Pointers on Athletics

DALE HALL on FOOTBALL GEORGE HUNTER on BASKETBALL ERIC TIPTON on BASEBALL CARLETON CROWELL on TRACK AND FIELD I have known and admired “Red” Reeder since my cadet days, when he was on the football coaching staff at West Point. Even then he was legend at the Military Academy, having starred in football, baseball, and swimming during the mid-1920s. The same competitive spirit that made him a great cadet athlete enabled him to become a distinguished combat leader in the hedgerow fighting of Normandy, during World War II, where it took the maiming effect of a German 88 mm shell to slow his forward momentum. Commander of the 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, Colonel Reeder, a former “Gridiron Grenadier” who “would rather fight than eat,” infused his own fighting spirit in the men he led. Battle loss of a leg caused Colonel Reeder’s retirement from the active Army in 1945. This son of “Mars and Thunder” has served West Point athletics in a coaching or administrative capacity ever since, exemplifying the gritty desire of the athlete-soldier. In this book Colonel “Red” Reeder has compiled the expert advice of nationally known West Point coaches of four major sports: football, baseball, basketball, and track. An excellent information source for the young athlete who wants to master technique, the book is also a source of inspiration for the competitor willing to make the extra effort. Through the years, Army teams, the Black Knights of the Hudson, have earned respect for their knowledge of fundamentals and their unflagging will to win. West Point encourages competitive enterprise, expecting the cadet to put forth his determined best on the playing field, just as he is challenged to do in the classroom and all other areas of daily living. The competitive spirit ingrained on the “fields of friendly strife” will make him a better “player” in the larger game of life. Red Reeder’s book, as well as his life, makes this point clear. W. C. WESTMORELAND Major General, USA Superintendent