By Dr. Dan Furlong, DPE, Guest Author
Today, Doctor Howard A. “Skip” Burris III ’81, President and Chief Medical Officer of the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee and recently the President and Chairman of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the fight against cancer. Burris was also a member of Company C-1’s 1979 company athletics flickerball championship team, playing alongside future Army general and 2022 West Point Distinguished Graduate John F. Campbell ’79, former Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
Cadets Burris and Campbell knew of General Douglas MacArthur’s now famous driving quote, “Upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other fields, on other days, will bear the fruits of victory.” At West Point, they were taught that MacArthur’s words meant that participating in sport competition produced grit, self-control, courage, mental agility, and physical development—attributes MacArthur knew were the bedrock needed for all soldiers. Competitive sports in the Department of Physical Education (DPE) are part of the culture of the cadet experience, and its mission is to develop warrior athletes of character and build teams of significance.
Brigadier General James L. Anderson ’56 (Retired), Master of the Sword from 1974 to 1997, once penned, “In evaluating the West Point curriculum, physical education must be fully recognized as contributing to the intellectual, social, emotional, and moral development of the cadet as well as to his physical development.” Choices and actions, performed by each Army professional, are highly moral in nature due to their direct impact on the well-being of other people. Character is essential to the Army’s effectiveness as a profession because of military leaders’ responsibility to remain moral in the landscape of what they are permitted to carry out. Few classrooms at West Point can provide a constantly unpredictable environment that require future military leaders to adhere to standards of fair play (or “rules of engagement”) through their continual and purposeful good moral choices as well as the sports field, court, or arena does.
DPE’s Competitive Sports Office oversees company athletics, a “Character in Sport” intramural program that is a cadet-led and instructor-supervised during MacArthur Time (4:25pm until 6:50pm, Monday through Thursday). This out-of-classroom learning lab for character development engages just over 2,000 cadets each term. In the fall, cadets compete against one another by company in five sports: basketball, flag football, soccer, functional fitness, and submission grappling. Spring sports include flickerball, orienteering, ultimate, team handball, functional fitness, and combat grappling. Both terms end with the top companies in the regiment competing for the brigade championship in each sport. Among the eventual champions may well be a future vice chief of staff of the United States Army and commander at the highest levels, like Cadet John Campbell, or a nationally and internationally recognized oncologist, like Cadet Skip Burris. They were company athletics champions at West Point who went on to be servant-leaders, gaining hard fought victories on other fields, on other days.
Photo 1: Cadets compete in the 2022 Brigade Championship for Company Athletics Team Handball. Photo 2: GEN (R) John Campbell ’79 holding up his Brigade Diamond with classmate and C-1 company athletic flickerball cadet coach Charles T. “Chip” Sniffin.
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