When Navy quarterback Blake Horvath takes his team’s first offensive snap against Army, he can be confident the ball he’s handling has been approved by the greatest player in program history.
All the footballs the Navy offense will use during Saturday’s game have been tested by none other than legendary quarterback Roger Staubach. Yes, the same Roger Staubach who won the 1963 Heisman Trophy as a junior at the Naval Academy, who then enjoyed a long, successful professional career with the Dallas Cowboys.
Staubach, who led the Cowboys to a pair of Super Bowl championships, has been enshrined in both the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Big Game Football Factory manufactures all the footballs the Midshipmen use during the season. For the annual Army-Navy Game, the company produces a batch of football that correspond to the specialty uniforms the Mids wear.
This season, that means designing football with the skull and crossbones insignia of the Jolly Rogers, the Naval aviation unit that provided the inspiration for this year’s uniforms.
Late last month, Staubach stopped by the Big Game Football Factory in Dallas to “inspect” the specially-designed Jolly Rogers footballs the company developed for this year’s Army-Navy Game.
“Roger has been a friend of the company for a long time and is very interested in what we do,” Big Game Football Factory founder, owner and CEO Chris Calandro said. “I called Roger and invited him to come by to inspect the Army-Navy Game footballs. He was willing to do it for the benefit of Navy football and the program.”
So how does an 82-year-old former quarterback inspect game balls? By throwing them, of course.
A video posted to social media by Big Game Football Factory shows Staubach throwing one Jolly Roger football after another. He later took a good long look at each football before signing No. 12 along the white stripe.
This was serious business and Calandro presented Staubach with a uniform to wear for the occasion. Staubach donned an Under Armour pullover with an insignia that read “Quality Inspector No. 12.”
Receiving the
seal of approval!
Each of this year's game balls for the Army-Navy game have been personally tested and inspected by Roger Staubach himself!#GoNavy | #BeatArmy | @BigGameUSA pic.twitter.com/qAp406p1OK
— Navy Athletics (@NavyAthletics) November 25, 2024
“Roger agreed to serve as Inspector 12 for the day and was very meticulous in making sure the Navy game balls met his specifications,” Calandro said. “Roger still has a great arm and took time to throw every single ball. To make it official, Roger inscribed each football with the number 12 to indicate he had approved the footballs. We then shipped them on to the Naval Academy.”
Staubach earned the Heisman Trophy following an outstanding junior season in which he led Navy to a 9-2 record and berth in the Cotton Bowl. Senior captain and linebacker Tom Lynch led a dramatic goal-line stand that enabled Navy to escape with a 21-15 victory over archrival Army.
Navy then met Texas in a matchup of the nation’s top-ranked teams, losing 28-6.
Staubach was a 10th round “future” selection of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1964 NFL Draft, but did not join the team until five years later due to his service commitment. He commissioned as a supply corps officer and served in Vietnam.
Staubach played for the Cowboys from 1969 through 1979 and was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl 6 in 1972. He led Dallas to a second Super Bowl championship in 1977 and two other appearances.
Staubach earned the nickname Roger the Dodger while at Navy and was later called Captain America and Captain Comeback while with the Cowboys.
Calandro has gotten to know Staubach well enough to be invited to his Dallas-area home on Thanksgiving.
“I caught a touchdown pass from Roger during the Staubach family annual Turkey Bowl and he autographed the football with the words “To My Favorite Receiver.’ I treasure that experience and that football,” Calandro said.
Big Game has been providing footballs for the Navy football program for more than a decade. Big Game also manufactures the football used by the Army football program. Whichever offense is on the field at the time uses its own footballs, meaning a Big Game Football Factory product is in play at all times during the Army-Navy Game.
“We thought it would be cool to have Roger stop by on the day we were unveiling the official Navy football for the Army-Navy Game in order to get his approval before shipping them to Annapolis,” Calandro said. “Roger loves the Navy football program and is always willing to do whatever he can to help.”
Have a news tip? Contact Bill Wagner at [email protected], 443-534-0102 and x.com/@BWagner_CapGaz.
125th Army-Navy Game
Saturday, Dec. 14, 3 p.m.
at Northwest Stadium, Landover
TV: CBS
Radio: 1430 AM
