Undefeated in a time of war
In 1944, West Point had an undefeated basketball season. Unfortunately, their success came at a time of war. This meant, despite the team going 13-0 by the end of the season, there would be no national championship games and the team’s senior captains – “Big Ed” Christl, John “Three Star” Hennessey, and class president Bobby Faas – were sent to the front lines to fight for the US Army.
“Hennessey endured weeks of front-line fighting, battling from the waist-deep snow of Alsatian forests to the bombed-out rubble of German cities. Christl, a fearless forward observer for his field artillery battalion, made it all the way to Austria, where he would lose his life in the final week of the war in Europe. Three months later, Faas was shot down over Japan and forced to bail out over the Pacific Ocean. Coach Ed Kelleher would die overseas on his own special assignment with the Army.”
Author Jim Noles, a USMA graduate, will discuss the story of the USMA’s 1944 team and sign copies of his new book, “Undefeated” at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at 2pm. The event will also be live streamed to the FDR Library’s YouTube and Facebook pages. The event is free to attend, but registration is required to attend in-person: Click here to register.
