I sat next to Naval Academy graduate Corky Gardner, now of the Janus Capital Group, during today's Navy football luncheon featuring head coach Ken Niumatalolo. Corky informed me that Army head coach Rich Ellerson attended the Naval Academy for one year and would have been a 1976 graduate had he not transferred to the University of Hawaii following his plebe year.

   I returned home and found a story written by Navy radio play-by-play announcer Bob Socci that confirmed that fact, that Ellerson received an appointment to Annapolis out of Salpointe Catholic High in Tucson, Ariz.

   Corky Gardner recalled that Ellerson took his summer cruise to Hawaii, got off the ship and stopped by the University of Hawaii football offices to find out whether he could join the team as a walk-on. Head coach Dick Tomey agreed and Ellerson would up becoming a Hawaii graduate instead of a Naval Academy alumnus.

    I am trying to check in with Ellerson through channels at West Point to find out more about his brief tenure in Annapolis and why he departed.