Carved from Granite: West Point since 1902

Ch5: Sabers and Goalposts: The Physical Program

163 WITH THE APPOINTMENT of Herman J. Koehler as Master of the Sword in 1885, West Point soon had a high-quality physical education program to match its already impressive academic program.1 Koehler imposed on fourth-class cadets a daily regimen of exercise that brought dramatic improvements in their strength and endurance. His success convinced the Academic Board to make physical education mandatory for all cadets starting in 1905. An important, but voluntary, component of Koehler’s physical program was competitive athletics. Varsity sports appealed to the most gifted athletes, while intramural sports were available to all others. Koehler believed strongly in the value of competitive sports and encouraged as many cadets as possible to participate. His efforts were rewarded when Douglas MacArthur became the superintendent after World War I and made intramural athletics mandatory for all cadets. Academy leaders were scrupulous in harnessing athletics to the needs of cadet development. They put strict limits on the time available for practice and competition to ensure that other developmental goals took precedence over sports. With few exceptions, they assigned officers as coaches to ensure that athletic endeavors complemented leader development and character building, rather than instilling a win-at-all-cost mentality. They discouraged overt recruitment of outside players, relying instead on the native athletic talent of the Corps of Cadets.2 They disqualified cadets who were deficient in any academic subject from participating in varsity sports. They limited the privileges granted to athletes to safeguard the tradition of equal treatment within the Corps of Cadets. Chapter Five Sabers and Goalposts The Physical Program 164 CHAPTER FIVE Between 1920 and 1940, the Academy’s physical program, as designed by Koehler, was more effective in achieving the Academy’s leader development goals than at any time before or since. Academy leaders worked hard to ensure that the mandatory and voluntary components of the program complemented the intellectual and character-building priorities of cadet development. Since 1940, the mandatory elements of the physical program have evolved and strengthened. Academy leaders instituted new methods of instruction and testing and recruited higher-quality faculty members, many of whom had advanced academic degrees. A new physical aptitude examination disqualified cadet candidates who were physically weak. Cognitive courses in physical education and, later, an academic major in kinesiology complemented the traditional physical-activity courses. Advances in physiology, psychology, and sports medicine enhanced the performance and safety of cadets in the program. Despite these and other improvements, however, the broad outlines of Koehler’s program of physical education remained unchanged. In one important area, however, the physical program departed from the principles and procedures that Koehler had established. Starting in 1941, intercollegiate athletics assumed an increasing level of importance, particularly with the astounding success of the head football coach, Earl Blaik. National collegiate football championships in 1944 and 1945 coincided with the greatest victories for American armies overseas during World War II. The result was to mythologize football at West Point and ultimately to transform intercollegiate athletics—football in particular—from a component of the physical program to an institutional goal unto itself. In the early 1980s, following several years of lackluster performances by varsity teams, the Academy’s institutional priorities shifted in favor of athletics. Within a few years, intercollegiate athletics became as commercialized and professionalized at West Point as they had been at many other major colleges and universities. The resulting emphasis on winning conflicted with the principles Koehler had established for competitive sports. Those who favored the heightened priority on intercollegiate athletics claimed that fielding winning teams would attract higher-quality cadet candidates and produce better officers for the army. Although the evidence of many years refutes both claims, senior Academy leaders have continued to emphasize intercollegiate athletics as an integral part of the West Point experience. I. Every Cadet Physically Fit Herman Koehler, the indomitable master of the sword from 1885 to 1923, seemed like a force of nature at West Point. At the time of the centennial cel- SABERS AND GOALPOSTS 165 ebration, he had been on the Academy staff for seventeen years. He was then forty-two years old—twice the age of the average cadet, yet more fit than any of them. He was five feet, nine inches tall and weighed about one hundred and ninety pounds. His enormous biceps measured nineteen and one-half inches around when flexed. As a former...