“Battles at Annapolis: two Remarkable Football games in the Army-Navy rivalry”
by David Gendell
Foreword by Rear Admiral Thomas Lynch, USN (Ret.)
Coming in paperback in August 2025 From Globe Pequot / Lyons Press
"With strong reporting and clear-eyed prose, David Gendell depicts the unique experience of a pair of Army–Navy football games played by the Chesapeake Bay nearly a half century apart. But Battles at Annapolis is about more than those two games. It explores the origin and early development of college football itself, and also the change, drama, and sense of sacrifice that enveloped the United States during World War II. Quite an achievement."
- John Eisenberg, longtime Baltimore sportswriter and author of 11 books including The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire
"Having covered the Army–Navy football rivalry for nearly 30 years, I am well-versed in the history of the series. David Gendell never ceases to amaze me with the interesting facts and unique notes he digs up through hours upon hours of reviewing archival materials. In Battles at Annapolis, Gendell paints a vivid portrait of the Army–Navy games held at the Academy. As a newspaper reporter and real-time historian who often writes retrospective stories reflecting on past events, I have tremendous appreciation for the work Gendell has done to put this book together."
- Bill Wagner, Capital Gazette Newspapers; 2024 Maryland Sportswriter of the Year
"Beyond the finite details of statistics and strength, iconic tales of America's beloved athletic pastimes offer revealing historical snapshots of society at large. Resplendently set against the sprawling backdrops of both the Gilded Age and the Second World War, David Gendell's Battles at Annapolis drops readers into the bleachers and brawls of bygone eras. These stories of long-ago gridiron rumbles transport us to unique moments when service and sportsmanship met on a common playing field."
- Dr. Jared Frederick, author of Dispatches of D-Day and Fierce Valor
“In Battles at Annapolis, David Gendell effortlessly weaves history, sports, and biography. Through his telling of the 1893 and 1942 Army–Navy football games, he reminds us why this rivalry is so revered . . . the players will not only be remembered for performance on the gridiron, but also for their service to our nation.”
- Stephen Phillips, host of the Preble Hall Podcast; author of The Recipient’s Son
About The Book:
On two cool late fall Saturday afternoons, separated by forty-nine years, the spectacle of Army-Navy football unfolded at Annapolis, Maryland, on the grounds of the United States Naval Academy. This pair of rivalry games were played in 1893 and 1942, on the edge of brackish tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay and before crowds among the smallest ever to witness the game. While often treated as sidebars in the epic Army-Navy football narrative, these two games had an outsized impact on the series, on the institutions represented on the field, on the armed services their teams represented, and even on the sport of football. In a series that continues to be defined by toughness and resilience, these were also among the hardest-fought and roughest games ever played.
Battles at Annapolis presents the context of the two most recent Army-Navy football games played at Annapolis: how the games came to be scheduled and the impact of each contest on the participating institutions, the sport of football, and the broader community. Author David Gendell also showcases the unique personalities who represented the service academies on the field, on the sidelines, and in the stands. Many of the players would soon represent the United States in combat. But before they went to war, they played football.
Rear Admiral Thomas C. Lynch, USN (Ret.), a former Navy football captain and 54th Superintendent of the Naval Academy, contributes the book's Foreword.