It's not exactly Army-Navy, but it's a service academy rivalry come to life on the gridiron, and it's going national.
An ESPN network will air next year's Secretaries Cup clash between the Coast Guard Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy, the network announced last week. The game will be played on Veterans Day weekend and will finish the regular season for both Division III schools, which will move into the same conference in 2017.
The rivalry game dates back to 1949. It's been played every year since 1981, when it took on the Secretary's Cup label — it's been pluralized now that the Coast Guard reports to a different secretary after moving to the Department of Homeland Security.
The Merchant Marine Academy holds a 31-14 edge in the overall series and won this year's matchup 31-27 on the road at Cadet Memorial Field in New London, Connecticut, in front of sellout crowd of nearly 5,000 fans. Unlike other, better-attended service rivalry games, this one has seen both teams claim victories since 2002 — the Coast Guard last won in 2014.
The Coast Guard Academy called the move "monumental" in a news release.
"As the school with the highest percentage of varsity sport athletes in the nation, we believe that athletic competition plays a fundamental role in developing leaders of character. Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty are our core values," Superintendent Rear Adm. James E. Rendon, who played football while a student at the academy, said in the release. "We look forward to this opportunity to put these values on display to a national television audience."
Rendon played for the academy in the 1980s. Its most famous football presence dates back decades earlier — Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham coached the team for seven years after receiving his commission, leaving after the 1965 season to take the same job with the Washington Redskins. He would later return to the academy as athletic director, retiring in 1984.
The Merchant Marine Academy, located in Kings Point, New York, isn't represented in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but four-year letter-winner Joe Rizzo (Class of '73) would go on to start at linebacker for the Denver Broncos' famed "Orange Crush" defense that led the team to Super Bowl XII.
Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.
