On Brave Old Army Team: The Cheating Scandal that Rocked the Nation: West Point, 1951

By James E. Blackwell

Book Overview

Discusses the history of Army football and the atmosphere at West Point preceding the events of August, 1951, when eighty-three cadets were expelled for cheating.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089141553X
• ISBN13: 9780891415534
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: Presidio Press
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Very Thorough Book, Albeit With Holes

I enjoyed the book greatly. It has its holes, but it made for a good read. Not enough was made about the actual academic classes that the cadets took. And it struck me as bizarre that the teachers did not teach, they were basically glorified test markers. Some other reviewers said that there was too much background. I disagree, the background material shows how inevitable the scandal was. Few people come up well. The book documents how prevalent the cheating was. But the West Point administration ran roughshod over any and all their rules in their zeal to punish the alleged wrong-doers. Red Blaik, far from being a legendary figure, comes across as just another corrupt football coach. Book also is contradictory on whether the great WWII Army teams had players who went first to a regular college, then to Army. If I am not mistaken, Army's superiority was because they were playing against war-depleted schools with players significantly older than their competition.

Great read for Flavor - but mistakes aplenty

The story gives one an accurate gut feeling of what it must have been to be a cadet 50 years ago - the presures of time, the constant stress. For this alone the book reads well. However the book is replete with many errors - factual errors. It identifies one cadet as an arrogant plebe who "refused" to play the West Point game feeling that he could get away with things because he was a football star. This individual entered the Academy after the cheating scandal events related in the book. The book misplaces events, places and dates. I recorded at least 21 such major errors. Eg. The PR spokesman for the Academy Sports Program was a man named Joe Cahill. The football coach in the late sixties and early seventies was also a Cahill. In the book they are misidentified as being the same individual. One thing I miss in the book though is a good look at the Honor System and the pressures it put on the cadets. The thesis of this book is that the football coaching staff headed by Earl Blaik allowed the football team to pervert the honor system by emphasing winning. However there were cheating scandals at the Academy in 65 and in 77 that are well documented. Blaik in his reissued biography hinted at a large cheating ring that occured about 1956. None of these three cheating scandals can be laid to football's door. There is obviously something else that is operative at the Academy that lead to the cheating. Dispite the errors this book is a good read - it really creates the flavor of being a cadet in an earlier generation