Publisher's Synopsis
This book is written for those of us who love the US Air Force Academy and especially the Air Force's Falcons Football Team. You'll like all the stories from the Academy's founding on April 1, 1954 by the Secretary of the Air Force, Harold E Talbott. It was just under 65 years ago. The Air Force is the "baby" service academy as college football had begun in 1869, and the first Navy football game was played in 1879. Air Force Football began in 1955 and it was immediately a competitor for the Commander in Chief's Trophy. Air Force was not a pushover for Army or Navy, and today, AFA leads the series. Air Force is tops in trophies with 20; Navy 15; and Army 8. The Air Force football winning tradition lives on today under Head Coach Troy Calhoun.You will learn that like no other football team, the US Air Force Falcons are fierce and passionate competitors. From the stadium to the classroom to the research lab, the US Air Force Falcons always play to win. You will learn that Air Force's first official football game was in 1955 long after the rules of American football had been completely defined. Under coach Robert V. Whitlow, in his only year as Head Coach, they won their first game v the Denver University Freshmen 34-18. In this first season, with a record of 4-4 they first beat the Denver University Freshmen 34-18.In this first season, with a record of 4-4, the Academy played only Freshman teams. It was not until 1956 that Air Force would play varsity squads under Coach Buck Shaw. In this second season, the Falcons achieved their first winning record of 6-2-1. Three years later in 1959, they tied Army 13-13 in their first game against another service academy.On Sept 8, 1954, the year before the Falcons football program began, Lt. Col (later full Colonel) Robert Winslow was appointed the first Director of Athletics for the Air Force Academy. The following year, he became the first head football coach. Thus, in more ways than one, he is responsible for football being played at the Academy along with other sports such as basketball, baseball, indoor track, outdoor track, ice hockey, wrestling, soccer, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, golf, rifle, pistol, and skiing. So far, since 1955, the Air Force has played over 730 games with a w/l/t record of 394-331-13From here, the book moves you one great Air Force Coach at a time through the immortals such as Buck Shaw, Ben Martin, Bill Parcells, Ken Hatfield, Fisher DeBerry, and then on to today's great coach, Troy Calhoun. The history of Air Force Football as told here is just fascinating. This book captures the many great moments and the contributions of each of the 7 head coaches and standout players such as Air Force's five consensus All-Americans (Brock Strom, 1958, Ernie Jennings, 1970, Scott Thomas, 1985, Chad Hennings, 1987, and Carlton McDonald.) In this book, we look at every game in every season and we take the reader through great chapters about all the Air Force teams with great stories and accounts of 64 seasons worth of great games (730 games) with many great moments. This book is your finest source for a great read on your favorite service academy college football team (Air Force's Falcons). It is the closest thing to an all-encompassing, full-blown Air Force football encyclopedia-- blow by blow history with tales of the great moments. We capture all the action and all the memorable moments of Air Force football. This book is for your reading pleasure, but it also can be a great reference tool for you when you want to see how a particular Air Force football game in any year happened to turn out. If you are an Air Force Football fan. you will not want to put this book down.
