Army Navy Football Games

Once again, the Little Army-Navy Football Game will return to the Newark area with all the traditional color and excitement that only an Army-Navy game can produce. The two service academies' 172-pound teams will meet at Kean University in Union in Pride Bowl XXVIII on Sept. 24.

For fans, the pregame ceremonies could be every bit as exciting as the game itself. Once again, anywhere from 300 to 500 cadets and 250 midshipmen are expected to march into the stadium. Along with them will come the Navy goat, the Army mule, the cheerleaders, pep bands from both schools, the touchdown cannon and all the festivities that mark any Army-Navy confrontation.

To handle the anticipated crowd, Dawood Farahi, the president of Kean University, has expanded the capacity by an extra 1,000 seats.

The game will be followed by a 45-minute concert by the world famous United States Naval Academy Gospel Choir.

"Our campus is a natural venue for the Pride Bowl," Farahi said yesterday in announcing his feelings about his school's hosting the game. "This university started in the City of Newark when we opened our doors in 1855 and trained teachers for the City of Newark.

"Now, more than 150 years, later the students of Newark remain one of our most important constituencies and a great many of them have earned degrees here.

"That's why it is an honor to join forces with Project Pride and host this game. Without the City of Newark, there would have been no Kean. We are committed to honoring that legacy, and through Project Pride, are proud to offer our facilities as hosts."

As it has for the previous 27 years, the Pride Bowl will be the principal fund-raiser for Newark's Project Pride, which has no paid employees except for teachers, no paid staff and has never taken federal funds. The volunteer-manned organization lives solely off the game and private donations.

Last year, Project Pride, which serves youngsters residing in Newark, ran its college scholarship total to an amazing 1,038, worth $1.6 million, at every level -- from Yale, Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Penn, Dartmouth and Rutgers on down to the state's county colleges. Its after-school academics (reading, science, instrumental music, computer science and conversational French for youngsters K-6) served 300 Newark kids. Its after-school athletics handled another 50.

This will be the fifth Pride Bowl appearance for Navy, which has never lost in the game, and Army's sixth.

"Our returning players understand all there is to know about Project Pride and this game," says Gene McIntyre, the Army coach. "They have a relationship with the city now. One year they sent us a busload of 8- and 9-year-olds to spend the day with us at the Academy. We love the band and we love the atmosphere. If you don't feel your blood pumping when that stadium is full and Army and Navy are going at each other and you get to see the cadets and the midshipmen march, then you'd have to be in a coma.

"And it's Army-Navy. It doesn't matter if the sport is football or chess. If the oppoent is Navy, everything about the game becomes special,

James Clearfield feels much the same way. He takes over at Navy from Jerry Rizzo, who beat Army four times in this game.

"I was assistant head coach last year, and it was my first Pride Bowl. I didn't know what to expect. Well, now I do. I never saw anything quite like this ... the crowd ... the cause and the electricity it generates," he said.