clearfieldreunions.com
Clearfield, PA
9-7-17







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Surely, most visitors to clearfieldfootball are familiar with the above photo and the
short article that originally appeared in the Progress.  Both are now proudly displayed
near the "Bison Cafe" Cafeteria of the current Clearfield Area High School.

What many might not know, however, is that during this same period, Clearfield
was  nearly as well represented at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

C.H.S. graduates and the year of their enrollment at the USNA during that era
were these five: 1955-Dan Hastings, 1956-Larry Winslow, 1957-Howard E. Kuhns &
Gary Thomas and 1959-Richard Spingola.

So, rare as it was for Clearfield to have six cadets at West Point at one time, imagine
the odds of our little school having nearly a dozen combined enrollees at the Army
and Naval Academies back then !
And, please, if anyone out there detects any errors or omissions in
the above information, please contact us .
WEST POINT, N.Y. , MAY 28, 1959  -  A cadet at the United States Military
Academy at West Point is quite a claim for most communities in the nation.   
But Clearfield, Pennsylvania, is a real rarity  -  it has 6 this year.

Records are not available,  but officials at West Point are willing to admit that
six cadets in one year at the Academy from a community the size of Clearfield
is not only unusual but probably a record.

Pictured above in the Academy's Central Area with the cadet barracks and the
Cadet Chapel on the hill in the back-ground is this year's Clearfield contingent. 


All except Cadet Lewis are Clearfield Area Senior High School graduates. Lewis, whose family now lives in Clearfield is a graduate of Bristol, PA , High School.

The Clearfielders are following in tradition at West Point for the community has furnished several outstanding cadets to theCorps in the past.
They are Brig. Gen. Frederick B. Kerr, grandfather of Cadet Chase and an 1899 graduate; Brig. Gen. Frederick Ammerman class of 1930, Lt. Col. Robert R. Lutz,
1933; Col. Gordon Warner,1934; Lt. Col. Harold A. Ogden, 1942; Major Melvin Gustafson, 1945; Captain Joseph Henry, 1948 and David A. Betts, 1951, now in the U.S. diplomatic service. "

                                                                      From The Progress , May 28 1959
"  A  RARITY  INDEED  AND  IT  MAY  BE  A  RECORD . . .

Clearfield has 6 Cadets at West Point
US Military Academy -
1852-Lorenzo Lorain
1895-Frederick Kerr
1925-Gordon Warner
1929-Gordon Warner
1929-Horace Lutz
1938-Harold Ogden
1942-Melvin Gustafson
1944-Joseph Henry
1946-David Betts

1951-James Strickland
1955-William Chase
1956-Fred Plummer
1957-Joe Sayers
1958-Dean Learish
1958-Dale  Kuhns
1962-Kenneth Carlson
1963-Gary Fowler
1969-Glen Ogden
1970-Philip Garito *
1972-Mark Centra
1978-Laurel Hummel
1982-Mark P. Connor *
1987-Ed Reddington
2000-Derrick Yohe
2001-Stephanie A. Manos
2006-Matt Kyler
2009 -Shay Flanagan
A complete list of C.H.S. Grads appointed to the Service Academies over the years -
US Naval Academy -
1927-Robert E. Vandling
1949-Lewis Sykes
1951-Robert Daughenbaugh
1955-Dan Hastings
1956-Larry Winslow
1957-Howard E Kuhns
1957-Gary Thomas
1959-Richard Spingola
1970-Lou Kassab
1984-Robert Sunderland
1986-Chris Adams
1987-Vance Stone
2004-Tenley Fullington
2012-Jack Mellgard
2012-Juliana Mellgard
US Air Force Academy -
1961-Dennis Nagy
1963-Charles Scott
1966-Lynn Blowers
2009-Parker Herrington
US Merchant Marine Academy -
1980-David Stefan
( Print )
( Print )
www.clearfieldfootball.org is sponsored by the Bison Football Quarterback Club
and is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by the Clearfield Area School District

Back to -
. . . home of the Bison.   Clearfield PA
C.H.S. and the Academies -
Back to - History Home
CLEARFIELD AREA HIGH SCHOOL . . .
Dean Learish     -     Bill Chase     -       Dale Kuhns     -     David Lewis     -     Joe Sayers    -    Fred Plummer
* There have been corrections made to these entries, i.e. , we
    had misspelled Mr. Garito's name and had the wrong year
    for Mr. Connor - Corrections provided by Laurel Hummel. - Thanks !
Notes: This list was compiled from the plaques that are  displayed in the Auditorium Lobby at the school. There are two separate plaques for "Gordon Warner"; one dated 1925 and another 1929. I really doubt that there could be such a coincidence of two people with the same name being appointed four years apart. The Progress article above mentions only one, graduating the Academy in 1934. That same article also refers to Brig. Gen. Frederick Ammerman. There is no plaque at the school for him, so he may have graduated elsewhere.  I'll have to do some more research.

Also, the article mentions "Robert R." Lutz graduating the academy in 1933, while at CHS there
is a plaque instead for "Horace" Lutz in 1929.

Col. Laurel Hummel, CHS '78, was a member of the
third class at West Point to accept
female applicants but was the first female cadet from Clearfield County.
This correction and
the additional information was provided to us by the Colonel's mom, Gay Hummel.
Thanks, Mrs. Hummel !


New to the list is Tenley Fullington , CHS '04 and USNA '09.  Ms. Fullington's mom was kind enough to bring the omission to our attention. Without this help, as provided by Mrs. Hummel and Mrs. Fullington, there is much information that we're going to miss.

In an interesting twist, Jack Mellgard was appointed to the Naval Academy upon graduation from C.H.S. in 2011 but shortly afterward suffered a broken foot which prevented his being able to enroll.  He was then reappointed in 2012 and joined sister Juliana (CHS '12) as a member
of the Class of 2016. Jack and Juliana are the first pair of CHS siblings to attend any
of the Academies.

The only other pair of attendees (that we know of) with a direct family relationship were Brig. Gen. Frederick Kerr (USMA-1899) and William Chase (USMA-1960) who were grandfather and grandson.
Clearfield Football