Call To Quarters - Spring/Summer 2012

Call to Quarters Fork Union Military Academy

Alumni Magazine

Spring/Summer 2012

Preparing for his future Cadet Brett Siegel, a junior, studies in Snead Hall while Jacobson Hall, his home for next year, rises up behind him in the fading light of day.

In Memoriam to those who touched the lives of many Richard (Dick) Ryder Graves, FUMA Trustee, of Fork Union, VA, passed away peacefully in his home in Fork Union, VA on November 18, 2011. He was born in Cleveland, OH, on January 8, 1931 and moved with his parents to Syria, VA in the early 1940s. He graduated from Lane High School in 1950, and from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a BS degree in Agriculture in 1954. He served in the U.S. Army Armed Forces Special Weapons Project Division. Following graduation and his military service, he returned to Madison County and was employed by RS Graves & Brothers, Inc. In 1964, he moved to Fork Union and established Hill Grove Worm Ranch and later Cinderella Potting Soil. Active in community and state life, Richard was a member of ACCA Temple Shrine, the Board of Directors of the State Fair, and the Fluvanna and Region 10 Planning Commissions. Additionally, he was a Director Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Fork Union Military Academy. He was formerly married to Selma Graves of Richmond, VA, and was predeceased by their daughter and by three brothers. He is survived by his niece. Mr. Graves’ winning smile was always a welcome addition when he visited the FUMA campus. He was affectionately referred to as “Santa Claus” by many as he volunteered in children’s events and community activities during the holiday season bringing smiles to many eager faces in Fluvanna County – both young and old.

Edsel Harrison ( Jack) Lester, Class of 1951, of Roanoke, VA, passed away on January 8, 2012. He grew up in Hurley, VA and previously resided in Grundy, VA. His generous support to FUMA through the years helped the Academy establish two scholarship funds for cadets in need of financial assistance. In 1998, Mr. Lester was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Academy. His daughter, Paige Lester Pruett, serves as a member of the FUMA Board of Trustees and has a devoted love for the Academy and its mission. Mr. Lester is also survived by his wife, Mary Virginia Lester; his son, William; daughter, Kimberlee L. Smith and her husband. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Shirley Wright Lester. He is survived by many loving step-children and a large extended family. His contributions to many people and organizations throughout the years were immeasurable, and it would be difficult to enumerate the many quiet ways he impacted the lives of others through his service and support.

Ms. Robin Gilmer, former Middle School Housemother, went to be with her Lord on February 24, 2012. She served at FUMA for over ten years as housemother and retired from the Academy in May 2011. In her employment at Fork Union she was also a computer teacher, student activities director, Boy Scout leader, scuba club sponsor, and cooking club sponsor.

She loved the boys in her charge and they loved her. She was selfless in her service and devotion to the Academy and she will be greatly missed by those she touched over the years. Ms. Gilmer is survived by her mother, Annie Finley, also a former Middle School Housemother, four children, and five grandchildren. Her two sons, Jeremy (’05) and Caleb (’07), attended Middle School and graduated from the Academy.

Call to Quarters is a publication of Fork Union Military Academy.

Mission Statement

The mission of this publication is to develop a community committed to supporting the Academy through their prayers, active involvement, and financial giving.

This magazine endeavors to inform and entertain its audience of alumni, cadets, parents, grandparents, staff, and friends of the Academy with stories and pictures of the Academy’s history, current events, alumni news, and the Academy’s plans for the future.

Further, this magazine seeks to motivate its audience to be actively involved in Academy life by their participation in campus events, through fellowship and networking with alumni, by actively recommending the Academy to prospective students and alerting the Admissions Office to potential recruiting opportunities, and by giving regular financial support to meet the needs of the Academy and its cadets.

Fork Union Military Academy Post Office Box 278 4744 James Madison Highway Fork Union, Virginia 23055 phone: 434-842-4200 fax: 434-842-4300 for information on admissions, call: 1-800-GO-2-FUMA http://www.forkunion.com

Opening Shot...

FUMA Meet-Up at the Annual Army-Navy Game

FUMA alumni currently attending the U. S. Naval Academy and the U. S. Military Academy at West Point met up while attending the Army-Navy game on December 10, 2011. Pictured are (top row, left to right) Matt Daugherty, Tom Smith, Brian Zitterkopf, Jeremy Haney, Caleb Haney; (bottom row, left to right) Justin Edell, Daniel Tucker.

Not pictured are Max Lennox, a first year at West Point, and Waverly Washington, who was busy on the field as a member of the Army football team.

president’s message RADM J. SCOTT BURHOE In order for any educational institution to be successful, it must have a clear and focused vision and mission.

RADM J. Scott Burhoe is the President of Fork Union Military Academy.

Fork Union Military Academy’s vision is to be a national leader among independent boarding schools. Our faculty, facilities, and programs will exemplify excellence, especially in the area of academic preparation for higher education. The school environment and culture will promote Christian values and cultivate strength of character, self-discipline, and critical thinking skills essential for life-long learning, leadership, and service to others.

Our mission, consistent with that vision, is to educate, develop, and inspire young men in a college preparatory, Christian, residential environment. Cadets learn confidence, responsibility, leadership and discipline in a positive atmosphere of mental, physical, and spiritual growth.

This school must have high expectations for students, teachers, and staff. These expectations must be met with support, recognition, and acknowledgement.

I believe students reach their full potential when teachers and administrators articulate and expect high standards of performance while providing an extensive network of support. It is critical in a residential setting that students receive additional support and guidance early in their experience to ensure they understand the values of the institution, learn how to establish priorities, and understand their role.

Schools must integrate student-centered learning and experiences which are active and relevant. Students need the opportunity to work together in teams supported by a high performing, well-educated and dedicated faculty and staff who put teaching first and devote significant “out of class time” to reinforce learning.

Teachers and administrators must assess performance, provide feedback, and establish clearly marked pathways of success for every student.

Students must have the opportunity to learn about themselves. Self-awareness puts young 4

people on the right path to becoming leaders.

This knowledge of self allows students to more effectively explore human difference and better cultivate a strong community of inclusion and appreciation for diversity.

Any school’s effectiveness depends upon everyone associated with that institution being aligned with its vision and mission. This alignment occurs through candid, honest, and open conversations. Unity of effort is critical.

Young people are remarkably perceptive and keenly attuned to inconsistency and hypocrisy.

Their leaders must be consistent, fair, and serve as positive role models. All aspects of a residential educational institution must be aligned... from the classroom, to the barracks, to athletics, to the chapel, and all support programs. The application of standards, expressions of concern and empathy, commitment to excellence and professionalism must be seamless.

We must “immerse cadets in a sea of professionalism.” Everyone contributes to character development. My expectation is that faculty and staff look, act, and behave in a manner consistent with the mission, military culture, and heritage we represent.

Successful schools are model institutions of learning. Administrators, teachers, and staff maintain the highest possible standards of conduct, appearance, and decorum consistent with its mission. Students must have the highest possible expectations for their own learning and for their leaders, and those leaders must live up to those expectations, and engage in many quality interactions with each student.

My educational philosophy is that you cannot separate the mind from the body, or the person from the Spirit. It is through this holistic development of mind, body, and spirit that the finest leaders are educated, developed, and inspired.

I look forward to serving as President of Fork Union Military Academy, and working with everyone associated with this prestigious institution. We are indeed very fortunate that we are called to do this work, and that we may serve God in this way. If we work together we will achieve our vision, accomplish our mission, and change lives along the way.

Call to Quarters

Cadet Peter Lomong receives his ribbon and congratulations as RADM Burhoe presents Honor Roll and Dean’s List awards to members of Echo Company.

www.forkunion.com

5

Upper School Battalion Commander, Stephen Joslyn, leads the Corps of Cadets in the Parents Day Parade this past October 2011.

6

Call to Quarters

parents association KELLY & DEE STRAUSS Dear FUMA Parents,

We hope the school year has gone well for you and your Cadet! Only two terms left! If you have a Senior Cadet, you will be attending his graduation in less than 60 days! If you have a son who is an underclassman, we know he is looking forward to returning in the fall to the brand new dorm, Jacobson Hall! So much excitement for all of us!

As we prepare this letter, Spring is upon us, but we really have not gotten very much cold, snowy weather in the greater FUMA region this past winter. Our son said that it just hasn’t been very cold at Fork Union. So we turn our attention to all the wonderful activities coming this Spring!

There are two more parades before the end of the school year. The full dress Mother’s Day Parade is on Sunday, May 13, 2012 and the Greenbrier Military School Parade is on Sunday, May 20th.

Both parades are at 2:30pm.

It has been a pleasure to provide you with information this school year. We hope that your son has found success, friends, and a path for his future that will lead to the realization of his dreams.

Sincerely,

Kelly & Dee Strauss Parent Association Chairs 2011-2012

Military Ball

Your Cadet should be looking for his date for the FUMA Military Ball to be held on campus on Saturday, April 28, 2012. This event is such a grand opportunity for your son to be in his dress uniform with a formally-dressed young lady on his arm. And the next day, Sunday, April 29, 2012, FUMA will host its first full dress parade at 2:30pm.

Alumni Weekend

Fork Union Military Academy Alumni Weekend is another big event on the weekend of May 4-6, 2012. As parents, we have the opportunity to participate in this weekend for our Cadets who will one day be alumni by supporting the Silent Auction on Saturday, May 5th at 1:00pm to 5:00pm and again on Sunday from 9:00am to 2:00pm at Fork Union Military Academy. FUMA hosts the Silent Auction to raise money for the scholarship programs at the Academy.

Parade Season

The Parade Season for our FUMA Cadets continues with the Alumni Full Dress Parade on Sunday, May 6, at 2:30pm on the Parade Field.

The alumni parade is dedicated to all alumni and also honors the Class of 1962 as they celebrate their 50th Reunion. www.forkunion.com

Kelly and Dee Strauss (pictured with their children Kathryn and Kordell) are the Chairs of the Parents Association.

7

alumni association JEFF WEATHERSPOON ‘73

Jeff Weatherspoon ‘73 is the President of the Alumni Association.

M

any years ago I experienced three events that will forever be a part of who I am. The first was my first day at FUMA, and the immense change amplified by my mid-year start after the holidays. The second was my last day at FUMA, and the total elation of graduation day. And the third was in late October 1973, when I received the heart-shattering news of the death of Bill Timberlake, one of my best friends at FUMA who had just graduated the year before. I received a note to come to the Guidance Office for a phone call on a rainy day. On the other end of the phone was Mr. Timberlake. I will never forget his words to me. He said “Jeff, we have lost our boy Bill. His Mother and I know in our hearts for certain that Bill’s spirit lives in the walls of Fork Union and we would like it very much if you would select five of Bill’s friends and come to Woodland and put our boy in the ground.” That was all he could say. These words, the cracking voice of a heart- broken man, all my emotion, the rain, and the office I was sitting in, all of my memories of Bill were carved deeply into my soul that day. Bill had died in a head-on collision in North Carolina a day or two before.

The profound and cumulative effect of this single event and the days that followed has never left me for any amount of measurable time. When I left Hatcher Hall that day in the cold rain, and as I walked back to the barracks, numb with disbelief, a group of cadets met me very close to where the Ten Commandments are on the circle today. Somehow they had heard, I’m not sure how, and they were looking in my face to see if I would tell them it was not true. Bill was a best friend to many, so the pain of this news was broad in the Corps. We stood in that cold rain for some amount of time, I’m not sure how long.

I will never forget that moment. For the six cadets who made the trip, it was a day of duty, profound pain, and a permanent, vivid memory.

Even today the words do not come easy, at all.

Fork Union means a great deal to many people, each in a little different way. I was only at

8

FUMA for two and a half years but no matter how hard it was to avoid the painful memories, something kept pulling me back. I felt as if FUMA was calling to me for some purpose.

I came back after many years and I will tell you that there were many mixed emotions. In the end I gave in to what I had tried to avoid and forget. The realization that in spite of my resistance to remember all of the struggles, hard work, growth, and pain was that FUMA, in essence, made me who I am. It is amazing how the effect of our short time at FUMA was in reality a drop in the bucket of our lives, but what a profound drop. I can’t help but think about the educators who taught us, the coaches who inspired us, and the cadets we shared with that became a part of us all, forever.

Come back to FUMA and experience all that it has become. Sit in the Chapel again, feel the excitement in the air, and stand in the barracks one more time before they are gone forever. See Jacobson Hall and be proud we all have a place to come back to, when so many others like us do not. There is a new, wonderful energy at FUMA. Rear Admiral Burhoe’s leadership and the passion of the educators at FUMA are worthy of your trust and support. Read the inspirational blogs by RADM Burhoe each week, go to the website and check out the live webcam of Fraley Circle. Stay connected, because whether you know it or not, a part of each and every one of you lives in the walls of this great school going back 114 years - just like Bill’s spirit. What Bill’s father said that October day is true for all of us.

Come and experience Alumni Weekend, come and speak about your unique experiences on Alumni Speaker Day, feel the tradition, feel the spirit, and most of all, feel the faith. Reexperience a time in your life when you were just beginning and were in the prime of your life.

Leave renewed and proud of what you accomplished, proud of the rock that this enduring school is built upon.

Jeff Weatherspoon, Class of 1973 President, Alumni Association Board Call to Quarters

Jeff Weatherspoon often returns to the campus to interact with cadets and staff. Here he greets Cadet Casula Lopez at the Senior/PG Dinner held in February 2012.

www.forkunion.com

9

Rear Admiral J. Scott Burhoe and his wife Betsy arrived on campus in July 2011 to begin his service as the Academy’s tenth president.

10

Call to Quarters

Welcome Aboard!

We have some questions for you...

R

ear Admiral J. Scott Burhoe joined Fork Union Military Academy as the school’s tenth President in July of 2011 following his retirement from the Unied States Coast Guard. RADM Burhoe had served as Superintendent of the U. S. Coast Guard Academy since 2007.

1. What attracted you the most to Fork Union Military Academy? How did you find out about the Academy and the position as President?

Growing up in Virginia, I have always been fascinated by, and attracted to, the long-revered tradition of college-preparatory, military, boarding schools in this state. Fork Union Military Academy happened to be the best school with an opening for President. I found the opening here by visiting the forkunion.com webpage, and applied after visiting in November of 2010. I was impressed by the new barracks project, and attracted to its clear mission and purpose.

2. What were your “first impressions?”

They were many, and as you know I am a big proponent of the importance of first impressions.

My very first impression was that everyone I met had a deep love for FUMA and cared deeply for every cadet. At the same time I saw a campus that had the very best of facilities (library, gymnasium, natatorium, dining facility), and a number of other buildings in serious need of renovation (barracks, middle school gym, administration). My sense was also that the staff and faculty were in need of “investment” at the same www.forkunion.com

rate we’ve invested in upgrading buildings.

3. What did you do to prepare in the weeks prior to beginning your position as President of FUMA?

What I did in the weeks between the United States Coast Guard Academy and here was spend as much time as possible with Betsy, my family, and resting from my tenure as Superintendent. I went to the mountains in the western part of Virginia to run and ride my bike…we visited my mother in Florida, and then spent the week before arriving refining my educational philosophy, learning as much as I could about VAIS, VCPE, NAIS, and FUMA. 4. What specific expertise as Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy serves as your biggest asset in leading the Academy?

The biggest lesson learned (or expertise) is the ability to manage and juggle multiple priorities, doing my best to ensure I’m working on the most important item, not necessarily the most urgent. I also learned the importance of using accreditation standards as a guide. I had the opportunity to lead (as team leader) a college accreditation visit for a New England college… as well as leading USCGA through its decennial re-accreditation effort. These experiences helped me realize that the accreditation process is ongoing…as is the need to meet the standards every day, not just when the accreditation team shows up to look at the school. The best schools follow the standards and comply with them every single day.

11

5. In what ways do you feel you were least prepared for your job as President of FUMA?

Nobody likes to admit that they are not prepared for something…particularly an Eagle Scout who graduated from Virginia Tech, then served a career in the Coast Guard. Between “Be Prepared,” “That I May Serve,” and “Always Ready” (the three mottos), I believe I hit the deck running [in the right direction]. That being said, I was expecting, but not fully ready for the transition from being a flag officer with a pretty sizable staff (all focused on increasing my effectiveness and productivity) to having to do a wider range of activities on my own.

6. After being at Fork Union Military Academy for over six months now, what do you foresee as its biggest challenge in the next five years? What are the greatest opportunities?

The biggest challenge facing FUMA is the “resource challenge.” How can we continue to improve and upgrade our facilities in order to attract the best students, faculty, and staff ?

Cascading from that challenge is ensuring that we routinely start the year with at least 500 cadets (combined Middle, Upper, and Postgraduates). All military boarding schools have a challenge of changing the myth that they are schools for troubled teens, when in fact we are the best option for the highest performing students. Very few schools offer the holistic education (body, mind, and spirit) and the range of racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity represented here at FUMA. Our greatest opportunities rest in people who think they need to look forward at “what is next” when in fact they should look back at what works. FUMA works…we are tried and tested.

7. What has been the biggest highlight of the past six months?

The biggest highlights are events like the Senior/ PG dinner, close athletic contests (that we win), reviewing the Parents Weekend Parade, starting the Invitational Cross Country Meet, greeting all the students when they arrived, and individual interactions with cadets at band concerts, cadet chorale performances, debate team prac12

tice, Saturday formal inspections, etc. Another highlight may be quiet evenings reading in my library at Careby Hall, or running/biking the many miles of trails through F. F. White’s property surrounding the Academy.

8. How would you describe the staff and faculty at FUMA?

I describe them as caring, committed, dedicated, and worthy of greater compensation/benefits.

9. How would you describe the Corps of Cadets?

Energetic, [becoming more] spirited, abounding potential, curious, developing.

10. As a member of the Fork Union community, how can the Academy at large play a vital role in the future of Fluvanna County?

We already play a vital role here in Fluvanna County. As the school improves and develops a national reputation for academic excellence, physical fitness and athletic preparation, and character and leadership development, Fork Union will be a stopping point for the many visitors who will want to know “how we do it?”

Everyone from me to our faculty/staff needs to be actively involved outside the school.

11. What expectations should a prospective family/cadet have of the Academy?

I share often that parents should expect us to keep their sons safe from harm, and they should expect that their sons will reach their full potential here at Fork Union. They should expect their sons to be surrounded by a staff and faculty who are student-centered, and that everyone they contact gives them a positive example of love, caring, and compassion. This means giving students what they need, which isn’t always what they want. They should expect their students to become independent, disciplined, self-confident, brighter, and more fit.

12. What expectations should FUMA have of a prospective student?

Prospective students need to know that all we can do is provide the environment for sucCall to Quarters

cess. They have to do the work it takes to get the most from this environment. I was once a “wellness coordinator” or personal trainer as a collateral duty in the Coast Guard, and after my assessment of a client’s fitness and developing a program for him I had him get on a stationary bike. He asked what needed to happen now, and I told him to pedal. He told me that sounded like too much work. Students here have to know they need to pedal when they arrive.

13. FUMA is built on traditions, many that have not changed over the years, many that have been altered. What tradition should not be altered or changed and why? Which ones should we keep?

The most important tradition that needs to remain is our commitment to Christian values and principles. Also, in the words of Robert E. Lee, “A boy is more important than any rule.”

And, in the words of Frank L. Boyden, the former head of Deerfield Academy, “I am not running this school for the faculty; I’m running it for the boys.” What should not be changed is the responsibility given to young leadership. We need to do a better job of mentoring and coaching our cadet leadership. Young men today are more responsible, better informed, and seeking a broader explanation. I also believe today’s youth gravitate more toward recognition than run from punishment. While the demerit system will stay, we need to focus more on recognizing positive behavior than punishing negative behavior. www.forkunion.com

14. What would you want anyone reading this magazine to know about Scott Burhoe? About Fork Union Military Academy?

I think rather than me telling people what they should know about me, I would encourage them to find out for themselves…and I won’t presume that after my short time here I could tell anyone something they already didn’t know about Fork Union Military Academy other than to watch closely over the next 5-10 years.

RADM Burhoe congratulates the indoor track team on their victory at the Fred Hardy Invitational Indoor Track Meet in January 2012.

15. Summarize your best personality trait in one word.

Persistence [balanced by patience].

16. How can the Academy’s friends help to secure its promise and realize its mission?

This looks like a softball question [by my staff ] for me to tell Academy friends to get involved to increase our enrollment and to send money.

We will secure our promise when we are adequately resourced and staffed…this can happen only if there is a bow wave of positive talk about FUMA, and a commitment to annual giving. I would rather see many people giving a little bit, than few giving much…but like any President might say, many giving much would also be put to good use. We exist for our students…and they deserve all we can give them…after all they are the future of this Nation.

13

David

David Huddleston plays a scene with John Wayne in the 1974 film McQ.

14

Call to Quarters

Huddleston

From FUMA to Film

H

e’s “That Guy.” The actor whose face and voice you recognize, but whose name you just might not be able to call to mind. He’s an actor’s actor, one of Hollywood’s best character actors whose work spans the spectrum from memorable big screen roles, to hundreds of television guest appearances, familiar commercials, and even the Broadway stage.

He is David Huddleston, and he’s a member of the Fork Union Military Academy Class of 1949.

A Small-Town Virginia Boy

David William Huddleston was born on September 17, 1930 in Vinton, Virginia to Lewis Melvin and Ismay Hope Huddleston.

Vinton is a small town near Roanoke in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

As a child, Huddleston performed on stage and on the radio, but there did not seem to be a path available for him to pursue acting. “We were relatively poor people,” Huddleston explains.

Football at FUMA

Huddleston was an all-state talent in football at Montvale High School. He was also a relative of sorts of COL H. M. Waldron, a longtime teacher at Fork Union Military Academy who became the school’s Headmaster. Huddleston’s uncle was married to Waldron’s sister, so it was Waldron who helped steer Huddleston’s path to Fork Union Military Academy with a football scholarship to play for Coach Rosie Thomas on the postgraduate football team.

Huddleston played alongside such familiar FUMA faces as Bill Blair and Charles Fuller on the ‘48-’49 football team.

Now Huddleston will once again join Blair and Fuller on a different sort of FUMA team.

Huddleston’s name is being added to the roll of Distinguished Alumni of Fork Union Military Academy. www.forkunion.com

Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame

In a ceremony to take place during the annual Alumni Association Dinner on Saturday, May 5, 2012, David Huddleston’s name will be added to the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. Huddleston and his wife, Sarah Koeppe, will be in attendance to accept the honor.

Huddleston will stay through the full Alumni Weekend to get reaquainted with his classmates and the campus. “I’m looking forward to it,” he says. “I enjoyed being a member of the Corps. I enjoyed marching and listening to the band.”

Cadet David W. Huddleston

In a recent phone interview, Huddleston recalled fondly his days of playing for Coach Rosie Thomas and Coach Gus Lacy on the football team. He also remembered his days in math class with longtime FUMA teacher E. J. Snead. “He was a wonderful, wonderful math teacher,” Huddleston recalls.

“Fork Union taught you about discipline, and about doing good work,” Huddleston says.

He laughed as he remembered the introduction Dr. Wicker gave for the commencement speaker at his graduation. “The speaker was William Tuck, the governor of Virginia at that time,” Huddleston relates. “Dr. Wicker got up there and said, ‘Virginia is the mother of states and the mother of presidents. Watch Bill Tuck.’”

“That was it,” Huddleston says, chuckling at the memory.

Edwin J. Snead was a longtime teacher at the Academy. This photo is from the 1949 Skirmisher.

See a picture of him taken in 1915 on page 37.

15

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Following his year at Fork Union Military Academy, Huddleston joined the U. S. Air Force.

Because of his FUMA background and training, Huddleston was assigned to the Training Command for his first tours of duty in the Air Force. “I was in charge of helping train the new guys who came in,” he explains.

He later was sent to Wichita Falls to be trained as an aircraft and engine mechanic, and served out his remaining time in the Air Force in that job.

His four years of service in the military offered Huddleston the opportunity to further his education with funding from the G. I. Bill. The path to the career in acting he had long hoped for had finally opened.

American Academy of Dramatic Arts

With his G. I. Bill funding, Huddleston entered the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the distinguished private conservatory for actors in Manhattan that had produced such talents as Cecil B. DeMille, Edward G. Robinson, and Spencer Tracy.

Upon his graduation in 1957, Huddleston made his professional theatrical debut and became a working actor, the career he had always wanted.

In 1976, David Huddleston played the evil sheriff in the fourth episode of the first season of Charlie’s Angels, provocatively entitled “Angels in Chains.”

Huddleston played Sheriff Ep Bridges in The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, the 1971 television movie that gave birth to the long-running series The Waltons. Earl Hamner, Jr., the show’s creator, wrote the role of A. J. Covington especially for his friend and fellow Virginian in the 1972 episode of The Waltons entitled “The Literary Man.” He has also had recurring roles in The Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, and Jericho. His recurring role as Grandpa Arnold in The Wonder Years earned Huddleston an Emmy nomination.

He had featured parts in the national touring companies of The Music Man, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Mame. He also picked up bit parts in films including Black Like Me, All the Way Home, and A Lovely Way to Die. Television

Beginning in the late 1960s, David Huddleston began to pop up in guest appearances in a wide variety of television shows from sitcoms to dramas. He was seen on Adam-12, Then Came Bronson, Room 222, Sarge, Bewitched, McMillan and Wife, Cannon, Medical Center, Bonanza, Ironside, The Rookies, Emergency!, Hawaii Five-O, Sanford and Son, and Charlie’s Angels, just to name a few.

He also had roles as a series regular on Tenafly, Petrocelli, as well as Hizzoner, a sitcom he created and produced.

16

In 1990, David Huddleston earned an Emmy nomination for his performance as Grandpa Arnold in The Wonder Years episode entitled “The Powers That Be.”

Film

Huddleston began to make inroads into the movie business in the 1970s, supporting John Wayne in the 1971 movie Rio Lobo, in which he played the town dentist, Dr. Ivor Jones. He had supporting roles with a variety of stars including Jimmy Stewart in Fools’ Parade, Bette Davis in Family Reunion, and Gregory Peck in Billy Two Hats.

Call to Quarters

David Huddleston as Dr. Ivor Jones, the town dentist, seen here playing opposite John Wayne in the 1971 movie Rio Lobo.

David Huddleston (left) appeared with Gregory Peck (right) in the film Billy Two Hats in 1974.

www.forkunion.com

17

Huddleston’s breakthrough role was the vicious gang leader with a sense of humor, Big Joe, in the Robert Benton film, Bad Company. Acting with a young Jeff Bridges in this Civil War period Western, Huddleston’s portrayal was one that earned him much critical praise.

His appearances in more than 60 films have included such memorable roles as Mayor Olsen Johnson in Mel Brooks’ infamous Blazing Saddles, the title roles of both Santa in Santa Claus, the Movie and Jeffrey Lebowski in the more recent cult classic, The Big Lebowski, by directors Joel and Ethan Coen. David was the wheelchair-bound millionaire known as The Big Lebowski.

Huddleston (seen here with Jim Davis) received critical acclaim for his performance as “Big Joe” in the 1972 film Bad Company. This was the first movie pairing of Huddleston with a young Jeff Bridges.

The 1998 film The Big Lebowski would once again pair Huddleston with Jeff Bridges, as Huddleston plays the wheelchair-bound title character, Jeffrey Lebowski.

Huddleston played the title role in Santa Claus, the Movie with Dudley Moore.

Theatre

Throughout his acting career, Huddleston has from time to time returned to the theatre stage.

Some notable roles include his 1981 turn on the Broadway stage in the musical The First, based on the Jackie Robinson story. In 1984, he costarred with Dustin Hoffman in the Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman, earning a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. He replaced Pat Hingle in the role of Benjamin Franklin in the 1998 Broadway production of 1776. He reprised the role of 18

Call to Quarters

Mayor Olsen Johnson welcomes the new Sheriff to town in the infamous Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles.

Franklin in the Ford’s Theatre production of 1776 in Washington DC in 2003.

Not Just an Alumnus

David Huddleston returns to the campus in Fork Union not just as an alumnus, but as a former FUMA parent as well.

Michael Huddleston, David’s son, attended Fork Union Military Academy for his sophomore year of high school in the 1967-68 academic year.

Michael followed his father into the acting field and both Huddlestons appeared together in the 1977 film The World’s Greatest Lover starring Gene Wilder. Michael added a number of credits to his acting resume over the next twenty years, before leaving show business for the food business. Michael is now the chef at the historic (and reportedly haunted) St. James Hotel in Cimarron, New Mexico.

David and his wife Sarah, live not too far away at a ranch in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico - when he’s not in Hollywood or on location somewhere performing under the bright lights. www.forkunion.com

Benjamin Franklin is brought to life in the stage performance by David Huddleston in 1776.

19

State Champions!

20

Call to Quarters

Third Year in a Row...

F

or the third consecutive year, the FUMA Rifle Team won the Virginia Military Schools Rifle League State Tournament.

The 2011-12 team included (L to R) Brandon Dyer, Daniel Nix, Anthony Leger, Jesse Jacobson, Max Anderson, Nathan Northcutt, and Josh Work. Not pictured are: Stephen Joslyn, Blake Bralley, and Will Phillips.

www.forkunion.com

21

Mark your calendars!

April 28..... Coach Fletcher Arritt Walkathon See http://www.forkunion.com/walkathon for more information!

April 29 .... First Full Dress Parade May 6........ Alumni Day Parade May 13...... Mother’s Day Parade May 20...... Greenbrier Parade May 25...... Senior/PG Parade

Cadet Captain John Alexander leads his company in the Parents Day Parade this past October.

22

Call to Quarters

Everybody Loves a

Parade!

www.forkunion.com

23

Come Back!

Alumni Weekend - May 4-6

C

alling all alumni! Come back! Don’t wait for your 50th reunion year. Don’t even wait for your 10th reunion year. Alumni, young and old, join us for Alumni Weekend this year, May 4-6.

See Snead Hall one last time before it is gone. Shake hands with Coach Fletcher Arritt and thank LTC Bobby Cobb for his years of service as these men prepare for retirement.

Congratulate alumnus David Huddleston on his long career in film and share your common FUMA roots. Catch up with friends.

The weekend begins with a BBQ dinner honoring our reunion classes on Friday evening.

Saturday starts with the Alumni Golf Tournament and other activities, followed by the Alumni Association Dinner on Saturday evening.

Sunday is a full day on campus with the morning Veterans Service, class photos, silent auction, and more.

Finish your weekend Sunday afternoon by taking the review of the parade alongside your fellow alumni brothers.

Don’t miss out this year!

24

Call to Quarters

www.forkunion.com

25

FUMA Sports

E.H. “Gus” Lacy, Jr. Coach

Fletcher M. Arritt, Jr. Class of 1960

2012 Inductees Dr. Frederick O. Mueller Class of 1955

26

William Dexter Coakley Class of 1993

Call to Quarters

Hall of Fame

Four to be Inducted in June 2012

Sports Hall of Fame Banquet - June 14

Mark your calendars for the evening of Thursday, June 14, 2012 at 6:30pm - that’s the date of the next FUMA Sports Hall of Fame Banquet at which the names of four new individuals will be added to the Sports Hall of Fame.

The 2012 inductees are the late E. H. “Gus” Lacy, Jr.; Fletcher M. Arritt, Jr.; Dr. Frederick O. Mueller; and William Dexter Coakley.

Each of these men has made outstanding contribution to athletics or service to the Academy and has made a lasting contribution to the cause of sports at the Academy.

Our Master of Ceremonies for the event will be Jude LaCava, a Fox Sports anchor in Phoenix, Arizona, and a FUMA alumnus who played for Coach Fletcher Arritt.

We hope you will be able to join us as we honor these men for their lifetimes of achievement. It is sure to be a special night and we expect a capacity crowd, so please RSVP early when you receive your invitation in the mail this Spring.

Contact Jana Vaughan in the Development Office at 434-842-4370 for more information.

Sports Hall of Fame Celebrity Golf Tournament - June 15

Join us on the links for the Sports Hall of Fame Celebrity Golf Tournament to be held on Friday, June 15, 2012 at the beautiful Spring Creek Golf Course at Zion Crossroads. We’re excited to be holding this event for the first time at this award winning course, rated by Golf Digest as one of the top 100 in the nation.

As always, it will be a Captain’s Choice event and golfers of all levels of ability are welcome to participate. It will be a day of fun and fellowship with our Hall of Fame members, alumni, and special celebrity guests. Tee-off will be at 10:30am.

Proceeds from the Hall of Fame event will go to support the William A. Blair Postgraduate Scholarship Fund and the newly-established Fletcher M. Arritt, Jr. Endowed Scholarship Fund.

For more information please contact Elizabeth Liles in the Development Office at 434-842-4373. You may register online at: http://www.forkunion.com/celebritygolf

www.forkunion.com

27

Jacobson Hall

Opening August, 2012

28

Call to Quarters

A

t more than 90,000 gross square feet in size, Jacobson Hall is by far the biggest construction project undertaken on the campus of Fork Union Military Academy since the school’s founding in 1898. In fact, it’s safe to say it’s likely the largest private secondary school construction project taking place in central Virginia.

The scale of the building is breath-taking when seen in the context of the campus as a whole.

On schedule to open in August, 2012, less than 22 months since groundbreaking, this state-of-the-art barracks facility will provide 249 rooms with beds for 498 Upper School cadets, and will house the offices of the Upper School Commandant’s Department within its walls. The Chaplain will also have office space within the barracks building, and there will be living quarters for staff members as well. www.forkunion.com

29

Five Distinct Rifle Companies

Jacobson Hall has been designed to provide separate and distinct spaces for the billeting of the Upper School’s five rifle companies - Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo Companies.

Each company will have separate entrance/exit doors, and will have company bath facilities that are not shared with any other company. Each company will have space for three full platoons, in keeping with the Academy’s long-standing traditions. In addition, Jacobson Hall will provide each platoon with its own meeting space, that can be designated as activity space, student lounge space, or study space.

State-of-the-Art Safety and Security

Jacobson Hall sets a new standard in terms of safety and security for cadets. All entrance doors will be equipped with security cameras and touch pad security locks that will allow only authorized personnel into the building. High definition security cameras will also monitor each of the fifteen hallways in the cadet living areas.

Security of individual belongings inside the cadet rooms will be enhanced as well. A specially-designed bed will include a large, sturdy, lockable storage compartment below the mattress. This will replace the traditional footlocker in the room and provide more robust security for personal property in the barracks rooms.

Technology

Technology in Jacobson Hall will not be limited to just its new security features. Cadets’ rooms will be equipped with a 22-inch flat screen television. State-of-the-art Z-Band technology will provide distribution of video signal over the network of CAT5 twisted pair cables instead of coax, using the same kind of cabling used for high-speed computer networking in the new barracks. This Z-Band system will provide a centralized system for offering television programming as well as internal programming such as announcements and internally generated video content.

In addition, each room will be equipped with a telephone. Parents and cadets alike will appreciate this improvement, replacing those banks of outdoor pay phones attended by long lines of cadets.

30

All of this technology, from the security cameras, to the computer network, to the phone lines, can be managed, enabled, and disabled, from one central location. This will help make Jacobson Hall the most secure, safe, and technologicallyadvanced living environment the Academy has ever built.

LEED Certification

The Academy is especially proud that Jacobson Hall is designed and constructed to be a LEED certified building, recognized for the green building practices and sustainability features incorporated in the building’s design and materials.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a set of rating systems for measuring a building’s design and performance in the areas of Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. Developed by the Washington, DCbased U. S. Green Building Council, the system provides verification that a facility offers energy savings, water efficiency, reduced CO2 emissions, improved indoor environmental quality, and other sustainable features, often over and above what the building code requires. LEED certified buildings are intended to use resources more efficiently when compared to conventional facilities built simply to code. LEED certified buildings are recognized as offering a healthier living and working environment that contributes to improved health, comfort, and productivity of those within.

Low Emitting Materials

English Construction, the company overseeing the building project, has made a special effort to use construction materials that are rated as “low emitting.” This means that the materials create less indoor air pollution. That typical “new building smell” coming from paint, carpets, adhesives, and sealants can actually indicate that toxins called “volatile organic compounds” such as benzene or formaldehyde are being released into the air. This can cause a variety of health ailments.

For example, childhood asthma is now the third leading cause of hospitalization for young people and is estimated to account for 14 million days of school missed annually. By using low emitting Call to Quarters

building materials, Jacobson Hall is designed to offer a safer, healthier indoor environment.

Environmentally-Friendly Construction

Efforts were made to use regional materials in construction, reducing transportation and energy costs in construction. Approximately 50-75% of the construction waste was set aside for recycling, further reducing the environmental impact of the construction project.

medium. Whereas the outside air can range in temperature from below freezing in the winter to above 100° F in the summer, temperatures below ground remain fairly constant throughout the year at around 50° F or so. By using air chambers constructed below ground, it takes less energy to heat or cool this air to the appropriate temperature. This means using 25% to 50% less electricity, and its corresponding emissions, to heat and cool the air inside the building.

Energy and Environmental Efficiency

Built for the Future

Jacobson Hall was designed with highly-efficient cavity wall construction to provide enhanced insulation properties. All bath facilities include enhanced water conservation measures.

Just like Snead Hall and Memorial Hall before it, Jacobson Hall is built to meet the needs not only of today, but of the future. Every effort has been made to create a facility that will serve as long and as successfully as the buildings that preceded it. Combining the hope and optimism that fueled the construction of Snead Hall with the sense of necessity that spurred the building of Memorial Hall, Jacobson Hall is a symbol of both the Academy’s pride in tradition and bold expectations for the days to come.

A major environmental feature of Jacobson Hall is the use of geothermal mechanical systems to reduce energy costs. Unlike a conventional heat pump system that pulls in outside air and either heats it in the winter or cools it in the summer, the geothermal system uses the earth’s constant temperatures below ground as the exchange

www.forkunion.com

RADM Burhoe and LTC Al Williamson tour the construction site as the third floor of Jacobson Hall begins to take shape.

31

4

8

5

3

7

6

2

1

21

19 20

22

23

24 25

This aerial view, taken as the addition of Jacobson Hall’s third floor gets underway, shows the magnitude of this building project, and how the new barracks facility will fit into the rest of the campus layout.

32

Call to Quarters

11 10

9

12

14

15 13

18 16

17

26

1 The Wicker House

14 Hatcher Hall

2 Beatty Library

15 Perkins Hall

3 Estes Dining Hall

16 Flag/Retan Hall

4 Middle School Academic Building

17 Yeatman Infirmary

5 Middle School Barracks

18 Wicker Chapel

6 Alumni Gymnasium

19 Snead Hall

7 The Sabre Shop

20 Vaughan Hall

8 Press Box / Football Stadium

21 Memorial Hall

9 Thomas Gymnasium

22 Wicker Science Building

10 Old Swimming Pool

23 The Cadet Diner

11 Estes Athletic Center

24 Fork Union Motor Lodge

12 Aquatic Center

25 Gus Lacy Track

13 Hoffman Supply Center

26 Jacobson Hall

www.forkunion.com

33

Snead Hall

1923 - 2012

34

Call to Quarters

H

ome to thousands of cadets since it was first built in 1923, Charles G. Snead Hall will finish out its years of service in August 2012 with the completion of the new Jacobson Hall barracks facility. Demolition crews will then take down this grand old building, leaving only the cornerstone near Wicker Chapel as a memorial.

Those first bricks of Snead Hall were laid in a ceremony on April 23, 1923 by Winston Overton Burgess and Ellis Pollard Snead, the seven-year-old grandsons of Captain Charles G. Snead, for whom the building was named. The building was designed to be 180-feet long, three stories tall, and - most importantly - it was designed to be fireproof.

The Great Fire

That past January of 1923, two of the Academy’s three existing buildings had been completely destroyed by fire. The original Snead Hall, with dormitory space for 75 students, and the Armory, which contained Visit Snead Hall a gymnasium, study hall, classrooms, and Make plans to attend this year’s administrative offices, had been made of wood Alumni Weekend, May 4-6, 2012 frame construction, and both buildings were so you can visit Snead Hall one last reduced to ashes. Only Hatcher Hall remained time before it is too late. standing on the Academy campus.

Rebuilding

If These Walls Could Talk...

Share your Snead Hall memories Insurance on the two destroyed buildings and tales of your time under its covered only $21,500 of the loss. The construcroof. Go online to tion of two new brick buildings to replace http://www.forkunion.com/memories them would cost about $200,000. Under the leadership of Academy president, Nathaniel J. Perkins, and the vice president, Charles Goodall Snead, a massive fund raising effort was undertaken and construction was begun.

The new Snead Hall was built of brick and concrete, divided into three units, each unit separated from the others by fireproof walls.

Academy leaders were determined to prevent at all costs the kind of disaster that had befallen them before.

The Academy opened the new barracks, and its 25th academic session, on September 25, 1923 - right on schedule.

A Promising Future

Out of a terrible disaster, good had been produced.

“In a way, this fire has proved a blessing to us,” Academy president Nathaniel J. Perkins wrote in the school’s 1924-25 catalog.

“Our new barracks, with its modern equipment, fire protection, and solid structural beauty could never have been as long as ‘Old Snead Hall’ stood.”

In much the same way, our “old” Snead Hall now makes way so that a bigger and better replacement can take its place to meet the needs of the Academy’s bright and promising future. www.forkunion.com

35

“Be Always

Pictured watching an athletic event on campus in 1915, (left to right) Captain Charles Goodall Snead, FUMA’s third president Clayton E. Crosland, Academy teacher Captain E. J. Snead, and B. W. Spilman of the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, TN.

36

Call to Quarters

Giving”

Captain Charles Goodall Snead

S

oldier, citizen, salesmen, scientific farmer - Charles Goodall Snead was all of these during his lifetime. But perhaps the most appropriate word one could use to describe him is “steward.”

It was his good stewardship of Fork Union Military Academy throughout its first quarter-century that kept its doors open during the toughest of times, and built a foundation for its forward growth into a future he could only dream of.

Hatcher’s Brother-In-Law

Captain Charles Goodall Snead enters the story of Fork Union Military Academy as the brother-in-law of founder Dr. William E. Hatcher. Hatcher was married to Snead’s younger sister, Oranie Virginia Snead, known as Jennie.

The Sneads of Fluvanna

In the history of the Academy, and Fork Union in general, the Snead family name seems to be found everywhere. The family name was so common in the area that locals used to joke that you could find “a Snead under every weed.” www.forkunion.com

37

The first Snead settled in Fluvanna County as early as 1740, but it was in the mid-1800s that the Snead family began to grow when three Snead brothers (William, George, and Benjamin) married three Pollard sisters (Ludinda, Oranie, and Elizabeth) and each of them had seven sons.

Charles Goodall Snead was born in 1840, one of seven sons and one daughter born to George and Oranie Snead. The family lived in Fork Union in a home known as “Rose Hill.” His father served as Fork Union’s postmaster.

The Civil War

As Snead was entering adulthood, Virginia was entering into the Civil War. Charles and at least two of his brothers enlisted in the Confederate Army.

Charles joined the Fluvanna Artillery in 1861 as a private. His unit saw sporadic action in the early months of the war in battles from Manassas through Gettysburg. Snead served

with distinction and was promoted successively through the ranks of sergeant to second lieutenant and then first lieutenant. In the final year of the war, the Fluvanna Artillery was at the center of the action from the Wilderness through Cold Harbor. Assigned then to Jubal Early’s division in the Shenandoah Valley, Snead’s battery became one of Early’s most reliable units in battles from Monocacy to Cedar Creek. In September 1864, commanding officer Captain Massie was mortally wounded and Snead was promoted to Captain and placed in command of the Fluvanna Artillery for the remainder of the war.

Snead narrowly escaped harm on multiple occasions. His horse was shot out from under him in one battle, and bullets passed through his clothing on two other occasions.

Marriage and Family

Charles had become engaged the summer of 1864 to Sallie Broaddus, a close friend of his sister Jennie. Jennie had married William Hatcher in December 1864, and had been campaigning hard in letters to her friend Sallie encouraging Sallie and Charles to tie the knot as soon as possible. Charles was granted a furlough and the two were married on the last day of February 1865.

Charles and Sallie had two daughters together, but, sadly, Sallie died in 1870, leaving Charles to raise the two young girls.

Charles remarried and he and his second wife, Elizabeth Payne, had seven children together.

Community Leader

Snead remained active throughout his life in a variety of community roles. He was County Chairman of the Democratic Party. He was appointed a member of the National Tobacco Commission by President Woodrow Wilson. He was a member and deacon of the Fork Union Baptist Church.

Captain Charles G. Snead commanded the Fluvanna Artillery in the final months of the Civil War.

38

Proud of his years of service with the artillery, Snead was Commander of the Fluvanna Camp of Confederate Veterans and was referred to as Captain Snead for the rest of his life, the rank to which he had been commissioned by order of General Robert E. Lee himself. Awarded the Southern Cross of Honor as a Confederate Call to Quarters

Captain Snead and Academy president Nathaniel Perkins confer on campus in 1923 following the Armory fire. Old Snead Hall, seen at right, would be destroyed by fire just days later.

Captain Charles Goodall Snead was one of the Academy’s original guarantors and trustees.

veteran, Captain Snead often wore the medal on the breast of his jacket over his heart.

Original Guarantor and Trustee

When William Hatcher first proposed the idea of starting an Academy, Snead became a vocal proponent and staunch supporter. He was one of the initial ten people to pledge the money needed to hire a teacher and fund the school’s first year of operation, and he was named vice president of the original Board of Guarantors.

When the school’s Board of Trustees was established in 1899, Snead was again chosen to be vice president and he held that post until his death in 1925.

Snead took a leading role in fundraising for the Academy, and he led by example, his own donations making him the school’s biggest benefactor during those early years. Without his direct financial support, it is unlikely that Hatcher Hall could have been built in the months following Dr. Hatcher’s death. www.forkunion.com

His calm, determined leadership helped the school rebuild in the aftermath of the great fires that destroyed two of the three buildings on campus.

In the final weeks of his life, Charles Snead spent time writing a book describing the school’s early days, its struggles and achievements. His “History of Fork Union Military Academy” was completed and published by his children following his death. In its final pages they included a poem he’d recommended to a friend.

Perhaps he’d even written it, for its words described him well:

Give, give, be always giving; Who gives not is not living.

The more you give, the more you live; Give thought, give strength, give deed, give self, Give love, give tears, and give thyself.

Give, give, be always giving; Who gives not is not living.

Snead’s “History of Fork Union Military Academy” was published by his children following his death.

39

Bobby Cobb

A Lifetime at FUMA

(L to R) Tut Garner, Drake Saylors, M. Thomas Riddick, Charlie Beck, Bobby Cobb

40

Call to Quarters

W

ith five years as a member of the Corps of Cadets and thirtythree years of service on the faculty and staff, there are few on campus today who can match the institutional knowledge of the Academy, and the understanding and rapport with the Corps of Cadets, as that of LTC Bobby Cobb, Executive Director of Development. He has literally grown up here, served his lifetime here, and raised his family on this campus.

Bobby Cobb is simply one of those familiar fixtures of Fork Union Military Academy - a solid, constant presence you just kind of take for granted that you’ll see whenever you visit the campus. He’s a central stone in that firm foundation of support undergirding all aspects of Academy life. He’s kind of the human equivalent of, well, let’s just say, Snead Hall.

It’s difficult to imagine what the campus would be like without him. www.forkunion.com

41

First Days at FUMA

You might think that Bobby Cobb has been at FUMA forever. But, in truth, he’s only been here since 1966.

Robert Rook Cobb was born in Suffolk, Virginia, the youngest of three sons of William C. Cobb, Jr. and Edla R. Cobb. Bobby’s father attended Fork Union Military Academy in 1931.

His older brother, Freddie, attended FUMA as a postgraduate, playing football in 1961-62.

Bobby Cobb quickly rose through the officer ranks in the Middle School during his eighth-grade year.

By January of his first year at FUMA, Bobby Cobb had so distinguished himself that when some shakeups occurred in the middle school officer corps, he was named Battalion Commander over 150 middle school cadets after just a few months at FUMA. He did not receive a single demerit. In fact, he finished the eighth grade with well over a hundred merits, earned for doing over and above what was expected in conduct and personal appearance. “I could have gone AWOL two or three times and never had to march,” Bobby jokes now.

A young Bobby Cobb dons his father’s baseball umpire equipment.

When asked how he ended up at Fork Union in the eighth grade, Bobby throws his head back and laughs. “Oh, you can’t put that in the magazine,” he says. “Let’s just say I was a typical kid who needed structure and discipline.”

“I was the youngest,” he explains. “Spoiled rotten. It’s mind boggling to me to think how I might have turned out if not for Fork Union.”

How long did it take for him to shape up once he got to Fork Union? “About two days,” Bobby replies with a grin.

Middle School Battalion Commander

There can be no question that Bobby Cobb was a quick learner. He kept his uniform and personal gear neat and clean, his shoes polished, and his nose clean.

42

At his graduation from the eighth grade, Bobby was honored as the first recipient of the Richard M. Taylor Award for the most outstanding middle school cadet. It’s an honor he’s proud of to this day.

The Last Roundup

The pace of life is fast in Hatcher Hall as Spring 2012 approaches, especially in the offices of the Development Department. Alumni Speaker Day and Senior/PG Dinner have taken place successfully. The Annual Phonathon has been concluded with a record total of pledges recorded, over $128,000. Preparations are underway for Alumni Weekend, the Alumni Golf Tournament, Greenbrier Day, Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and Celebrity Golf Tournament. It’s a dizzying number of events to coordinate and projects to work on, and that’s just the visible tip of the development iceberg.

Call to Quarters

The bulk of Bobby Cobb’s time is spent traveling to meet with alumni and benefactors, and working the phones to help build relationships and raise money. There’s a barracks construction project to be paid for, there are scholarship funds to increase, and special projects needing funding.

The work load is daunting.

“This is not my first rodeo,” Bobby is often heard to remark. He’s been doing this work for seventeen years after all. But this rodeo of projects might well be called his last roundup.

Yes, Bobby is entering his ninth inning at Fork Union Military Academy; he’s heading down the fairway of his 18th hole. Apply whatever sports metaphor you like, Bobby Cobb is getting ready to retire from service to FUMA. The Star Athlete

Sports metaphors are a big part of Bobby’s vocabulary, just as sports have been a big part of his life. As a middle schooler, Bobby was chosen captain of all three teams on which he played.

In the Upper School, as a ninth grader he began playing baseball on the postgraduate team at shortstop, second base, outfield, and pitcher.

Regarding Henri

“Lewisburg, West Virginia, was like us going to a world’s fair,” Bobby recalls. There was a town, and then there was a girls’ school at the other end.”

Some of the FUMA baseball players talked their way into a dance being held at the Greenbrier College for Women in the evening after their ball game. Bobby Cobb met Harriett (known to all by her nickname, Henri) and they danced all night. “Then suddenly,” Henri recalls, “just like Cinderella, all the FUMA boys ran out to make their curfew.”

In the days following that dance, Bobby and Henri kept in touch by writing letters. Bobby and Henri visited each sport season - baseball, football, and basketball - when FUMA played Greenbrier. Henri was Bobby’s date to one of FUMA’s first Military Balls.

Bobby met his bride-tobe, Henri, then a student at Greenbrier College for Women, when he visited Lewisburg for games against Greenbrier Military School.

He practiced his junior and senior years with Coach Red Pulliam’s postgraduate football team and Coach Pulliam wanted to keep him on the team as a punter, but Bobby wanted more playing time on the field so he stayed on the junior varsity team (the high school team at that time) as the quarterback. When Coach Fletcher Arritt took over the postgraduate basketball team in 1970, Bobby Cobb, then a senior, was his point guard.

But it was baseball that was to be most significant in his life. It was on a trip with the baseball team to Greenbrier Military School that Bobby met his bride-to-be.

Baseball played a significant role in Bobby Cobb’s life, in school and beyond.

www.forkunion.com

43

all four years of his high school studies with a conduct record as clean as it was in his eighth grade year.

In five years at Fork Union Military Academy, Bobby Cobb never received a single demerit.

That might be some kind of record.

Bobby graduated as a member of the Class of 1971. Bobby and Henri were married the summer of Bobby’s graduation from FUMA, and they moved to North Carolina where both attended Methodist College (now Methodist University) and began to raise a family.

Bobby Cobb graduated in the Class of 1971 and was Executive Officer on the Battalion Staff.

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Bobby continued to excel as a leader in athletics and in the Corps of Cadets during his years at FUMA.

It was a tough time for the school and its cadets, however, as the Vietnam War was raging. It seemed that more and more of the older cadets were receiving draft notices and heading off to war. “We didn’t think a lot of it at the time,” Bobby recalls. “You just don’t think about dying when you’re that age.”

But the pain of those times would come home in a very personal way for Bobby when news arrived that his older brother Freddie had been killed in action. Freddie was that boy that others looked up to, the star athlete and charismatic leader. He died as a hero leading his men in combat and earned the Navy Cross for his selfless bravery, but the reality was that Bobby Cobb had lost his brother during his sophomore year.

But even a blow as severe as that did not throw Bobby Cobb off track. He continued to be an outstanding cadet, was the Executive Officer of the Battalion his senior year, and completed 44

Bobby and Henri were married the summer following his graduation from FUMA in 1971.

Return to FUMA

Bobby and Henri worked and attended college, helping put each other through school. They had their first daughter during these years. It was a challenge to get it all done, but they did it.

In 1979, with both of them out of school and the family growing, Bobby accepted the invitation to return to Fork Union Military Academy.

With his degree in history, Bobby began his FUMA career as a history teacher in the middle school. Bobby now worked alongside people like Ronnie Clark, Connie Aasen, and Bill Blair, his true heroes in life and the men who had guided his path to that point.

In 1992, Bobby stepped into the role of the middle school Commandant, a position he enjoyed greatly.

Call to Quarters

Director of Development

He loved working with the cadets and was an excellent Commandant, but the school needed his talents elsewhere. It was with some reluctance then in 1995, seventeen years ago, that Bobby Cobb accepted the position of Director of Development at the request of the school’s ninth president, LTG John Jackson.

Since then, the FUMA campus has undergone a tremendous transformation. The Estes Athletic Center was completed, the Dorothy Estes Dining Hall built, the Beatty Library expanded, Wicker Chapel restored, Jacobson Hall started, and so much more.

The Academy’s largest capital campaign in history to raise $29 million ended in success months earlier than expected and exceeded its fundraising goal by several million dollars.

CPT Cobb, shown here in 1983, served as a middle school history teacher when he began his career at Fork Union Military Academy.

Significant improvement has been made in the amount of estate planning secured to help support the Academy. The school’s endowment has been greatly increased and more money has been provided for student merit scholarships and need-based financial aid.

Alumni Weekend has grown in participation, the alumni and celebrity golf tournaments have been taken to a new level of success, and the annual phonathon has set new records each year under Bobby’s stewardship.

Truly a Team Player

You’re unlikely to hear Bobby Cobb accept any credit for the improvements and accomplishments that have taken place during his time as Director of Development. With self-effacing charm, this star athlete is always quick to give credit to his “team” in the Development Department: Cathy Hitchcock, Elizabeth Liles, Jana Vaughan, and Dan Thompson.

He is genuine and sincere in his belief that his own efforts are not worth singling out for praise - but he is wrong in that belief.

Shown here in 1988, Bobby Cobb would move from the classroom to the office of middle school Commandant in 1992, a position that made full use of his skill communicating with cadets, his high standards and expectations, and his good sense of humor.

www.forkunion.com

There can be no question that his lifetime knowledge of the Academy, his high level of personal integrity and character, his personal charisma and charm, and his quiet leadership skill in working with others have been the catalysts and central driving force in all of his department’s success.

45

As this recent Christmas card shows, Bobby and Henri have three daughters and, with a recent birth, now have eight grandchildren.

A New Chapter

Unfinished Business

Together, Bobby and Henri raised three daughters on the Academy campus. They are now the proud grandparents of eight.

“One thing that I personally liked the most,” Bobby says, “was being able to endow scholarships to help kids go to Fork Union Military Academy. That was the most enjoyable thing I got to do in this job.”

“It’s time to move on to something different,” Bobby says, “and let some young whippersnapper come in and take the school to the next level.

It’s time for a change, and I feel good about the Academy moving forward under Rear Admiral Burhoe, and I can leave at a high point.”

Bobby will be retiring from the Academy, but he intends to keep his hand in the working world a bit longer, while he is still young and healthy enough to do so. He plans to work with some FUMA alumni he once supervised when he was the middle school commandant. He will help them raise money and network to build their growing business in Richmond. It’s an opportunity to try something new, help out some FUMA guys, and perhaps build a bigger nest egg than he could at Academy wages to fund his final retirement one day.

Henri will continue working as she does currently in the Athletic Department, and there is no doubt that Bobby Cobb will maintain his ties on campus.

46

But there was one scholarship fund that Bobby never worked to raise money to endow. He felt it would be, in his words, a “conflict of interest” for him to raise funds to benefit the scholarship fund established to honor the memory of his fallen brother, Freddie. The Paul Frederick Cobb Scholarship Fund has just $10,000 in current principal and needs about $15,000 more to become an endowed fund.

“I’d love to see that happen,” Bobby acknowledges. “Henri and I will leave enough in our estate to do it, but if I live a normal life span, that would be a long time before it gets endowed.

Maybe things will work out in my next job so I could help make it go quicker, because that’s what I’d send money for, to that scholarship.”

In typical Bobby Cobb fashion, he’s already looking forward to how he can give back to the Academy to which he has already given thirtythree years of service.

Call to Quarters

More Staff Changes in 2012

Cathy Hitchcock and Jana Vaughan help record pledges during the 2012 Phonathon.

C

atherine E. Hitchcock started work at the Academy part-time in Admissions in 1981. She and her husband William (Bill), raised their two daughters here at Fork Union. In 1990, Cathy became full-time Secretary to the President, a position which she held until 2000, when she left Fork Union to work at the University of Virginia as the Special Assistant to the Vice President for Development and Public Affairs during two of their comprehensive fundraising campaigns. In 2004, Cathy returned to Fork Union as the Director of Advancement Services, to help with the Capital Campaign and the Barracks Campaign. She retires from this position in 2012.

Jana Vaughan started work at the Academy in 2004 as the switchboard receptionist. She moved into the Development Department as Development Coordinator soon thereafter. She has helped build the annual Silent Auction into a major fundraiser. Jana is relocating to Cincinnati, Ohio in the summer of 2012.

www.forkunion.com

Sandy Clarke has been a nurse in the Academy’s infirmary for fourteen years, having started in 1998. She has served as a CPR instructor for faculty and staff and is an evaluator of nursing skills for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Sandy is retiring in 2012.

Sandy Clarke helps administer flu vaccines.

47

Fletcher Arritt

A FUMA legend retires

48

Call to Quarters

F

or forty-six years, he’s been a biology teacher. And he’s coached some basketball. “Mike Krzyzewski is paid $4 million a year to coach basketball at Duke,” Fletcher Arritt points out. “I think I’ve made an extra $1,500 a year to coach the basketball team.

So he’s a basketball coach. I’m basically a biology teacher.”

Fletcher Arritt says this with a wry smile, and a characteristic twinkle in his eye. It’s one of his most familiar expressions.

When asked whether he’s better as a biology teacher or as a basketball coach, his face takes on that other familiar expression. It’s a sharp, intelligent, passionate intensity. It’s his game face.

“I teach the same way I coach,” Arritt insists.

We cover the basics, the fundamentals. My biology students learn the kingdoms, Protistamonera-fungi-plantae-animalia. They learn the plants: Bryophyta-anthophyta-pteridophytaconiferophyta...”

He rattles off kindom and phylum names so fast they sound like a single very long word.

It only takes a short time around him in the classroom or the gym to recognize that Fletcher Arritt is not just an ordinary biology teacher or basketball coach. He’s one of the great ones.

“Good speed, and shoots well...”

Fletcher M. Arritt, Jr. first set foot on the campus of Fork Union Military Academy on April 24, 1959. Seventeen years old, Arritt had come to tryout for FUMA’s basketball team.

At 6-feet tall, 130 pounds, Arritt had played guard for his high school basketball team in Fayetteville, West Virginia. He’d also been the starting quarterback on the football team, and a member of the track team.

Arritt’s athletic prowess had earned him the distinction in 1957 of being the first high school junior ever to receive the Jack Johnson Award presented by the Fayetteville Business Mens’ Association to the boy, usually a high school senior, displaying the most outstanding athletic characteristics.

Arritt showed up at FUMA with a letter of recommendation from his high school coach, Robert Brinkley. Coach Brinkley described www.forkunion.com

Arritt as “a boy who has been my playmaker and leader for two years.”

“He is 6-feet tall,” Brinkley wrote, “good speed, and shoots well from the outside and can also be a good driver. He has averaged 19 points a game and can also play a good defensive game as well.”

Coach Bill Miller, FUMA’s basketball coach, was impressed with Arritt’s outside jump shot and the young basketball guard was accepted to attend Fork Union Military Academy for the 1959-1960 academic year.

“The jump shot was unusual then,” Arritt explains today. Although the game of basketball had been widely played since Dr. James Naismith invented it in the 1890s, the primary shot during the game’s first fifty or sixty years was the two hand set shot. Players stood with both feet on the ground and shot the ball with both hands from chest high. Basketball was a low scoring game in those early decades of the sport. The United States won the first Olympic gold medal in basketball in 1936, beating Canada by the score of 19-8. The jump shot, which slowly gained popularity through the 1950s, was a much more effective shot, leading to higher scoring games. And Fletcher Arritt, Jr. had a very pretty jump shot.

Fletcher Arritt, Jr. got his picture in the Raleigh Register newspaper in December, 1957 as the winner of the Jack Johnson Trophy.

The Family Business

It should come as no surprise that the young Arritt displayed a lot of athletic talent and skill.

If you were to visit Fayetteville, West Virginia, population 2,754, you might notice today that the Pirates of Fayetteville High School play their football games in the Fletcher Arritt Memorial Stadium. The football stadium is not named for the starting quarterback and multi-sport athlete, Fletcher M. Arritt, Jr., who played there in the late 1950s. No, it is named in honor of his father, Fletcher M. Arritt, Sr., one of West Virginia’s most respected high school football coaches (who, as it happens, also taught biology).

Fletcher Arritt, Jr. was born into a family that was serious about athletics, academics, and their Christian faith. He learned firsthand what the

49

of this discussion, a car pulled into the Arritt’s driveway, and Arritt’s former supervisor from the Fayetteville schools got out. He’d come to try to convince Arritt to return to his teaching and coaching job because he was greatly missed and much needed there. So, just like that, Arritt hung up his minister’s robe and took back his coach’s whistle, returning to his career in education.

“That’s why I’ve always thought of this school as an extension of the church,” Fletcher Arritt, Jr. explains today. Thanks to his father’s example that he witnessed as a boy, he views his career in teaching and coaching as an important part of his Christian service.

In a sense, throughout his career Fletcher Arritt, Jr. has been continuing in the family business, following in his father’s footsteps.

From FUMA to UVA and Beyond

As a baby, Fletcher Arritt, Jr. was already clutching the varsity letter “F” just like the ones he would later earn as a high school athlete.

life of a coach was like. He learned the value of competition, and the dedication it took to be successful. It was his father, as well, who nurtured his interest in biology, who taught him how to differentiate a white oak from a pin oak from a water oak. Perhaps most significantly, the younger Arritt also learned to value teaching and coaching as a means of Christian service to others.

After some years of teaching and coaching, Fletcher Arritt, Sr. earned an additional degree from West Virginia Wesleyan to prepare for a new career as a minister. The elder Arritt then accepted a post as pastor of a church, leaving his career in education behind. After a short while in the ministry, however, Pastor Arritt told his wife that he was having second thoughts.

He realized that all of his work in the church was having little effect on the church members.

Adults were pretty set in their ways, and it was difficult to effect much positive change in their lives. Arritt, Sr. told his wife that he was seriously thinking of going back to teaching and coaching, because at least he had a chance to help mold and develop young people in ways that helped improve their lives. Within days 50

The wiry little guard with the pretty jump shot enrolled at Fork Union Military Academy in the fall of 1959. Arritt earned the role of team co-captain and his team played a tough schedule of two dozen games against opponents ranging from other military prep schools like Hargrave and Staunton, to freshman and junior varsity teams at Virginia Tech (then known as VPI), Maryland, and the University of Virginia.

Fletcher Arritt, Jr., from the 1960 Skirmisher Call to Quarters

Arritt’s basketball skill won him a scholarship to the University of Virginia where he played on the varsity teams of 1962-63 and 1963-64.

He received his B. S. degree in Biology and his M.Ed. degree in Human Biology from the University of Virginia.

After graduating from UVa, Arritt accepted a teaching job at Stonewall Jackson High School in northern Virginia and began his own career in education.

A Big Day in 1966

In the spring of 1966, Arritt returned to visit the campus of Fork Union Military Academy. There was an opening on staff for a biology teacher and Arritt had a job interview scheduled with COL J. C. Wicker, the Academy’s president. Arritt arrived at the home of his former coach, Bill Miller, in the company of his college sweetheart, Betty Jean Hauser.

Fletcher Arritt, Jr., #31, was co-captain of the FUMA basketball team in 1959-60.

Fletcher and Betty Jean had met at UVa in 1964 when she and some friends from Madison College (now James Madison University) visited the UVa campus during the semester break.

Betty Jean had arrived with her new Samsonite suitcase, but she had left the key to its lock at home. She knocked on the door across the hall, thinking that if she could find someone else with Samsonite luggage, perhaps their key might fit.

Fletcher Arritt, Jr. answered her knock and was immediately smitten.

“She was pretty and I liked her all of a sudden,” as Arritt tells it today.

He told her that he certainly did have a key, but he’d have to look for it and bring it over to her.

Arritt then immediately took off for the local Sears store and talked the salesman into giving him a Samsonite key for Betty Jean. The two dated throughout the next two years.

This 1963 photo shows Arritt as a member of the University of Virginia Cavaliers.

www.forkunion.com

Arritt left Betty Jean in the company of Coach Miller’s wife, Jell, as he and Coach Miller walked across the campus, talking about the upcoming job interview. Coach Miller encouraged Arritt to ask about housing during his job interview, as it was easier to get an apartment upon hiring than it was to wait until the school year began. Coach Miller also told Arritt that Fork Union was not a good place for a single man, being so far from Charlottesville and Richmond. Arritt evidently 51

Fletcher and BJ Arritt engaged in a favorite pastime, river fishing.

52

Call to Quarters

took his Coach’s words to heart, because when he returned to Coach Miller’s house after his interview, having accepted the offered job as biology teacher, Arritt proposed to Betty Jean on the spot. Greatly surprised, a tearful Betty Jean accepted.

On that memorable day in 1966, Fletcher Arritt gained a new job, a new home, and a wife.

The Start of 46 Years at FUMA

Arritt spent his first four years on faculty at Fork Union Military Academy teaching biology and serving as an assistant coach for the postgraduate basketball team under Coach Bill Miller. In 1970, Arritt took over as the team’s head coach and the Arritt era of FUMA basketball began.

In the past forty-six years, the Arritts have raised two sons, Benjamin and Fletcher III, and one daughter, Amy. Amy attended Fluvanna’s public schools where her mother worked as a teacher. Both sons attended Fork Union Military Academy. Ben is now the CEO of a marketing company in Atlanta. Amy is now a clinical dietician at the University of Virginia. Fletcher III earned his doctorate in biology and teaches at North Carolina State.

“I’m doing the same thing at 70 that I was at 25,” Arritt said recently, the wry smile and twinkle firmly in place. “Who does that?”

They’ve also raised a few hundred basketball players. At least 400 players have gone on to play in college, about 200 of them at the Division I college level. Dozens of players have gone on to professional careers in international basketball, including at least one member of the popular Harlem Globetrotters entertainment team.

Seven players have gone on to play at basketball’s top professional level, in the NBA.

Fletcher and Betty Jean (“B.J.”) Arritt in 1970, the year Arritt became head coach of the postgraduate basketball team.

Together, Fletcher and BJ have raised two sons, one daughter, and a few hundred basketball players. This photo was taken in the summer of 2011.

www.forkunion.com

53

The Arritt Era

Career Record: 890 Wins, 283 Losses

54

Call to Quarters

www.forkunion.com

Year W L 1970-71 12 10 1971-72 16 8 1972-73 11 13 1973-74 11 14 1974-75 7 11 1975-76 13 14 1976-77 12 11 1977-78 19 2 1978-79 23 4 1979-80 25 1 1980-81 19 6 1981-82 24 2 1982-83 23 5 1983-84 17 10 1984-85 20 5 1985-86 17 11 1986-87 29 0 1987-88 22 6 1988-89 22 7 1989-90 28 1 1990-91 24 3 1991-92 28 2 1992-93 25 3 1993-94 25 2 1994-95 24 4 1995-96 23 9 1996-97 24 9 1997-98 21 5 1998-99 23 9 1999-00 26 4 2000-01 24 9 2001-02 24 6 2002-03 26 2 2003-04 27 5 2004-05 27 2 2005-06 23 9 2006-07 22 8 2007-08 24 7 2008-09 19 11 2009-10 17 13 2010-11 26 7 2011-12 17 14

55

Not to Get Too Technical

In 42 years of coaching, Coach Arritt claims to have been called for only two technical fouls, only one of which he admits was deserved. That total would doubtless be higher if the referees didn’t give Coach Arritt so much leeway for what he calls his “worst trait” - his tendency to wander out onto the court several steps in front of his bench while coaching a game. In fact, it happens so often that many referees have gotten used to simply running behind the coach as they follow the action.

In this photo from Coach Arritt’s final home game, you can clearly see the referee passing between Coach Arritt and the sideline as the game is underway.

56

Call to Quarters

The Passing Game

“Basketball is the most beautiful game ever created,” Coach Arritt enthuses.

Basketball is a game of motion and activity, a fast-paced chaotic jumble of action. Coach Arritt approached this beautiful game almost exactly the same way with each team he coached, from the 1970s to the present day.

On offense, his teams played a form of motion offense called “the passing game,” a constant boiling stew of pass and cut, pass and screen activity that kept the ball moving from player to player until a weakness in the defense could be exploited for a score. On defense, his teams played a smothering basic man-to-man coverage.

That’s it. No razzle dazzle, trick plays, or exotic zone defenses. When you played against Coach Arritt, you knew exactly what to expect. The passing game offense and man-to-man defense.

This free form offense didn’t rely on set plays with pre-designed passes and cuts. With no plays to practice, more time could be spent on developing the fundamental skills of basketball: shooting, passing, and ball handling. A player who mastered the passing game offense under Coach Arritt became a well-rounded, complete player, skilled in the fundamentals. On top of that, Coach Arritt’s man-to-man defense required players to cover the court with great skill, cooperation, intelligence, and a high level of intensity. In short, Coach Arritt developed each player’s individual skill in the fundamentals to the highest possible level, and then required them to play a style of game that emphasized team effort over individual playmaking.

The Respect of His Peers

Coach Arritt’s consistent approach year after year, his great care in teaching his players to pay attention to the small details that lead to greater success, and his emphasis on building fundamentally-sound players who played with intensity earned him the respect of top college coaches across the nation.

“No coach that I’ve been aware of during my time in basketball,” states Hall of Fame college coach Bob Knight, “did a better job of preparing kids for college than Fletcher did with his kids at Fork Union. I think he has made a tremenwww.forkunion.com

dous contribution to the game of basketball, a contribution that is worthy of consideration to the Hall of Fame.”

Bob Knight made his pitch for Coach Arritt’s inclusion in the Hall of Fame during an interview for a film documentary on Coach Arritt entitled “The Passing Game” being shot by filmmaker and former Arritt player, Phil Wall.

Wall was able to schedule on-camera interviews with many top college coaches including Roy Williams, Bill Guthridge, Rick Barnes, Billy Donovan, Bill Self, Lefty Driesell, Dave Odom, Tubby Smith, and many more.

ThePassingGame.com The fact that For more information on Phil Wall’s film these coaches documentary on Coach Fletcher Arritt, would give their including trailers and clips from the film, visit time to sit down the film’s website at: with a first-time filmmaker is a http://www.ThePassingGame.com testament to their high regard for Fletcher Arritt, the subject of the documentary film.

These coaches have known and respected Fletcher Arritt for many years. When Bob Knight wanted an evaluation of his son Patrick, he took him to Fork Union to workout for Coach Arritt.

Tubby Smith and Dave Odom both sent sons to FUMA to play for Arritt.

“Fletcher Arritt can coach any team, anywhere, anytime,” states Seth Greenberg, head coach of Virginia Tech in the ACC, considered by many to be the best conference in college basketball.

“NBA, college, Division I, ACC, Big East, SEC, PAC10, it makes no difference. Coaching is coaching. It sounds silly, I’m coaching in the ACC and I have Fletcher Arritt up on a pedestal.”

Billy Donovan, coach of the University of Florida Gators whose teams won consecutive NCAA National Championships in 2006 and 2007, stated it simply: “He has to go down as one of the greatest coaches of all time.”

57

Time to Retire

“Your body tells you when it’s time to go,” Arritt says simply. “My father was a coach for nearly forty years and he once told me, ‘You’ll know when it happens. You’ll know when it’s time to do something else.’”

In December 2010, Arritt went to the doctor to check out a lump he’d discovered in his neck.

The biopsy came back just before Christmas. It was stage 3 lymphoma cancer. The tumor was removed and Arritt was scheduled to begin chemotherapy treatments. Arritt has continued to teach his biology class and coach his basketball team, only missing days when his chemotherapy is scheduled.

“What I think can happen is, if my players and others see that I can get through it with my attitude, then they’ll have more confidence,” Arritt says. “That’s what I believe in.”

“There’s only one thing worse than cancer and that’s coaching basketball and having cancer,” Arritt told writer and longtime friend, Jerry Ratcliffe of the Charlottesville Daily Progress.

“But it’s just like anything else.

You go out and play. You learn that in athletics. If you’re eight points down at the half, you still have to go out and play. You don’t change anything, you just do what you do.”

As the clock ticked down the final minute, Fishburne holding a double-digit lead, the Corps of Cadets responded with that innate intelligence they always show in game situations.

The cadets always know how to get under the opponent’s skin; they always know how to shore up the home team’s defenses. They always know exactly the right thing to cheer. It’s uncanny.

“We love Arritt! the Corps chanted thunderously. “We love Arritt!”

In that amazing moment, Coach Arritt looked up, his game face still on, but for the first time not watching his players with eagle-eyed intensity.

He slowly raised his right hand and waved to the cadets.

“We love Arritt!” the Corps chanted thunderously.

“We love Arritt!”

All of a sudden, it seemed that wins and losses meant little.

A life well-lived meant all.

The Final Home Game

The M. C. Thomas Gymnasium began to fill early that Monday evening late in February. The word had gone out: Coach Arritt was retiring and this was to be his final home game. The Corps of Cadets filled one side of the bleachers. Every other nook and cranny was filled with FUMA family and friends.

Fork Union jumped to an early lead over rival Fishburne Military School, and held a slim 4241 advantage at the half. Fishburne began edging ahead in the second half. It seemed that the shots wouldn’t drop for FUMA in the second half. The gym began to fall silent as the minutes counted off and the Fishburne lead lengthened.

58

Alumnus Danny Spry sprung out of the bleachers and raced across the front of the Corps of Cadets raising his arms like a General rallying his troops. Once again the Corps came to life.

“DEFENSE! DEFENSE!” They stomped, they yelled, they clapped and clamored.

All of a sudden, it seemed that wins and losses meant little. A life well-lived meant all.

The moment passed. The buzzer sounded. And an “L” was added to the Arritt record.

So just what was going through Coach Arritt’s mind in that final minute?

“It was a horror show. It was horrible. It was misery,” Coach Arritt still insists a few weeks after the game, his stock look of intensity firmly in place. “Losing like that in front of so many former players and alumni.”

No coach worth his whistle will ever admit that sometimes - just sometimes - it’s not so important, those wins and losses. Coach Arritt’s game face seems impenetrable.

But what about that cheer in the final minute?

The coach’s face softens, but just a bit. “I love the Corps. They know me. I know them. I love the Corps.”

Finally, after a moment, the twinkle and wry smile emerge. “I’ve had a wonderful life here. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Call to Quarters

Coach Arritt acknowledges the cheers of the Corps of Cadets in the final moments of his last home game. His tennis shoes, uncharacteristic for him, were worn in honor of Coaches Vs. Cancer.

www.forkunion.com

59

CADETS AGAINST CANCER and “Coach Arritt’s Walkathon” April 28, 2012 – 6 AM – 6 PM Closing Ceremony at 5:45pm FUMA Outdoor Track (Estes Center Indoor Track – Inclement weather)

Money will be used for the newly established Coach Fletcher M. Arritt, Jr. Scholarship Fund, The Charles Rogers Scholarship and “Jimmy V” Foundation (Coaches Against Cancer - a donation will be made in honor of Coach Arritt) Available will be:

Hats with Coach Arritt’s Signature

Basketballs with Coach Arritt’s Signature

Wristbands

Balloons

Auction

Basketball Challenge

FUMA’s “Kids Against Cancer” fundraiser and walk

Food

Lots of Love and Friendship

Please come out and walk for the coach. Visit with him and let him know we are all appreciative of his dedication to FUMA as a teacher, to the PG Basketball teams he has coached and that we support him in his fight against lymphoma cancer.

Contact Mrs. Bev Hanlin (434-842-4211 or hanlinb@fuma.org) for more info.

Checks should be made payable to:

FUMA Community Service Attn: Mrs. Hanlin Fork Union Military Academy PO Box 278 Fork Union, VA 23055

Feedback Form

Please cut out and return this feedback form. We’d love to have your phone number and e-mail address in our records. Thank you for your support of Fork Union Military Academy!

Do we have your e-mail address?



Name:_________________________________________________________ Address:________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ City:__________________________ State:__________ Zip:_____________ Home Phone:___________________ Work Phone:_____________________ E-Mail:________________________________________________________

 Please update my e-mail, phone, and address.  I would like to donate $____________ to the Academy’s

Annual Giving Fund.

 My check is enclosed, payable to Fork Union Military Academy.  Send me a pledge statement to pay this amount in:

 One Annual Payment  Quarterly Installments  Monthly Installments

 Charge to my credit card:  Visa  Mastercard  Amex  Discover

Card Number:_____________________________________Exp:__________

 My company has a matching gift program and I am sending you the form.

Don’t know if your company offers matching gifts? Check online at FUMA’s Web site: http://www.forkunion.com/development

 I would like information on including FUMA in my will,

and other planned giving options.

 I would like information about FUMA’s Capital

Campaign projects.



 I would like a package with admissions information and

a school video that I can share with potential cadet families in my area, church, or civic organization.

Taps

Comments:

Please place in envelope and mail to: Fork Union Military Academy Development Office Post Office Box 278

Fork Union, VA 23055

Taps

E

ach past issue of the Call to Quarters has featured many updates under Class Notes, Frontlines, and Taps. In that our publication has grown to a feature magazine of the many activities and stories that encompass the lives of our cadets, alumni, friends and families, the pages dedicated to these articles continues to also grow. Many of the articles are timeless and serve as a reminder to us of the true mission of Fork Union Military Academy. In that many of our alumni, parents and friends have served this Academy through their service, time, and philanthropic giving, we do not want to miss a moment in remembering those that have touched the lives of many cadets, faculty and staff along the way. While this dedication to them is not as inclusive as the past, we do not want to forget their contribution to Fork Union Military Academy and their contribution to us as a friend, mentor, former classmate, mother, father, teacher, or neighbor along the way. God Bless their families and God Bless their faithfulness to our school.* George P. Bartley, Class of 1968, of Palm Bay,FL, passed away on Monday, August 22, 2011.

Larry Douglas Bell, Class of 1968, of Newport News, VA, passed away on September 6, 2011.

Jack Camp, longtime friend of the Academy, of Franklin, VA, passed away on August 11, 2011.

Juan Cros, Class of 1959, of Richmond, VA, passed away on June 3, 2011.

Claude W. “Gizz” Davis, Jr., Class of 1938, of New Freedom, PA, passed away on August 18, 2011.

H. Allen Lewis, Class of 1948, of Rehoboth Beach, DE, passed away on September 19, 2011.

Douglas Christian McCoy, Class of 1979, passed away February 14, 2012. He was interred at MCAS Quantico with full miilitary honors on February 24, 2012.

Cyrus B. Nicholas, Class of 1963, of Richmond, VA, passed away on February 16, 2012.

James P. Noti, Sr., Class of 1974, of Allentown, PA passed away on January 9, 2011.

Grant Levi Perkinson, Class of 2002, of Greensboro, NC, passed away on July 24, 2011.

Thomas M. Snow, Class of 1964, of Virginia Beach, VA, passed away on September 26, 2011.

Frederick J. Thompson, Class of 1946, of Pasadena, MD, passed away on October 5, 2011.

James H. Welborn, Class of 1961, of Post Falls, ID, passed away January 4, 2012.

Samuel “Sonny” Werth, Class of 1944, of Chesapeake, VA, passed away on September 17, 2011.

Lindsay B. Wise, Class of 2001, of Richmond, VA, passed away on February 19, 2012. *We extend our deepest sympathy to the families of those who have passed since our last issue in Summer 2011. This listing may not be all inclusive of those FUMA alumni and family who have departed and we apologize in advance for any omission that may not have been brought to our attention at the time of this publication. www.forkunion.com

63

ForkMilitary UnionAcademy 4744 James Madison Highway Post Office Box 278 Fork Union, Virginia 23055

Non-Profit Organization U. S. Postage PAID PPCO

Success stories begin here.

Print of Snead Hall to be Available Soon We commissioned an artist to create a print of Snead Hall. B. Edwin Talley has done many renderings of campus buildings, including some amazing drawings of Virginia Tech.

We will soon make the drawing available for those who want to ensure that Snead Hall is always remembered and appreciated. Contact Jana Vaughan in our Development Office (434-842-4370 or vaughanj@fuma.org) for more information.