PEELER: O'Brien Touts Military Appreciation Day
9/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. NC State coach Tom O’Brien was drawn into the Marines by Roger Staubach. Sort of.
As an eighth-grader growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, O’Brien watched Staubach at Cincinnati’s Purcell High School and followed his career at the Naval Academy. By the time O’Brien was in high school, Staubach won the Heisman Trophy
By then, O’Brien had watched Staubach lead the Middies to two victories in the Army-Navy game and an appearance in the 1964 Cotton Bowl. He wanted to be a part of something similar, and he jumped at the offer to attend the Naval Academy to play defensive end for the football team. Little did he know that he would have to survive his plebe year with all the physical and mental challenges and hardships that come with it just to make it to the Army-Navy game.
After three summers of various training programs, O’Brien signed up, to his mother’s chagrin, to be a Marine officer. In addition to his time as an assistant under Navy head coach George Welsh, O’Brien served tours of duty in California and Japan and spent time working at the Quantico (Va.) Marine Base during his nine years as a Marine officer.
So, as NC State prepares to host its annual Military Appreciation Day on Saturday against William & Mary, O’Brien shared some thoughts about NC State’s connection to all branches of the military and his military background. Click here for all game-day promotions and here for all Military Appreciation Day events, including information about collecting non-perishable items to send to active-duty personnel through Back Home Box and pre-paid telephone cards through the USO. (A list of preferred items.)
A limited number of single-game tickets are still available. All active members of the military can purchase a maximum of four tickets at the discounted price of $25. Purchase single-game tickets here or call the ticket office at (919) 865-1510 or (800) 310-PACK (7225). Active military personnel can use promo code "USA" to purchase discounted tickets. (Valid military ID must be shown when picking up tickets.)
GoPack.com: Did you know much about NC State’s military history before you came here?
O’Brien: Unfortunately, I did not, because it is more geared towards the Army than the Navy or Marines, which would have made me more attuned to it. But I have learned a lot since I have been here. I have a great appreciation for it. I have been associated now with Ret. Gen. Hugh Shelton and know all the great work he is doing with his leadership conference. I have had occasion to be invited to a couple of Mess Nights with the Marines on campus, but I haven’t been able to attend one yet. Mess Night isn’t what it sounds like it’s a formal dinner. But it might turned into a mess by the end of the night.
GoPack.com: Had you ever met General Shelton before?
O’Brien: Never before I came here. He’s a very impressive man and is doing great work with his leadership foundation. You don’t get to that point without being a smart man or an organized man, but what he brings is great leadership morally and ethically. That’s what you have to have in the job that he was in, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. There are a lot of great leaders in the Army that are NC State graduates.
GoPack.com: Did football attract you to Navy or did you always want to go there and football was the means to get in?
O’Brien: Football attracted me to Navy. When I was in the eighth grade, I remember watching Roger Staubach play in high school. Obviously, when he went on to Navy and had his great career. In those days, the Army-Navy game was a really big thing in this country. I wanted to play in the Army-Navy game just like Roger Staubach did. Then when I got there and went through my plebe year, I thought “Oh my God, what is this?” But never being one to quit at anything, I stuck it out and it was really a great opportunity and great choice for me. In those days, you kind of listened to what your dad told you and he highly encouraged me going to the Naval Academy.
GoPack.com: Knowing that, though, you then decided to join the Marines, which is even more difficult than being in the Navy, isn’t it?
O’Brien: When you are at the Academy, you spend your summers doing different jobs, whether it is as a seaman chipping paint off a ship cruising in the in the middle of the ocean or flight training, submarine training, Marine training or leadership training. At that time, we were in the middle of the Vietnam War. Everything was different, but the Marines were always the same. They were disciplined. They were proud of what they were doing. That’s the kind of people I like to be around.
GoPack.com: What does it mean, as a school, that NC State can have this kind of an outreach to the school’s long ties to the military?
O’Brien: To me, it’s important not just because of our military history, but because we are a state university and some of the largest military installations in the country are here in this state, whether it is Army (Fort Bragg in Fayetteville), Air Force (Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro) or Marine (Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville). It is a great thing that we as a state university return something to them, for what they are doing in service to our country. It’s always great to recognize their sacrifice. I think it is important that we do whatever we can, no matter how small, to help the people who keep us free.
GoPack.com: Do you have any contact with anyone currently deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan?
O’Brien: There are some guys who have previously been part of this program who we get letters from. Drew Wimsatt is in the Marine Corps and flying helicopters in Iraq. We also just got a letter from Chris Young, who was a holder here and is close with the Ritcher family. I take those letters and read them to the team. Last year, I was invited to go with the coaches who went to the Middle East to visit, but I couldn’t go. I told them in the future I would like to do that.
GoPack.com: Who was your military hero?
O’Brien: There are two guys I knew well who were in my company at the Naval Academy. One was Scott Frye, who made admiral. The other was Gen. Johnny Sadler, who just retired as a three-star general after 37 years in the Marine Corps. I really respect what each of them did in service to our country in both the Navy and in the Marine Corps.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.