Upon The Friendly Fields of Strife: Army Football, Leadership, and Character Development

Part of Rollie Stichweh's inspiration to come to West Point was Pete Dawkins, the award-winning Army halfback from the Class of '59. As the quarterback on the Army Football Team, his arch-rival (and good friend) was Roger Staubach, the Heisman-winning quarterback for Navy. After a disappointing last-second loss to Navy in 1963, the Army Team vowed that they would redeem themselves in 1964, and snapped a five-game losing streak in doing so. After graduation, he became a field artillery officer and served in the 82nd Airborne Division for a year before being deployed to Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. He spent most of his year around Dak To with C Co, 3rd Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade as a Forward Observer and then as a Battalion Fire Support Officer. After Vietnam, he returned to West Point as an assistant coach for the football team before leaving active duty to join the Towers Perrin Management Consulting Firm. He has remained actively involved with West Point and the Association of Graduates over the past 50 years. In this interview, he talks about leadership and facing adversity, explains how athletics at West Point helps develop leaders of character and discusses his lifelong friendship with Roger Staubach and Skip Orr, two former Navy football players. Finally, he talks about the importance of West Point to the Nation.