The Army-Navy football game might just be the most important rivalry in American history. From funding World War II to debuting two of the biggest inventions in sports history, this rivalry game is a lot more important than you may realize.
Today, we’re uncovering 10 things you didn’t know about the Army-Navy Game — a timeless competition that continues to define pride, honor, and legacy in college football.
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1. The Origin of the Rivalry
One of America’s biggest sports rivalries goes back to this guy, Dennis Mikey. He started at the United States Military Academy in 1888 and wanted to bring a football team to West Point, but he knew the academic board would be reluctant. That’s when Cadet Mikey had an idea.
The First Challenge
The Navy already had a football team. They created it a decade earlier in 1879. So, Mikey convinced them to issue a challenge to West Point. Then he used the challenge to convince the West Point faculty that the pride of the academy was at stake. Eventually, the board agreed.
The game was played on a field at West Point on November 29, 1890, and the 271 members of the Corps of Cadets sent 52 cents each to pay half of the Navy travel expenses. Cadet Mikey was the team’s captain and coach.
2. The First Games
He was able to put together a squad full of volunteers, but only three of them had ever even played football. So naturally, Navy smacked Army 24–0 in their first-ever matchup.
The next year, though, Mikey recruited real coaches and led the team to a 32–16 win, and the rivalry was officially on.
3. The Birth of the Football Helmet
The origin of the modern football helmet is credited to Admiral Joseph M. Reeves in the 1893 Army-Navy Game. Reeves played for Navy.
He went to the doctor after a couple of injuries, and they told him that getting kicked in the head could result in death or instant insanity. So, he asked a shoemaker in Annapolis, Maryland, where the Naval Academy is, to help protect his head while he was playing.
Reeves’ Invention
The result was this leather helmet that he wore in the 1893 Army-Navy game. There, Reeves had a fumble recovery that helped Navy beat Army 6 to 4, and the NCAA says his shoe-leather hat made Reeves the first player to use a football helmet.
4. Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Game That Never Was
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, just a month before the first-ever Army-Navy football game. And 22 years later, he was a phenom on the West Point football field with a chance to play in the big game. He started the 1912 season as a backup for the Army but got his chance to shine after one of the starters got hurt. And after the first few games, the New York Times dubbed him one of the most promising backs in Eastern football and gave him the nickname, Kansas Cyclone.
The Injury
But disaster struck just two weeks before the Army-Navy game. Eisenhower twisted his knee in a game against Tufts and went to the hospital.
So, while he’s technically the first President to have been on the team for an Army-Navy game, Eisenhower never played a snap in this historic rivalry.
5. The “Game of the Century” – 1944
The media dubbed the 1944 Army-Navy matchup the Game of the Century well before kickoff. That’s because the two service schools were by far the two most dominant teams in the country.
Army came in as the nation’s top-ranked team with an undefeated record, led by two future Heisman winners, and Navy had proven itself as the number two team in the country. They had two losses early in the season, but the midshipmen came into the rivalry game outscoring their last four opponents 128 to 13.
Funding World War II
But it was also during World War II, and President Franklin Roosevelt had an idea. He decided to raise money by turning America’s biggest football rivalry into a war bond drive. So, they required everyone who attended the game to buy a war bond. The Army would go on to win the game 23 to 7, ultimately winning a national championship. But really, America was the big winner. Before kickoff, they announced on the field that the roughly 70,000 attendees had raised over 58.6 million dollars in war bonds.
6. The 1963 Game and the Birth of Instant Replay
The 1963 game was one of the most memorable in the history of the Army-Navy rivalry. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd. It was eight days before the big game was scheduled, so a lot of people expected it to be canceled. But First Lady Jackie Kennedy insisted her husband, a proud Navy grad, would have wanted the game to go on. So, it was rescheduled for December seventh.
The First Instant Replay
And the game itself made history. CBS Sports Director Tony Verna debuted one of TV’s biggest inventions, the instant replay. Verna had hoped that the first-ever replay would feature Navy star QB and eventual NFL Hall of Famer Roger Staubach.
But whenever he made a really big move, the replay machine wouldn’t work. Ultimately, Army’s QB Rollie Stichweh beat Staubach to the punch, and Stichweh’s one-yard TD run became the first televised instant replay.
So, the controversial ending led to Navy beating Army 21–15.
7. The Prisoner Exchange Tradition
One of the game’s unique traditions is the prisoner exchange. The Service Academy Exchange Program allows students from each of the four service academies to spend the fall semester at an academy other than their own.
The Exchange
Think of it like an Army cadet choosing to study abroad at the Naval Academy and vice versa. The program has roots dating back to 1945, when they had a weekend-long exchange program, and it expanded to a semester-long program in 1975. Before the Army-Navy game, the academy leaders bring these exchange students to center field and exchange them in a fake prisoner swap.
Modern Twists
In recent years, prisoners have also duct-taped messages to their clothes. In 2016, the seven midshipmen put “14 years” on their backs for their then 14-year win streak, which was broken because Army would snap the streak that year, beating Navy 21–17.
8. The 1983 Rose Bowl Controversy
As of 2024, the Army-Navy game has been played in over 20 venues across 11 different cities. But the 1983 rivalry game created an uproar by becoming the first and only one played west of the Mississippi River.
The Cost of the Game
This year’s game was played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Army-Navy ’83 Foundation was a nonprofit organization created to raise money to help cover the cost of the game.
According to The Washington Post, it cost about three and a half million dollars just to fly both sides out, and the game was estimated to cost six million dollars to host in Cali.
And after the more than 2,500-mile trip for both sides, the Navy won 42–13, and the game has not been farther west than Landover, Maryland, ever since.
9. The Mascot Wars
In 1992, the leaders of both academies signed an agreement: no more stealing each other’s mascots.
The Great Goat and Mule Rivalry
The Navy mascot was a goat—or really a line of 37 goats all named Bill—and Army had a mule.
Army cadets have nabbed Bill at least 10 times since their first mascot-napping in 1953. These heists have been everything from well-planned-out missions in the dark of night to snatch-and-grab–turned brawls in the rivalry game parking lot.
One was so well-planned out, Navy couldn’t find Bill until the Army cadets put out this ad in The New York Times: “Hey, Navy, do you know where your kid is? The Corps does.”
Naturally, the academies decided to officially ban mascot stealing after that, but it didn’t really put an end to the missions.
10. The Modern Uniform Rivalry
The modern era of the Army-Navy Game rivalry game is highlighted by another competition: uniforms.
Every year, the teams unveil one-off jerseys specifically for the Army-Navy game. But did you know they’re designed by military historians?
Collaboration and Design
The designs are a collab between military historians and the academies’ apparel companies—Army being a Nike school and Navy becoming an Under Armour program in 2014.
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They create hype videos and graphic design campaigns for each jersey, explaining the backstory and the thought that went into each little detail.
- The marathon teams run the game balls from their academies to wherever the game is being played.
- The Patriot Games pit Army cadets against Navy midshipmen in events like tug-of-war.
- Both academies sing both fight songs after the game — the losing side’s first, then the winning side’s.
But I’m curious, what are your favorite traditions or facts about the Army-Navy game? Let us know what you missed in the comments.
Born and raised in Bozeman, Montana, he graduated from George State University with an MBA in Actuarial Science. His hobbies include beach volleyball, hiking, fishing, and lifting weights
George is also a certified nutritionist with a passion for health and fitness.
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