifsnyder – were among the best players in the country to step on the field in the 50s.
 
Beagle and Reifsnyder made their deepest marks by achieving the same historical recognition.
 
Following his junior season in 1954, when he led the squad dubbed the "Team Named Desire," Beagle ('56) became Navy's first-ever winner of the Maxwell Award, which is given to the outstanding college football player in the nation as presented by the Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia. That year, Beagle caught 30 passes for 451 yards and four touchdowns. He averaged a hefty 15 yards per reception.
 
Beagle also was named a First-Team All-American in 1954 and 1955 (unanimously). Following the 1955 season, which he played through with a broken wrist, Beagle finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting. Navy finished ranked 18^th in the Associated Press poll.
 
After Navy capped its 1957 season by dismissing Rice to finish 9-1-1, Reifsnyder ('59) was recognized as the nation's best player by the Maxwell Football Club. Additionally, he was named a First-Team All-American at both center and tackle.
 
At long last, the two players who best symbolized Navy excellence in the 1950s will get one more honor. During halftime of its season opener, Navy will retire the jerseys of Beagle and Reifsnyder. Navy will keep their numbers (#80 for Beagle, #58 for Reifsnyder)  in circulation.
 
Reifsnyder, who is a spry 87-years old, was the first guard or tackle to take home the Maxwell Award. He remains one of only four interior linemen to earn that honor. Reifsnyder also was named College Lineman of the Year by the Philadelphia Sportswriters Association in 1957, when the Mids received the Lambert Trophy as the best team in the East.
 
Navy would garner more major attention a few years later. In 1960 and 1963, respectively, Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach each would win the Maxwell Award and become the only two Heisman Trophy winners in Navy history.
 
Beagle, who died in 2015 at the age of 81, was an outstanding two-way end at Navy over three seasons (1953-55). Known primarily for his prowess as a wideout, Beagle led the Midshipmen to a combined 18-7-3 record in those three years.
 
During his varsity seasons, Beagle caught 64 career passes for 849 yards and eight touchdowns. Most of those passes were thrown by quarterback George Welsh ('56). His eventual Hall of Fame coaching career included 55 victories – second-most ever at Navy – earned from 1973-81.
 
At Navy's 50^th-year anniversary commemorating the historic Sugar Bowl victory, Welsh reportedly said, "You don't mess with Ron Beagle!"
 
Reifsnyder, who had unusually good size (6-feet-1, 230 pounds) and speed in his playing days, did exceptional damage on the defensive line and occasionally at linebacker. As the leader of that stifling unit, he spearheaded a defense that, over the 1956 and 1957 seasons, allowed just four opponents to score in double digits.
 
A native of Brooklyn who grew up on Long Island, N.Y., Reifsnyder had been a fullback throughout high school. But former Navy head coach Eddie Erdelatz saw something different in Reifsnyder during his plebe year, back in a time when freshmen did not play on the varsity team and every player performed on offense and defense. Erdelatz wanted Reifsnyder to become an offensive and defensive tackle.
 
"I was part of a six-man group of fullbacks on that plebe team. One day during summer practices, I got a call telling me to see [Erdelatz]. I was wondering if I had done something wrong," said Reifsnyder, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
 
"[Erdelatz] asked me, 'How badly do you want to play football here?' I told him football was the main reason I came here," Reifsnyder added. "Then he told me that I was now a starting tackle on the freshman team. I had never lined up with a hand on the ground before."
 
Reifsnyder took to his new position quickly. His speed, size and physicality showed immediately, as a blocker and especially as a defender.
 
"[Reifsnyder] learned to be a lineman that freshman year," recalled quarterback Tom Lukish ('59). "It was obvious he was one of our fastest guys, even on the varsity. He stood out as a sophomore. It looked like he had played that tackle position for his entire life. I don't know if many Maxwell winners have that in their resumes."
 
Reifsnyder played a significant role in Navy's impressive, back-to-back victories over Notre Dame in 1956 and 1957. In 1956, the Mids blew out the Fighting Irish – led by future NFL Hall of Famer Paul Hornung – by a 33-7 count. The following year, Navy left South Bend after beating Notre Dame, 20-6.
 
Harry Hurst ('58), a former halfback/safety at Navy, recalled how he scored deep in Irish territory late in the first half of what had been a defensive struggle in Baltimore in 1956. He credited Reifsnyder with making a key block on an off-tackle power run to the right, where Reifsnyder was occupying his opposing lineman.
 
"There was no hole anywhere. Then I see 'Reif' give me a chance to score by standing up and lifting [the Notre Dame defensive linemen] up. I went through his legs for the touchdown," Hurst said.
 
"Our defense was really good. 'Reif' could analyze quickly what was happening on the field, then react to it quickly," he added. "He was always looking to make the big play, and he made plenty of them."
 
Hurst also pointed to a huge defensive play Reifsnyder made early in the Cotton Bowl win over Rice at the end of the 1957 season. Rice drove into Navy territory and decided to go for a first down on a fourth-and-one around Navy's 35-yard line. Hurst said he can still see Reifsnyder firing off the line, beating a block and dashing between a pair of pulling offensive lineman for Rice before dropping the ball carrier for a loss. It changed the game's momentum for good.
 
"The Naval Academy is not an easy place, but our coaches made it bearable for us," Reifsnyder said. "I was very lucky to be part of a great football team with great teammates and a great coaching staff. I accepted the Maxwell trophy as the member of a great team. It was not just for me."
 
Unfortunately for Reifsnyder, there would be no 1958 season as a Navy senior. During preseason camp, he ruptured an Achilles' tendon while running downfield to cover a punt in practice.
 
"I thought I had gotten clipped. I went down in a heap. That was it," said Reifsnyder, who barely got on the field late that season. His absence was felt during Navy's 2-4-1 start. The Mids rallied to finish 5-4-1, getting their fifth win with a 43-12 rout of Army.
 
Since non-combatant commissions did not exist at the time, Reifsnyder graduated from the academy, but was not commissioned a Navy officer. Instead, he received a medical discharge, due to his physical disability.
 
Reifsnyder tried to make a go of a career in professional football. He joined the New York Giants in 1959 and the New York Titans for two years after that. But his signature bursts of speed were gone.
 
He then gave up playing football and went on to a successful career coaching mainly high school football on Long Island. From 1963-1980, he coached at Berner High School in Massapequa with a record of 104-39-3, before doing stints as an assistant at Columbia University and head coach at Friends Academy and Patachogue-Medford High in New York.
 
He retired 30 years ago and moved with his wife, Sandra, to Ocean Pines, Md., where they still reside. It is not unusual for Reifsnyder to show up to watch football practices or games at Navy.
 
"I still see [Reifsnyder] periodically when we show up at practice together," said John Michalski, a former teammate from the Class of 1960. "He still loves the Naval Academy."
 
Beagle, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986, set a standard for Navy football on both sides of the ball, but especially as an excellent blocker and pass catcher for the Mids. He also won the NAAA Sword in 1956, in part by earning All-American status as a lacrosse player, after trying the sport as a Midshipman.
 
Like Reifsnyder, Beagle was additionally beloved for the unselfishness and leadership skills that made him an outstanding football teammate. He was never one to brag in any way about the accolades he had earned.
 
"Some guys can handle fame and publicity, others can't. Ron was the kind of guy you could not say anything bad about, and he was one hell of a ball player," recalled Bill Hepworth, a running back/defensive back from the Class of 1955. "Anything he touched, he caught."
 
"[Beagle] wasn't the fastest guy, but he was maybe our cleverest offensive player. He had moves that released him from a lot of defenders," added Angus McEachen ('56), a guard/defensive lineman. "He liked to poke fun at us, and he always picked us up. He had great skills, led by example. He also had a way of making people around him happy."
 
Born in Hartford, Conn., Beagle grew up in Covington, Kentucky and played football at nearby Cincinnati Purcell Marian, the same Ohio high school that produced Roger Staubach.
 
After being selected in the 17^th-round of the 1956 NFL draft by the Chicago Cardinals, Beagle delayed his professional football career by serving for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He suffered a knee injury during his service time that deprived him of the chance to play in the NFL.
 
Eventually, he moved his family to Sacramento, where he built a successful career and became a general manager with Butler-Johnson Corporation, a wholesale distributor of premium surfacing solutions.
 
According to Ronda Syring, Beagle's daughter – and a member of the Naval Academy's Class of 1984 – Beagle's modesty was consistent to the end.
 
"He was so humble. He never really spoke about his achievements. It was more about his love of the game and his teammates," Syring recalled. "He kept his memorabilia in a wooden trunk. We have many of those items in our [San Antonio, Texas] home today."
 
"His teammates always told me how hard he worked but made it look effortless," she added. "[Dad] would just say, 'Whatever. I did my job. I did my best to help my team. And I had fun doing it."

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