Obama Honors Navy Football Team With Trophy
WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- An impressive season for the Navy football team peaks with a trip to the White House. President Obama presented the team with the coveted Commander in Chief's Trophy.
Gigi Barnett has more on the team's tenth trip to the White House.
It's daring play that characterizes the Navy's 2015 football season when they beat Army.
In the same fashion, the team flogged the Air Force and pummeled Pittsburgh in the Military Bowl, giving the Mids three straight bowl wins for the first time in team history.
"This squad wasn't just the best service academy on the gridiron this year, it was one of the best teams in America," President Obama said.
This year, the team won the Commander in Chief Trophy. On Wednesday, President Obama saluted the Mids for earning the honor ten times in the last 13 years.
"At this point, you should just add this date to your football schedule every year: Air Force game, Army game, bowl game, White House visit," the president joked.
If the team is a formidable ship, its propeller has been quarterback Keenan Reynolds. He finished fifth in the Heisman trophy voting, won the Nation's Most Outstanding Amateur Athlete Award and had his number, 19, retired by the academy.
Head coach Ken Niumatalolo says a White House visit -- first or tenth -- is always memorable.
"Mr. President, it's always an honor for us to come to the White House. We take great pride in the fact that we've been here pretty much your entire presidency," said Niumatalolo.
Over the last decade, Navy has beat Air Force in 24 of their last 27 meetings and Army in every meeting since 2002.
The Navy will display the Commander in Chief's Trophy in a glass case in Bancroft Hall, the midshipmen's dormitory.
