Leshinski named top Army player of the last 50 years

Over the last two months, GoBlackKnights.com has conducted a fan survey on who is the top Army football player of the last 50 years. After over 100 players were nominated, we narrowed the field down to 34 players and had fans vote each week in a bracket-style tournament. When the dust settled, tight end Ron Leshinksi (USMA '97 and former Philadelphia Eagle) was named the top player.

On his way to earning the title, he knocked off Greg Washington, Mike McElrath, Willie McMillan, Mike Mayweather, and Ronnie McAda in head-to-head voting. We caught up with Leshinski to get his thoughts on being named the top player, hear what he has been up to since graduation, and what his thoughts are on the current state of Army football.

Leshinski was humbled by the support of the fans. "Obviously, I am flattered. It makes me feel honored and proud. I think I have a lot of support and friends from my hometown area. I guess a lot of people got behind me. I don't know how many votes were cast, but I guess it stirred up quite a buzz at home. Obviously that made a lot of difference, because honestly I don't know how a blocking tight end can get voted into that in a running, wishbone style offense. I would think that a running back or a quarterback would deserve that title. "

Leshinski's initial thought was that the voting was pretty limited, and that possibly his support group from his hometown were the main participants. While the "play-in" rounds pulled in only a few hundred votes each, the following rounds averaged about 2,000 votes each.

"That makes me feel good. I didn't even know about it until the Mike McElrath round. I started getting all these calls and emails from people, and they put me on to it and then I realized how many people had gotten involved. That made me feel really good. I know that my hometown caught wind of it because they did an article in the local paper. I didn't expect it to go as far as it did. It makes me remember some good times, it makes me proud."

Any popular feature that brings a former player into the spotlight will cause that player to reflect. For Leshinski, that was no different. He was quick to point out his best memory from his days playing for Army.

"My best personal memory was beating Air Force my senior year. It was the last home game of the '96 season, and it was a nationally televised game. We beat Air Force, and that was the first time we had beat them in my time there. Things may be a little bit different now, but at that time Air Force was the program that everyone was trying to mimic. That was during the Fisher DeBerry high times. They were on top of the WAC at the time and they had a nationally renowned program. That was the hardest fought football game that I'd ever played in, just because of the game plan and the role that we had to beat them involved me. So that was the hardest fought football game that I had ever played in. That was the best memory for me, and it was also the last time that we stepped on Michie Stadium turf, so that was pretty special. Of course the Navy games are good, but they are unique and special in their own way and you can talk about them forever, but for me it was Air Force."

Back in 1996, Air Force was the academy football program that everyone looked at as the standard. They dominated academy football, and the 1996 team turned the table on the Falcons.

"We had some good teams. The team I played on my junior year was probably just as talented or even more talented in a lot of ways than our senior year. The leadership that year of guys like Jim Canteloupe, Stover, and Davis really set the tone for the season we had our senior year. We made a lot of strides. If you recall that season, we lost some pretty tough games. We lost to Duke, Washington, and Notre Dame all at the last second."

The Washington game was an especially tough game for Army. The Black Knights saw the clock run out in front of a hostile Washington crowd with the ball at the Washington two-yard line.

"Air Force beat us 7-3 that year. We just could not beat those guys. We lost to them by less than a touchdown each of the three years before we beat them. We had some decent teams and each year we got a little further on track, but I think the '95 team really made big strides even though our record didn't show it."

While fans always look back at the 1996 team as the best in recent memory at Army, the 1995 team could easily be looked at as the most underrated or passed over. That team finished 5-5-1 and was only inches from victories against Duke, Washington, and Notre Dame. It's a year that is overlooked in terms of Army football greats, but may be one of the better teams of the last 30 years.

"You look at the offensive line that we had that year, we were awesome. That was a great unit. Parts of the defense were excellent, but the key was that we had some really great leadership that year. Actually every offensive line that we had when I was there was pretty good. The senior year was when it really tied together. We didn't have many weaknesses in the team. We were a little bit above average in every aspect, and we also had a pretty good quarterback (Ronnie McAda)."

No matter how you look at it, the stretch of time that Leshinski played at Army saw the Black Knights field some very good teams.

"There was growth every year, we got better and better. A lot of it was just learning how to win. We had the tools to win, but in some of those close games we couldn't figure out how to get over the hump. You get close, and then you realize that you're doing well, but you need to learn how to finish and actually win the game. By the time we were seniors, we learned how to do that."

That brings up a point when it comes to this year's team. It looks like the right pieces are in place in terms of the coaching staff, and there is some good young talent. When folks talk about finishing games and then look at this past season, it's the same thing. There are two or three games where if Army could have just finished them, they would be in a bowl game. There would not have been so much pressure in the Navy game. Tulane is one that comes to mind, a game that Army should have won. Leshinski followed the team this past year and saw the same things.

"I did not follow them as closely over the past decade. I was busy doing other things and didn't have the time and was not in the area. The one thing I really loved about this year's team, aside from the improvement everywhere on the field, is that our defense was damn good. They played great all year long. It was a lot of the frustrations of a team that struggles offensively. They're not on the field long enough and that means that your defense is out there all game. You get worn down and tired, and you are not as deep as you would like to be, and that's how the game gets out of hand. But as soon as we can get a little better on offense and learn to control the ball a bit, and heck, if we can score three touchdowns a game, we're winning at least half the games we lost. I thought that defense was as good as any defensive unit that I have seen Army field."

Army fielded a young team in 2009, and by all estimates, should be looking at a better result in 2010 as the team matures under head coach Rich Ellerson and staff.

"We have a young quarterback coming back. You have to give the new coaching staff a little bit of leeway installing that offense. It's there. It's hard to perfect the nuances and just execute it. I sat with Ronnie McAda in Dallas at the North Texas game, and just listening to him as a former quarterback, I don't know as much about that position, but just listening to him was great. Things like attacking the pitch key downhill instead of towards the sideline. Those little things make a big difference. He made a lot comments that seemed to make sense to me, and those are the differences between zero gain and a six or seven yard gain. We ran options to the short side of the field so many times in that game, and that may just be lack of experience from a freshman quarterback. They are improving. I saw some swagger from them that I haven't seen for probably eight years. The whole "Pride, Poise, Team," what it means to be an Army football player, it's nice to see that coming back alive. You talk about all of the experiences that we had, or that anyone should have as an Army football player, and that's just the best. That's the experience that you can't get at any other institution playing college football. It's special, that's what makes West Point special. It's that swagger that somehow you learn. You learn how to win. You know that you're not as talented. You are not fielding a squad full of blue chip athletes, you're just looking to your left and your right, and figuring out who wants it more, and figuring out a way to get it done. That brings an attitude that once you learn how to play together, you learn how to win. That was one of the coolest things ever. Lining up against Duke, Washington, or Notre Dame and knowing that you are beating the hell out of these guys. That was cool. We knew that we weren't as good as those guys, but we could still play with them."

By all accounts, head coach Rich Ellerson gets what Leshinski is talking about and brings that mentality to the program. It was evident on the field this year that the group of young men playing for Army have that level of swagger, commitment, and pride to do the same thing. The question becomes,

"Can they put together the same things that the 1995 and 1995 teams did.

"They absolutely are the same guys. It's the same kids every year. There are things that we are better at than other college programs, we just need to learn how to use them. What cost us so much over the last decade is that we tried to play their game. We have to take what we're good at and exploit that and use it. We are always going to be a step slow and maybe not as big. But we are always going to be tough enough and athletic enough. We're disciplined and we 're well coached, we just need to exploit the things that we are good at, and that's what will allow us to compete. That's why I am happy to see us running this offense again because I don't think we have a chance unless we're keeping the defense off the field and we are controlling the ball. Those are the two things you have to do to win at an academy. I've watched Air Force and Navy do it for years, and that's why they are good."

After graduating from West Point, Leshinski was able to serve in the Army and also participate in the NFL. In 1999, he played on Sundays with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"I was in training camp with the New Orleans Saints for two years, from '97 to '99 while I was still in the Army. I would take all my leave time and go to camp and extend that into the season as far as I could and then go back to Ft. Hood, which was where I was stationed. After I got out of the military, the Saints sent me to Europe to play there, and then I went back to camp to play with them and got injured right at the end of camp after having a pretty good camp. I got cut, and then got picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles on waivers. I played a little bit of the '99 season with them (and played on Sundays that year), then bounced around to a couple more teams, Chicago and Green Bay, and that was it. That's when I got into my current career. "

Leshinski was a bright spot on an already bright 1996 team. While he has been busy building his own life and career, he is glad to be following the team and excited about the future of Army football.

"I'd like the new coaching staff to know that I am behind them, and I know the rest of the guys I played with are behind them, and it's just damn good to see them moving in the right direction. It's something that we've all been waiting for, and we are improving. That's great. We are all supportive. I think what we did this year is pretty good, and it's nice to be proud of the team again."

Congratulations to Ron Leshinski on being named the "Top Army Football Player of the last 50 Years".