2009 ARMY FOOTBALL GRIDIRON DATELINE 1977—Behind 1,944 passing yards from Leamon Hall, the Cadets win seven of 11 games and claim their second Commander in Chief’s Trophy. In the season opener versus Massachusetts, Hall connects for five touchdown passes, including three to freshman Mike Fahnestock. That victory over UMass is the 500th in Army football history. 1979—Army,
after opting not to renew Homer Smith’s contract, hires University of Miami coach Lou Saban. Saban, who twice coached the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills, leads the Cadets to victories over Connecticut and Stanford in the season’s first two games, but Army will not win again, finishing 2-8-1.
1980—Lou Saban resigns his post abruptly in July. Top assistant, Ed Cavanaugh is hired. Mike Fahnestock, a senior, establishes an Academy record with 937 receiving yards. 1983—Army hires former Purdue and Arizona head coach Jim Young to replace Ed Cavanaugh. Navy dominates the Cadets en route to a 42-13 victory at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., in the first Army-Navy game since 1944 played outside the city of Philadelphia. 1984—Jim Young, known for his ability to adapt to his personnel, installs the Wishbone-T attack and Army leads the nation in rushing while posting an 8-3-1 mark. The Cadets defeat both Navy and Air Force for the Academy’s third outright Commander in Chief’s Trophy before dropping Michigan State 10-6 in the Cherry Bowl, Army’s first postseason appearance. The Cadets tie an NCAA mark during the season when Doug Black, Nate Sassaman, Clarence Jones and Jarvis Hollingsworth each rush for more than 100 yards versus Montana in the Mirage Bowl played in Tokyo, Japan.
1985—After eight regular-season victories, Army is awarded its second consecutive postseason bowl bid, earning a trip to the Peach Bowl. When free safety Peel Chronister bats down Illinois quarterback Jack Trudeau’s two-point conversion pass with :34 left, Army secures a 31-29 victory. The wishbone
1986—The Cadets garner a fourth Commander in Chief’s Trophy, beating Air Force 21-11 and Navy 27-7. In Army’s 56-48 shootout win over Lafayette, quarterback Tory Crawford rushes for 208 yards and accounts for 331 yards in total offense, the second-highest total in Academy history. 1988—Army wins another Commander in Chief’s Trophy and earns a trip to the John Hancock Sun Bowl to face Southeastern Conference power Alabama. The Crimson Tide overcomes a 28-20 fourthquarter deficit to foil Army’s upset bid, halting efforts for an Academy-record 10th win of the season. The Cadets’ wishbone offense grinds out 350 yards against an Alabama defense that entered the game ranked fifth in the nation in rushing defense. 1989—Frank Schenk connects on a 32-yard field goal with :11 remaining, propelling Navy to a 1917 win over Army in the first service academy clash held at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Junior halfback Mike Mayweather sets a single season school record by rushing for 1,177 yards.
1990—Mike Mayweather, who will finish 10th in the Heisman balloting, establishes a new West Point single season rushing standard by accumulating 1,338 yards. He finishes his career as Army’s all-time leading rusher with 4,299 yards. After his sixth winning season in eight years at West Point, Jim Young retires, departing as Army’s third all-time winningest head coach with 51 victories. 1991—Bob Sutton, a longtime Jim Young assistant and Army’s defensive coordinator, is tabbed West Point’s 31st head football coach. Sutton’s charges start out 3-3 but suffer four defeats in the final five games, including a 24-3 loss to Navy.
1992—Senior Patmon Malcom kicks a 43-yard field goal with :05 left to lift Army over Lafayette 3836 in the season’s third game. At Veterans Stadium in the season finale, Malcom boots a career-long 49yard field goal with 12 seconds to play as the Cadets overcome a 17-point second-half deficit to stun Navy 25-24, capping the largest comeback in Army-Navy history (a mark that would remain only until 1996). 1993—Army’s wishbone, consistently ranked among the nation’s top rushing offenses, leads the country by averaging 298.5 ground yards per game. Sophomore fullback Akili King runs for 235 yards in the opener versus Colgate, the second-best day in Academy annals. The Cadets escape with another win over Navy and take a 44-43-7 lead in the series when Navy’s plebe kicker Ryan Bucchianeri misses an 18-yard field goal with :06 left. 1994—For the third year in a row, an Army-Navy game is decided by a kicker. Army senior Kurt Heiss nails a career-long 52-yarder with 6:19 to play. The kick is also the longest ever in an Army-Navy game as Army wins 22-20. In a 25-24 win over The Citadel, quarterback Ronnie McAda throws for 257 yards, the 11th-best day in Army history and largest passing output in the “Wishbone Era.” 1995—The Cadets cap a grueling 5-5-1 campaign by driving 99 yards in the final minutes for a game-winning touchdown in their 14-13 victory over Navy. The win is Army’s fourth in a row versus the Mids. Four of Army’s five losses come to bowlbound teams, including a heartbreaking 28-27 loss to Notre Dame when Irish defensive back Ivory Covington stops Cadet tight end Ron Leshinski inches short of the goal line on the potential game-winning two-point conversion. 1996—Army reels off nine straight victories to open the season and appears in the national rankings during the regular season for the first time since 1988. Capping that nine-game burst was a 23-7 win over Air Force, Army’s first triumph against the Falcons since 1988. The Cadets overcome an 18-point deficit to defeat arch-rival Navy 28-24, capping the largest comeback in Army-Navy history
Head coach Jim Young installs the wishbone offense, helping Army to three bowl bids and three Commander In Chief’s Trophy titles in five seasons.
John Graves hauls in a 28-yard pass on 4th-and-24 during Army’s 99-yard game-winning drive in a dramatic 14-13 win over Navy.
1984
1995
1977 Leamon Hall sets an Academy record with five touchdown passes in a 51-0 season-opening victory over Massachusetts.
136
accounts for 291 yards rushing in Army’s ninth win of the year, its most since 1949. Offensive guard Don Smith is named a first team All-American, becoming the first Cadet to earn that honor since Ken Johnson in 1968.
1988 Ben Barnett, Calvin Cass and Mike Mayweather lead Army to the John Hancock Sun Bowl, where the Cadets rush for more than 350 yards, but fall 29-28 to SEC power Alabama.
2009 ARMY FOOTBALL MEDIA GUIDE