Dec 13, 2014 6 min read

Fred Stuvek Jr., was a successful student-athlete at Carmichaels High School during the 1960s. He excelled in four sports, but it was football that enabled him to be at the center of one of the premier rivalries in college athletics.

“I played football, baseball, basketball and ran track,” Stuvek said. “As a youngster, there were no pee-wee leagues or youth football. Once I had a chance, I participated in a number of sports.”

Stuvek’s favorite sport was football. He played quarterback at Carmichaels and later at the Naval Academy.

“I loved football. It’s a great team game. A competitive game,” Stuvek said.

Stuvek played football from 1966 to ’68 at Carmichaels and was named All-WPIAL as a senior. He still holds the Carmichaels record for touchdown passes thrown in a season.

Stuvek’s father, Fred Sr., was a highly successful head coach at Carmichaels and a former lineman at West Virginia University. He coached the Mikes to a share of the WPIAL championship in 1962 and the title game in 1956.

A standout on the athletic field, the younger Stuvek also excelled in the classroom. He was a member of the National Honor Society and made the Who’s Who Among American High School Students.

His success in football led to a number of recruiting visits to colleges.

“The three local teams – Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia – were interested. During a trip to Colgate, Frank Gansz, the former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, was a coach at Colgate and was talking to me when I noticed a ring on his finger. I thought it was a Colgate ring, but it was a Navy ring. The Naval Academy caught my attention.

“I took a trip to the Naval Academy. Coach Gansz had left Colgate and was now coaching at Navy. Coach Gansz was persistent in telling me, ‘Fred, the academy is the place to go.’

“Forty-five days after my visit, I decided Navy was the place for me,” he continued. “My parents didn’t like the idea. We (the United States) were involved in Vietnam. My mother got really emotional. Dad agreed with my decision and told me how proud he was of me.”

Stuvek received an appointment to the Navy, but first had to attend the academy’s prep school.

“In football, we played junior college teams, prep schools,” Stuvek said. “It was a good experience.”

Stuvek threw 23 touchdown passes for the freshman team. Then, he was ready for major college football.

“I started my sophomore and junior years,” said Stuvek, who completed 92 of 186 passes for 1,125 yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore in 1971. He also had three rushing touchdowns that season.

In the 1971 Army-Navy game, in front of a crowd of 97,047 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Stuvek was named the Chevrolet MVP of the game by ABC television, though Army came away with a 24-23 victory. It was the first one-point game played by the academies in the series’ 72 meetings.

In that game, Navy had a fourth down at the Army seven-yard line in the game’s closing seconds while trailing 24-21. Instead of attempting a game-tying field goal, Navy went for the win, but Stuvek’s pass into the end zone went off the hands of receiver Andy Pease.

Stuvek couldn’t wait to lead the Midshipmen his senior year, but he never did get one final opportunity for a win over the Cadets.

“During the preseason, I broke my leg,” Stuvek said. “I missed half the season. I was rushed back and broke it again.”

Stuvek almost became a piece of college football history.

“The Navy coaches were going to redshirt me,” Stuvek said. “I would have become the first redshirt player in service academy history, but I declined.

“I made it clear to the coaches that I came to the Naval Academy to be an officer. You join to be commissioned in the Navy and Marines. You don’t join to play football.”

Playing in the Army-Navy game was a great honor for Stuvek.

“If you look at the game, it’s unique. In my opinion, it’s above any rivalry,” he said. “There is a larger purpose than a game. The game is very competitive, but there is a lot of mutual respect. We consider ourselves brothers in arms. No trash-talking. Hard-fought? Yes. And when it’s over, we stand together for the alma maters. You won’t see that in an Alabama-Auburn game. Those players are in school to play football. We (military academies) have a different focus.”

While at Navy, Stuvek was able to meet a former Midshipmen quarterback, one that owns a Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl ring, Roger Staubach.

“On several occasions, I had a chance to meet him. He’s a class act, very quiet. He was respectful and humble,” Stuvek said.

“When I met him, he was a member of the Dallas Cowboys. He was a star in Dallas, which was something he had a hard time dealing with. There is no place to hide being a celebrity.

“In business, he was a team player and very successful in real estate. He recently sold his company for about $600 million dollars. He is very active in the community and you see him working a number of charity events.

“Meeting Staubach as a Dallas Cowboy was OK,” he continued. “but deep inside, I’m a Steelers fan. I love the Steelers.”

Though he quarterbacked the Midshipmen in the Army-Navy game, Stuvek said the highlight of his career came following a game against Boston College.

“It was Homecoming and we beat Boston College. I had a pretty good game against a good team,” Stuvek recalled. “As I’m walking off the field, my dad walked beside me and said, ‘I’m proud of you.'”

Following graduation, Stuvek served as an officer in the U.S. Navy. He currently lives in Knoxville, Tenn., and is president and CEO of Trident Medical Imaging.

Stuvek was inducted into the Washington-Greene Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

Bill DiFabio writes a Sunday column about local sports history. He has a website: www.billdifabio.com.