General | 11/11/2025 4:27:00 PM

ANNAPOLIS, MD – With more than two decades of visionary leadership, former Naval Academy Athletic Association (NAAA) Director Chet Gladchuk was presented with the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award—the highest recognition that the Secretary of the Navy may pay to a civilian not employed by the Department of the Navy—during the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation's bi-annual board meeting at the Fluegel Alumni Center in Annapolis on 6 November.

The award recognizes civilians for outstanding service of substantial and long-term benefit to the Navy, Marine Corps, or Department of the Navy as a whole. Originally a certificate with a lapel pin, the medal was first presented in July 1951. For more than 70 years, this award has been reserved for those whose service has made a lasting national impact on the readiness and success of the naval force.

U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) Superintendent Lt. Gen. Michael J. Borgschulte '91, USMC, presented the award to Gladchuk before the assembled Naval Academy Foundation Board of Directors. A primary objective for Gladchuk in his 24 years at Navy was energizing fundraising for the USNA physical mission and supporting the Foundation's efforts to provide philanthropic support to the Academy.

Gladchuk said the honor represents a career defined not just by championships, wins, or facilities, but rather by the people.

"I never looked at it as football or basketball or baseball or squash," he reflected. "I always looked at it as a midshipman needing every opportunity to succeed—to have all the resources he or she needed to succeed. So, you put them in the best position to expect to win. And expect to win was always about just being prepared to win."

Under Gladchuck's leadership, Navy experienced a transformation, placing it among the most respected collegiate athletic programs in the United States. He helped raise more than $225 million for Navy Athletics, championed facility upgrades across nearly every sport and strengthened the partnership between the Naval Academy Athletic Association and the Alumni Association & Foundation (USNA AA&F), leading and guiding in an era of unprecedented support for the Academy's physical mission.

"Chet built an athletic program that is the envy of every Division I school in the country," said Ron Terwilliger '63, chairman of the Foundation's Board of Directors. "Chet understood the valuable purpose of athletics at Navy—to prepare student-athletes as leaders in the Navy and Marine Corps. He knew the discipline instilled in our athletes in battles won on the playing fields of Annapolis, West Point and Colorado Springs would help prepare our future military leaders to excel and win on the battlefield."

In his remarks to board leadership, Gladchuk reflected on a personal philosophy that athletics is not separate from leadership development, but rather essential to it.

"All those leadership qualities that come with competition—the teamwork, the perseverance, the determination—all that is part of the physical mission package that's so important to the success of our midshipmen as we prepare them for the Fleet," Gladchuk said. "Everything is equitably important. The academic and military dimensions are critical, but the physical mission is integral to developing leaders and preparing them for the future."

After a standing ovation Jeff Webb '95, president and CEO of USNA AA&F, reflected on Gladchuk's partnership and mentorship. "I just could not have asked for a better partner," Webb said. "I have learned so much from just observing you. You've trained me, whether you know it or not. To learn from a master has been an absolute honor and privilege."

For Gladchuk, the day was one of gratitude as he surveyed the room filled with not just colleagues but friends. "What I remember the most are the incredible friendships, the relationships, and the trust so many people had in our [NAAA] direction—where we were headed and what we were trying to accomplish," he said. "I'm glad we were able to deliver on a lot of different fronts because we've got some wonderful young men and women that need your support. For that, I'll always be grateful."

With 24 years of dedication, vision, and an unwavering belief in the power of athletics to shape tomorrow's Navy and Marine Corps leaders of character, Gladchuck's legacy has become inseparable from the story of the Naval Academy itself. His influence will continue to resonate in every midshipman who learns to compete with integrity, prepare with purpose, and—as he said it best—expect to win.