February 2006 President's Corner

Steve Frederick '72, USNAAA Atlanta Chapter President

As I write this article in early February, the skies are dark, it’s windy, there is no rain but there might as well be. The quintessential dark ages - but, as we used to say back at the boat school - what a great time for a party! And party we shall, as in our annual Founder’s Day Party on 11 February 2006!

We are looking forward to a great time as we host Chet Gladchuk, the Director of Athletics at USNA. For those of you who remember, Chet visited our monthly luncheon almost two years ago and gave a great presentation on the state of athletics at the Academy, covering everything from the facilities, to participation rates, to academics. Frankly, I found the information mind blowing from the perspective of the quality of midshipmen currently attending the Academy. Their athletic prowess and success on teams ranging from rifle to volleyball to wrestling to football spoke clearly of the quality of the members of the current brigade. For that reason alone, I am really anticipating a great presentation by Chet. But beyond that, our current Director of Athletics is a very enthusiastic cheerleader for Navy athletics. His energy is apparent and infectious, and after hearing him speak I think you will be extremely impressed and excited about the future of Navy athletics, and the Naval Academy as an institution.

If you read this before the event and have not signed up but want to attend, call my office at 770 423-9298 and we will get you taken care of. We still have room at the time that I am writing this article, but our participation rate is up significantly this year and we do have a maximum, so don’t hesitate.

Our luncheon in January was attended by many of our regulars, with a couple of fresh faces to add to the camaraderie. Attendees included George O’Connell ’35 (SOPA), John Stark ’51, Bill Rentz ’55, Dale Herndon ’56, Reggie Vachon ’58, Ed Hux ’61, Paul Hurst ’62, Bill Holmes ’64, Bill Williams ’65, Jim Slemenda ’66, Jon Barton ’66, Paul Borer ’70, Mitch Rowland ’71, Bob Schultz ’71, Steve Frederick ’72, Ples Bruce ’77, Mike Hill ’77, Lidden Pate ’82, and Mario Maddox ’85. We did not have a speaker but had a great time reliving our experiences at Navy and during our careers, did a little business for the Chapter, and even conducted some quality business networking. If you want to spend a couple of quality hours with a great group of people who have experienced the same life changing events as young men and women that you experienced, consider joining us on the third Friday of the month at Jock’s and Jill’s in Brookhaven.

If you can join us in February, expect to hear Alan Price, who was the Chief Pilot for Delta Airlines on 9/11. He will give us his perspective of what it was like for commercial aviation on that watershed day with some stories that you have probably not heard. I have heard him speak at my Rotary club, and he is very entertaining. Interestingly, he is a USAFA grad and attended the Air Force game at Navy this past year. So there may be some questions from the attendees that are off subject.

As always, we are active and have much going on as a Chapter. If you are not participating in some of our events I truly believe you are missing a great opportunity for some great social and professional relationships.

BEAT ARMY!

Steve Frederick ’72
Chapter President