April 2005 President's Corner

Bill Rentz '55, USNAAA Atlanta Chapter President

Some good news you may not have heard. The Atlanta Chapter will be represented on the USNA Alumni Association Board of Trustees starting in May 2005 for three years, as we were from 1993 to 2003. According to the Chapter bylaws, the Chapter Board of Directors will elect a Trustee and report the name to National this month.

In addition to managing the database, Mike Herger ‘90 also took the lead during the 2004 membership drive, when Dick Fitzgerald ’62 had to ease off as Membership Director due to family illness. I am pleased to report that the result of their efforts was that the Atlanta Chapter membership numbers placed us seventh overall of the nine largest Chapters in the country. We were behind San Diego, Boston, Pensacola, Greater Washington, DC, Hampton Roads, and Los Angeles. Not bad for a sleepy Southern town! We reported 324 members of the Atlanta Chapter to National, although a few didn’t count since they were not members of National. That is out of the over 1,300 graduates that we have in the Greater Atlanta area to draw from. We can do better, but we need your help.

Coming off last season’s 10-2 record, including an impressive victory over New Mexico University in the Emerald Bowl, Navy football is riding high. The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy is again residing in Annapolis and Coach Paul Johnson is the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year. His recruiting and coaching may be put to a test. As you may know, we lost 16 starters off last years very good team. When Coach Johnson spoke to the Atlanta Touchdown Club last November 2004, he again snagged the Georgia high school player of the week, linebacker Matt Johnson from Starr’s Mill H. S. who shared the podium. He signed him up for Navy. Coach Johnson’s reputation at Ga. Southern University continues to account for quite a few good players from Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina being on the USNA roster.

More good news is that Navy has signed a television contract with College Sports TV (CSTV) and will broadcast all games except Notre Dame and Army, which are under long standing contracts to major network TV. Jocks and Jill’s in Brookhaven will cover them all for us, since their big Satellite dish can pick up CSTV. No reservations or cover charge, just show up and yell! Of course, if you can go to Annapolis for a game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, you should, and we’ll look for you on TV in the crowd shots.

Keep checking our web site for luncheon speakers and USNA AA Atlanta events. Our south side Atlanta Vernal Equinox BBQ in Tyrone, GA, on March 21, 2005, was another success and an event that we hope to use to keep reaching out to the Peachtree City crowd. There is another Social Hour and Dinner at Jocks and Jills on Saturday night, April 30. We close out our Events this year with Army-Navy Golf on Friday, May 20, at Fort McPherson, and the world famous Atlanta Lobster Fest on Saturday, June 11, at Red Top Mountain. We’ll start the fall with a new cycle of events and a new set of Chapter Officers and Directors elected at the June 2005 monthly meeting.

Beat Army!

Bill Rentz ’55