Robert Eugene Oswandel was born on March 12, 1938 in Rahway, NJ. He was a 17-year-old on the Rahway High School football team, named to the All-State team, and later inducted into the Rahway Sports Hall of Fame. In the spring of 1956, he entered Braden’s Prep School in preparation for West Point, where he met highly recruited future Army football players Bobby Anderson and Steve Waldrop. They took the oath together at Battle Monument on July 3, 1956 as new cadets in the Class of 1960. Bob later described entering West Point with, “I passed through the door into Central Area, never to return.” The football coaches failed to mention what a “good time” he would have during that first summer.
Bob was “Ozzie” among his classmates, or just “Oz.” By cow year, Oz played center behind legendary Bill Rowe. Single substitution was still the rule, and many offensive players played defense also—iron men. Oz saw lots of playing time. The Class of 1960, as juniors, had many key players on this team. They beat Notre Dame in South Bend and trounced Navy. Only a 7-7 tie against Pittsburgh kept them from finishing No. 1 in the nation. Sixty-three years later, the 1958 Army Football Team remains the last undefeated team, arguably the best Army Football Team ever.
Ozzie was starting center on the 1959 team. Army was highly touted, led by two-time All-American Anderson and his classmates. Army went 6-3, losing very close games to Penn State and Oklahoma, and losing to Navy, who had the famous Joe Bellino. Ozzie was selected to play in the North-South All-Star Game in the Orange Bowl along with Bob Anderson, Bill Carpenter, and Joe Caldwell.
With football finally over, Ozzie had time on his hands. Walking through the sinks beneath the Central Area barracks one evening, he came to F-1, known as “Fun One.” Ozzie was welcomed to sit in and chat, and he never left, becoming an honorary F-1 man thereafter.
One late Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1960, while walking through the Weapons Room, he spotted a young, attractive, Radio City Music Hall Rockette who Bobby Anderson had met in 1957 at the Look magazine All-American party in New York City. He got her phone number, and they were married a year later.
Bob selected Field Artillery, and his first assignment was in the 22d Field Artillery Battalion in Germany. Three great years in Europe for the young couple, then back to the advanced course and on to Cleveland with the Air Defense Command. Their daughter, Donna, was born in 1965. Bob left for Vietnam in 1966, serving as advisor to the South Vietnamese Army, for which he received the Bronze Star, Air Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and several Vietnamese awards. Thereafter, he received his master’s degree from Georgia Tech and reported to West Point in the summer of 1969 to teach Earth, Space and Graphics. While there for the next three years, he also coached the Army Football Team’s B Squad, the unsung heroes and very tough guys. This author’s family lived in quarters next door to Major Oswandel, and his “firm handshake” was the scourge of all the children in the neighborhood.
Bob went next to Korea and to the Command and General Staff College before landing in the Office of Program Management within the Army Test and Development System at Fort Monmouth, NJ. The Oswandels settled in nearby Little Silver, NJ, and their moving days were over. Cathy was close to Radio City Music Hall, and Bob was close to work.
Lieutenant Colonel Bob Oswandel retired in 1980 after 20 years of service to the nation. The Oz went up the Yellow Brick Road and joined ITT in Clifton, NJ, where he thrived for 25 years as a program manager involving U.S. Army and British Army contracts. The last half of these years were spent living and working in the United Kingdom. These final 13 years with ITT were working on the Bowman Program (in Hampshire, England), winning a major contract for the United States. These were special years for Bob and his wife, Cathy, living in England and traveling throughout Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe.
Bob retired in 2006 after 45 years of work in the U.S. Army or for the U.S. Army. It was time for golf and leisure travel. Cathy remained active with the Rockette Alumni Association, serving on the board for over 17 years and putting on her shoes and performing at the many NYC Charity Balls sponsored by the Rockette Alumni.
Bob tragically passed away from a blood clot following a hip replacement operation at the age of 77. He was so much more than a great Army football player, but those four years were a huge part of his life. Waldrop says of him, “Oz brought to West Point a very positive and upbeat attitude, he was a cheerful and friendly teammate and classmate.” Anderson describes him as “a very tough football player.” Bob Oswandel is remembered fondly by his many friends, from being a member of the Corps of Cadets and a fine Army officer and later as a corporate executive serving the interest of the nation’s defense. Above all, Ozzie was family man, and he will be greatly missed and remembered by all who have the good fortune to have known him.
— Charles Baker, Company F-1