News, Events & More
ALITC – Coins now available!
Posted: 2/14/2020
The Class has a limited number of Honor Coins available for purchase. The price is $22.72 (note the clever pricing). The money will be used to support the “A Link in the Chain” program. The coins are available from Gary Coyle. To order, send a check for $22.72, made out to USNA Class of 1972 to:
Gary Coyle
ALITC Honor Coin
11204 Silver Tree Place
Columbia, MD 21044-5703
You can also contact Gary at sherman2c@aol.com or 443-745-2231. Orders will be filled as received. If orders exceed the number of coins available, you will be contacted to see if you want to wait for a new striking of the coin.
Chipping In – Part II
Posted: 10/18/2019
First of all, let me thank all of you that “chipped in” on the wording for the plaque that will be mounted at the entrance of the “Class of ’72 Sports & Rehabilitation Center”. We received over 30 responses, and it was quite helpful. I will post the final wording that was approved for the plaque in a separate note, along with some photos of the dedication ceremony scheduled for next month.
This e-gouge is to now ask for you to “chip-in” specifically as it relates to point #3 below.
- We raised $5.86 Million (versus a goal of $5 Million) to support four project areas. A record for class legacy campaigns!
- We now have a new DMP for Character, Tom Roberts, who replaces Jim Campbell
- Over the past six months, our participation rate for the class overall has crept up to 44% (versus our goal of 50%) with 33 additional classmates coming into the campaign.
- The renovation and conversion of Ricketts Hall, converting it to a new Physical Mission Center to include our Sports & Rehabilitation Center is underway.
- First of all, let me thank the 306 of you that are already participating in the campaign. Bravo Zulu! This particular memo is now aimed at those of you that, for whatever reason, haven’t yet participated in the campaign…. and I know that we’re never going to get 100% as people have different priorities…all well and good. However, if we get another 50 classmates (that’s one or two per company), we will hit our 50% goal.
So, I’m calling this latest effort our “chipping in” mini campaign, aimed at our 36 companies to see if we can get some of the lower participation companies to improve their ranking, and to see which company can be #1 with the most participants. The mini campaign is so named as it only takes $1.00 which can be included with a signed pledge form saying that you are donating and indicating which of the four project areas you’d like your donation to go towards.
I’ve already been in contact with the company reps, and they’ve asked for some time to reach out to many of you…and indeed we’ve already seen a few more classmates being added to the rosters. I’m now asking you to review your company’s results, and thus am providing with this memo: (1) a summary participation ranking, by company (by the way, 28th Company is in first place with 18 participants…. and 23rd Company is in last place with only one participant) AND (2) A link to the pledge form: http://1972.usnaclasses.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2018/03/Class-of-1972-Pledge-Form.pdf
So, print off the pledge form, fill it out, include your dollar, and send it to the Foundation address listed on the form. We’ll keep this mini-campaign short, run it through the end of the year, and announce the results in early 2020. Oh yeah, I almost forgot… the winning company will receive for each of their participants (besides bragging rights) one of our 1972/2022 “link-in-the-chain” coins that we gave to each member of the class of 2022 last summer!
Thanks
Jeffrey Beard
ALITC: Bonds of Gold Ceremony with the Class of 2022
Posted: 9/16/2019
This coming April, we will have the Bonds of Gold Ceremony with the Class of 2022. At that time we will donate some of our class rings to be melted and joined with the gold that will be forged into the rings of the Class of 2022. Our rings are more than heirlooms or memorials. They are the outward symbol of the promise the Class of 1972 made to our country, the Navy and each other. For the last fifty years, our class has served, both in and out of uniform, always with Honor, Courage and Commitment. It is a fitting tribute to that service that a part of our class continues on with the Class of 2022. These young women and men will carry on the traditions of the Academy and the Naval service deep into the 21st century. I would like to believe that when these officers are challenged, as they will be, a small part of the Class of 1972 will stand with them. When our children and grandchildren hear of the achievements of the Class of 2022, they will reflect with pride on the part the Class of 1972 played in those achievements and celebrate the Honor, Courage and Commitment of the Class of 2022. Donating this important part of your life is a difficult decision, but I ask all of the families of the Class to consider a ring donation. Tired and True.
Gary Coyle
ALITC ’72 Coordinator
Naval Academy Annual Ethics Dinner
Posted: 9/15/2019
On September 12th the Naval Academy had its annual Ethics Dinner to recognize the Ethics program excellence. The Superintendent gave out the Annual VADM Lawerence Award for best student in the Core Ethics Course. He also presented the annual Adm Charles Larson award for yard-wide Leadership.Also, this year, the Naval Academy initiated the new, perpetual “Captain William R. Rubel Award for Instructor Excellence“.
Of significance to our class, Rick Rubel was able to present the first annual award in his name to Capt Tom Robertson, our Class ’72 Distinguished Military Professor of Character! (Winning an award in his first year!)
The citation to Tom Robertson reads below.
Congrats to Tom and Rick!
To Capt Tom Robertson:
You have been selected as the Captain William R. Rubel Ethics Instructor Excellence for Academic Year 2019. To earn this distinction, you demonstrated the highest level of proficiency, dedication, and enthusiasm in the classroom while serving as a Military Instructor for the United States Naval Academy’s core Ethics course, Ethics and Moral Reasoning for Naval Officers.
In particular, your peers and the senior faculty and staff of LEAD Division and the Leadership, Ethics & Law Department have recognized your extraordinary level of engagement with your students, your consistency of effort while teaching five sections of NE203 over two semesters, and your creative pedagogy, which has not only proved effective in your classrooms, but has also inspired your colleagues. Your loyal commitment to LEAD Division and your fellow instructors was on full display when you stepped forward to take on a heavier teaching load to meet LEL Department needs. Your readiness to lend your expertise to the NE203 Pilot program has been instrumental in assessing the efficacy of this significant initiative. Most importantly, the superlatives that your students have used to describe their semesters in your sections were impassioned. They reflect the effectiveness with which you leveraged your own unique military experiences to connect moral theory to moral practice, your command of the discipline, your approachability, and your sincere desire to ensure your students enter the Fleet prepared for moral leadership. They are, furthermore, evidence of your consummate professionalism, and your steadfast commitment to teaching excellence and the mission of the United States Naval Academy.
Your unwavering dedication to the moral and mental development of your students has had a profound and lasting impact on the professional development and education of our future Navy and Marine Corps leaders. Please accept my congratulations and sincerest gratitude for a job well done!
Chipping In, Part 1 – Misery Hall
Posted: 8/31/2019
To: Class of ‘72
Re: “Chipping in” – Part I
Webster’s Dictionary defines “chipping in” as: “to contribute to something being undertaken by a group, such as a task or collection”. This memo is to ask for your help on the “task” part of that definition, specifically point #4 below.
First, some context as it relates to our recent successful 50th Reunion Legacy Campaign:
- We raised $5.86 Million (versus a goal of $5 Million) to support four project areas. A record for class legacy campaigns!
- We now have a new DMP for Character, Tom Roberts, who replaces Jim Campbell
- Over the past six months, our participation rate for the class overall has crept up to 44% with 32 additional classmates coming into the campaign.
- The renovation and conversion of Ricketts Hall, converting it to a new Physical Mission Centre, is underway. I’m including a few photos showing the construction that’s going on, plus the finished product images:
With the $2.5 Million we raised for this particular project, we’re entitled to a dedication plaque that will be prominently displayed for the “Class of ’72 Sports & Rehabilitation Center”. Chuck Gladchuk approached our anonymous “donor matching” classmate (AC) for this task (since he funded the major part of this project). “AC” has put together a first draft, and has asked for input from other members of the class in the creation and review of the text for the dedication plaque.
Therefore, I’m enclosing his draft with this memo and inviting (primarily) any classmate who also contributed to the Class of ’72 Sports & Rehabilitation Center to help in the editing and crafting of our message. We’ve already gotten some good input from our hardworking campaign committee… and that input is now incorporated within the draft below…we’d like to solicit input from the broader class.
So, here’s my “Chipping in, part I” request. Below is the draft for our class plaque. If you have any edits, suggestions, or improvements, go ahead and send them directly to me at my e-mail: jeffreyb72@icloud.com. I’ll serve as the “catcher” for all of this, summarize the chops, and review with “AC” and our class president, Bob Leib, for final approval.
Class of 1972 Sports Performance and Rehabilitation Center
The Class of 1972 is proud to sponsor this Sports Center that will sharpen the competitive advantage and serve as a haven of physical restoration for all members of the Brigade of Midshipmen. While participating in varsity, club, and intramural sports at the Naval Academy, we honed a competitive attitude, learned the importance of placing team over self, discovered the transforming power of purposeful daily drudgery, and developed effective leadership skills. We all know from personal experience that these encounters prepared us for the challenges we faced as officers in the Navy and Marine Corps and as future business leaders and community leaders. We are confident this Center will help support this vital physical development of Midshipmen in the years to come.
Tried and True with ’72!
Beat Army!
Dedicated 2019
Thanks guys…I’ll be back in touch in a week or so with the Part II of my “chipping in” request, which concerns point #3.
Jeffrey Beard Jeffreyb72@icloud.com
New DMP for Character Development
Classmates
As you know, we’ve raised $1.63 Million (versus a $1.0 Million goal) during our last campaign to fund the Class of 1972 DMP for Character. The role had been filled by Jim Campbell. Jim’s been replaced in the role by Tom Robertson. Tom is quite excited about the role and the opportunity it brings in developing the moral character of midshipmen. He’s looking forward to meeting as many classmates as he can, and will try and stop by the ’72 tailgaters during this season’s home football games.
Tom’s first job was to develop a “character program continuum” to help him conceptualize the specific events which make up USNA’s overall character program. It’s not for publication, and too dense to include with this Shipmate article, but Tom has conveyed to the class that he would welcome any input or suggestions that anybody might have on this continuum. Therefore, if you would like to see a copy and respond, please contact Tom directly. His e-mail address is: robertso@usna.edu.
So, below is a photo of a character development symposium with the mids. Additionally, I asked Tom if he would introduce himself to the class by answering two questions: (1) what was your motivation for applying for the role? and (2) what are the near-term goals you have set for the 2019/2020 academic year? Below is his response:
Tried & True w/‘72
Jeff Beard
Hello Class of 1972. I’m looking forward to meeting more of you over the coming year. My answers to the two questions posed by Jeff are:
- My motivation for applying for the role:
I believe that leaders should humbly begin every day, no matter the prospects of that day, with a profound sense of gratitude for the privilege of serving in the position in which they find themselves. When I consider serving in the role of the Class of 1972 Distinguished Military Professor for Character Education, my sense of gratitude originates from the concept of “legacy”. The members of the Class of 1972, through your generous contributions to the class fund, certainly understand the value of investing in the next generation of leaders at the United States Naval Academy. In my role as the DMP for Character Education, my daily motivation is to partner with you in building a “living legacy”, one leader at a time. By teaching in the classroom, facilitating character capstone seminars, training incoming plebes, overseeing the honor remediation program and leading research and curriculum development projects, I purpose to join with you in mentoring midshipmen and positively affecting the character and quality of the USNA graduates who will lead us into the future.
- My specific goals for 2019/2020 include:
- maintain and then improve upon the high quality of the 1/C Character Capstone seminars in terms of teaching modules, alumni involvement and guest speakers.
- promote integration of character development efforts across all USNA programs by serving as LEAD Division adviser for “Character in the Curriculum” efforts.
- promote collaboration in the field of ethical leadership with alumni and private/ public organizations and then facilitate their connection with the Brigade.
- design new course material for both core courses such as NE203 Ethics as well as electives such as NP430 Ethics in Irregular Warfare.
- meet with leadership/ character development representatives from USMA and USAFA to help establish a collaborative group to share “best practices” among service academies in an on-going effort also including USMMA and USCGA.
Tom Robertson
Another Link in the Chain – 2022 Class Crest confirmed
Posted: 3/24/2019
Check out the left side of the chain!
20th Company Dining Out
Skip Kohler, Jeff Beard and Bob Leib were proud to represent our Class at last evenings 20th Company Dining Out. It was held at “Buddy’s Crabs and Ribs” and a super evening was had by all! The Class of 1972 Leadership Award was presented to Midshipman First Class Marie Valenti who hails from Pennsylvania and is the Captain of the record setting women’s lacrosse team. 20th Company did themselves proud, putting on a really first class “Dining Out!!
Class Legacy Gift Campaign Sets New Record for USNA Foundation
Posted: 9/20/2018
Attention World, Attention World…Class of ’72 50th Reunion Legacy Gift Campaign Sets New Record For USNA Foundation!
We’ve been working on this for well over a year, and I wanted to share our results with you, now that we’ve wrapped up the solicitation phase of the campaign.
In a nutshell…we nailed it!
I’m including our results to-date. As you recall, we set what many thought was an unrealistic goal of $5 Million…more than any other class has raised…but based on a $2.5 Million “match” by our anonymous classmate. In other words, if all of the rest of us raised $2.5 Million, he would agree to match that amount.
We also set goals for a record four different projects: (1) Naval Academy Annual Fund (2) The 1972 Sports & Rehabilitation Centre (w/our name on it) (3) The Distinguished Military Professor (DMP) for Character Development and (4) Project-Based Learning.
Well, we ended up blowing through our $5 Million goal and, as of this month, we have raised a bit over $6 Million! In addition, we’ve met all the individual project financial goals as well!
What I’m most proud of though is the participation rate, which is right around 35% …a bit over a third of the class….and our highestparticipation rate compared to all of our previous campaigns.
The reason we did so well was because of you….you all bought into the campaign, the goals, and a record number of you ended up participating. We should all be proud of an achievement that has never, ever been reached in USNA history, according to the Foundation. It’s a record that the Foundation feels will last for a long time.
So, here are the summary results.
There’s also a USNA Legacy Campaign Wrap-up presentation if you’d like to learn a bit more about what we did and how we did it. (Click the link in the presentation title.)
These numbers will continue to trickle higher as there’s still a few classmates that we’re still chasing down. Also, for the next five years, any of you that participate in the annual Naval Academy fund drive….or the all academy challenge…all of those additional funds will get added to our campaign totals!
Tried & true with ’72!
FINAL CALL – Class of 1972 Legacy Gift Campaign
Posted: 7/13/2018
(FOR ’72 EYES ONLY)“Sir, you have five minutes until noon meal formation…time, tide andformation wait for no man. I am now shoving off. You now have five minutes, sir!”
My “last call” of two weeks ago needs a follow-up “final call”, thus I turned to a “chow call” as a way of alerting those still on the fence to come on over.
You guys have really been coming through in the crunch as we’ve raised about $500,000 since my last note saying we were wrapping up the active solicitation phase of the campaign by the end of the week of July 13th…. but we’re still a bit short. We stand at $4.7 Million, a little less that $300,000 to our goal of $5 Million! We’ve raised $2.35 Million, and with the match from our anonymous classmate. We need another $150,000, which, when “matched” will get us there. Here’s the breakdown, by project:
- Distinguished Military Professor for Character– Goal: $1 Million (goal achieved!)
- Sports & Rehabilitation Centre(with our class name) – Goal: $2.5 Million (goal achieved!)
- Naval Academy Fund – Goal: $750,000 (goal achieved!)
- Project Based Learning– Goal: $750,000 (to-date: $453,000 – (short of goal by $297,000)
TOTAL FUNDS RAISED TO-DATE: $4.7 Million
So, as we wrap up this month’s active solicitation phase (you won’t hear from me again after this), here’s my plea:
- If you haven’t been contacted, or somehow have fallen through the cracks, please print off a pledge sheet, fill it out, and send it into Melissa Nelson.
- If you’ve already sent in your pledge, but think you’d like to alter it to help us reach our goal, please call Melissa Nelson.
- Here’s the link Pledge Form: http://1972.usnaclasses.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/17/2018/03/Class-of-1972-Pledge-Form.pdf
Finally, since we’re also below target on our participation goal, here’s the number of participants, by company and their totals. Congratulations to 11thCompany with 13 participants and $149,000 in pledges. 23rdCompany is at the bottom with zero participants and zero pledges. In all, we only have 187 classmates participating. Can we ask those companies at the bottom of the list to try and get your numbers up to at least five people? This would put us over 200 participants and probably be enough push us over the top. We’ve asked the company reps to urge their company mates to improve your company’s relative standing.
I really feel confident that we’re going to blow through our $5 Million goal. I’ll tally everything up in late August and provide a final report back to you in early September.
Thanks guys!
Jeff
Jeffreyb72@icloud.com
| Company | Number of Campaign Participants | Total Giving |
| 11 | 13 | $149,065 |
| 28 | 9 | $29,571 |
| 2 | 8 | $31,996 |
| 4 | 8 | $42,332 |
| 10 | 8 | $12,102 |
| 29 | 8 | $55,097 |
| 3 | 7 | $19,790 |
| 7 | 7 | $19,190 |
| 8 | 7 | $19,432 |
| 20 | 7 | $27,980 |
| 34 | 7 | $83,130 |
| 36 | 7 | $32,307 |
| 6 | 6 | $54,230 |
| 24 | 6 | $86,205 |
| 12 | 5 | $24,185 |
| 15 | 5 | $202,324 |
| 17 | 5 | $7,974 |
| 21 | 5 | $85,450 |
| 22 | 5 | $115,529 |
| 25 | 5 | $36,220 |
| 26 | 5 | $26,454 |
| 9 | 4 | $503,180 |
| 13 | 4 | $8,430 |
| 27 | 4 | $28,072 |
| 30 | 4 | $10,049 |
| 31 | 4 | $13,880 |
| 5 | 4 | $67,280 |
| 14 | 3 | $11,680 |
| 16 | 3 | $2,280 |
| 33 | 3 | $3,100 |
| 35 | 3 | $112,875 |
| 1 | 3 | $33,802 |
| 19 | 2 | $15,080 |
| 32 | 2 | $1,105 |
| 18 | 1 | $125,080 |
| 23 | 0 | 0- |
Total Participants = 187
