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Air War College places third in Jim Thorpe Sports Days

  • Published
  • By Joy Ovington
  • Air University Public Affairs
MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. --  Athletes at the Spaatz Center's Air War College competed successfully in tennis, racquetball and trap shooting events at the 2009 Jim Thorpe Sports Days on April 23-25, hosted by the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Penn.

AWC Dean of Students Col. James E. Smith said the competition pitted students from the Air War College, Army War College, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National War College and the Marine Corps War College in an annual match up of the nation's senior service schools.

Once the dust settled, Maxwell's trap, racquetball and tennis teams shut out their competition and secured for AWC third place overall.

Slated were approximately 70 different competitive events covering 14 different sports including the ladies one-mile relay, men's two-mile relay, ladies 5K run, men's  five- mile run, men's and women's bowling, men's and women's golf, racquetball, basketball, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball.

Lt. Col. William "Bud" Robey was on the trap team and said, "Both trap and skeet were exhibition events this year, but now they are set to be full points events at next year's Jim Thorpe competition."

The team was "fired up" and placed first in trap shooting and second in skeet shooting. The AWC marksmen shot down the trap team gold with their combined overall scores.

The team captain for the trap and skeet team was U.S. Army Col. Michael Senters who said they had been shooting every Wednesday at the Maxwell Skeet and Trap Club. "It's a great range, and the skill of each shooter improved as the school year progressed."

Colonel Senters also said he considers it a great accomplishment to have brought the trap champ trophy home to Air University, taking into consideration some of their team members were new to competition trap and skeet shooting when they started at the beginning of the year.

Col. Stanley Smith served as team captain of the racquetball team and said that, although they had been practicing all year to strong arm the competition, they "really peaked just in time" for the tournament.

The racquetball team swept the first match against the National War College team as they won the "A" game, the "B" game and the "doubles" game.

"Now the momentum changed," the colonel said. "Both teams had one lost match with one match yet to play.  The final match was very close and we were very tired, but the Air War College came home winners."

As for the tennis team, they did it again this year. They have taken the title for the third straight time at JTSD.  Dr. Gary Straub Jr., assistant professor in the Leadership and Strategy Department at AWC, has coached the team for the last four years.

"Every year I have a good bunch of guys, but this year's crop was very motivated to play," he said. "They enjoyed playing, and were out on the courts every week practicing." He said his hat is off to Col. James "Keith" McKenzie for being there every day to practice.

Dr. Straub said the team's primary advantage here at Maxwell is that "the tennis team can play throughout the year because the weather is great."

The games are named in honor of American athlete and Olympic champion Jim Thorpe, who attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School at Carlisle Barracks from 1904 to 1913 and achieved success in several sports.

All the senior service college athletic teams include student officers from the various military branches, International Fellows and top civilian officials from the Department of Defense and other federal agencies.

Now in its 35th year, Jim Thorpe Sports Days is held "as a culminating joint event to build camaraderie to share perspectives and to engender friendly service competition," according to Army War College Commandant Major General Robert M. Williams.