On Brave Old Army Team: The Cheating Scandal that Rocked the Nation: West Point, 1951

During the depths of the Cold War in the early 1950s, the United States Military Academy at West Point stood tall as a bastion of national character, extolling the virtues of duty, honor, and country. Alongside those virtues, the Brave Old Army Team - one of college football's first powerhouses - embodied the commitment to developing our country's strongest leaders, both on and off the gridiron.
In a culture that teaches "there is no substitute for victory" (Douglas MacArthur), values and goals inevitably collide. In August 1951, big time football led to big time corruption when eighty-three cadets - most of whom were players on legendary coach Red Blaik's football team, including the coach's own son - were expelled from West Point for cheating.
On Brave Old Army Team explores how America's deep-rooted obsession with college football and desire to win at all costs became a way of life for many of Coach Blaik's - and his up-and-coming assistant Vince Lombardi's - cadet-athletes. West Point graduate and CNN military analyst James Blackwell compellingly explores how cheating to maintain academic proficiency for football players became accepted to sustain the academy's winning tradition, and how it caused one of our country's largest - and least talked about - cheating scandals.

In 1951, 83 cadets were expelled from the United States Military Academy at West Point for cheating. In this thorough history of the affair, Blackwell (Thunder in the Desert, 1991), a CNN military analyst, not only relates the facts of the story but also reveals that cheating pervaded West Point for decades in the middle of this century. The 1951 scandal primarily involved football players from one of Coach Earl "Red" Blaik's many powerhouse teams. After Blaik took possession of the Army football program in 1940, he began, according to Blackwell, to recruit players whose academic abilities were no match for their gridiron skills. In order to pass certain exams, these players were assigned a tutor whose nominal job was to assist the student but whose actual duty involved passing him "the poop." Blackwell follows several principals, including Blaik, through the course of the scandal and grounds his well-written story in a lively detailing of West Point ways and life. He doesn't condemn Blaik?whose own son was expelled?though much evidence seems to point to his knowing about the cheating. Instead, the author observes that the culture of West Point, particularly the institution of the honor code, was in dire need of reform. It would take another 25 years and a second scandal, however, for the needed changes to be enforced. Photographs; map.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Blackwell, a military analyst for CNN and coauthor of Desert Storm (Westview, 1992), offers the first detailed account of the cheating scandal at West Point in 1951, which saw the expulsion of 83 cadets, the majority being members of Red Blaik and Vince Lombardi's championship football team. Blackwell weaves his story around the career of three cadets, all of whom became successful in later life despite their expulsion. His text, based on oral interviews and military reports, offers us a 45-year-old hindsight into the problems we see today regarding favored treatment for athletes and athletic programs in our universities. His lively text offers us a taste of life as an athlete and cadet at West Point in the 1950s, as well as a history of its honor system. Readers may wish to consult Heise's Brass Factories: A Frank Appraisal of West Point, Annapolis and the AF Academy (LJ 9/1/69) for a broader coverage of scandal at the military academies. Recommended for all collections.?Richard Nowicki, Emerson Vocational H.S., Buffalo, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.