Sent 8/7/2017

Class of ’85,

It is only a few weeks away from the kickoff of the 2017 Navy Football Season. As always, we look forward to another great year for our Mids and another great year for the Class of ’85 and fall tailgates. It has become a great tradition for our Class to get together now at all the Navy home games and as many away games as we can. I appreciate the generosity in the off season to fund the new class tent. We will have our tent up at all home games this year and hopefully it will be used more to block the the sun than shelter from rain or cold weather. In any case, we will be fully ready this year and are now an “All Weather Class”. The first home game is a 3:30 pm game on September 9th against Tulane. We will do a catered tailgate to kick off the season and to  welcome classmates in town for a memorial golf tournament honoring Kevin Bianchi and his family. I am in the process of arranging the menu, but the food will be good and we will have cold beer on tap and a small wine selection as well. As we get closer, I will publish more details on each tailgate and will have news up on the class website and via social media. I will ask that we continue the tradition of putting money in our cash box at each home tailgate to help pay as we go for the food and beverages that the class and class fund will help provide again this season. If anyone has interest in coordinating a tailgate at any away games, PLEASE contact me and I will provide full support.

I am proud to announce the kickoff for registration for the Navy v. Notre Dame Game in San Diego 2018. The game itself is October 27, 2018, and our Class will have a full weekend of events in addition to the game itself. So far, I have a block of 50 rooms at the Westin San Diego Gas Lamp District from Thursday the 25th through Sunday the 28th. I have personally visited this hotel and it is a beautiful facility in the heart of the Gas Lamp District. We will have a Friday evening cocktail party at an outdoor space at the hotel and will also have a pre and post game tailgate party at the Quad Ale House only a block from the hotel starting Saturday morning. I will get a block of tickets from NAAA as well as bus transport to and from the Quad Ale house. You can reserve rooms in our Class Block (room rate of $249 per night plus fees and taxes) at the following link: https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/events/start.action?id=1707110058&key=22EF9EF9  As we get closer to the event, I will be running a sign up for the Friday night party, the Saturday tailgate and game, game tickets, bus transport and I am hoping to put on a golf outing either Thursday or Friday before the game. We may also do a kickoff event on Thursday at a local pub (and there are quite a few!). When you reserve your room DO NOT input your SPG ( Starwood preferrred group) info into this website, just register without adding this information and you can arrange your stay credits and points with the hotel closer to or at check-in. Doing so will cause an issue with completing your registration. (The Westin knows about this and are working on it). By next year, this hotel will be under the Marriott Brand and you will be able to collect Marriott points, but wait until next year.

I am currently coordinating with the Waikiki Beach Marriott in Honolulu for hosting our Class gathering in Hawaii for the September 1, 2018, football game in Oahu vs. the University of Hawaii. There will be a full week of class events we are currently working on and I will be sharing details as soon as I have them. So, mark your calendars and get your plans in place to travel next season; both to Hawaii and San Diego. For now, register for your room in San Diego so if I need more rooms I can get them before they sell out. There is a large medical convention in town that week in San Diego and it was a chore to find a place to host this event as many of the large hotels would not work with me for that reason. Good news, the Westin will and and it is a GREAT hotel, GREAT location. This will be an extremely fun weekend!

More news coming soon about the Class election, Tom Plofchan will be forwarding me the nomination info soon and I will turn things over to USNAA to assist with the actual ballot procedure. For now, make your plans to be at the Navy home opener in September and get your room in San Diego reserved now. As always, you may contact me with anything you need or questions about anything Class of ’85 related: 502-432-6185 or robertsmith5@att.net or on Facebook. Go Navy, Beat Tulane!

Bob Smith ’85

Sent 3/20/2017

Hello Class of ’85,

I first want to apologize that my previous email was sent in triplicate. The Alumni Association was in the middle of a major tech update and I was the first person to try the new system to send a classwide email. I helped them find one of the “bugs” in the new system unfortunately. I have been assured the system is fixed, so hopefully this email only reaches you one time. I know how annoying constant repeat emails can be and I NEVER want to annoy any of you trust me!

First, I want to say thank you to the 48 donors to our USNA ’85 Class Tent GoFundMe campaign. As of this morning, we are at 65% of our fundraising goal or $11,885 of the $18,500 needed to get this done. That is ONLY about 5% of the class giving so far. I was, however, hoping for a more robust response to this request and I know it’s out there. I have been Class President for over 15 years now and have made every attempt to put this class as one of the best among alumni groups for reunion attendance as well as for fall tailgating and class travel. The Dublin trip in 2012 was a HUGE success, the class reunions (even one in the middle of a hurricane) have been very successful, fall tailgating has been someething we take great pride in and as a rule, we always have a place for all of you to come and call your class gathering place at each home game (some tailgates are bigger than others, but all remain well organized and attended), our class gatherings in Jacksonville this past fall and at all Army/Navy games and other select away games have all been very well attended and those who were there know the value of having a quality event. My point is simple: I have put in tremendous effort, as have those others who have volunteered, to make our Class #1 and I feel good about that goal and our efforts; I am now asking all of you to roll up your sleeves and help me out on this one by donating to the new class tent.

This tent is an investment for future tailgating excellence. Instead of me paying someone $2000 or more to rent a tent as needed for poor weather or large tailgates a few times each season, we will have a tent I can have professional put up at all home tailgates and it will last 20 years or more years. The tent has sides with windows (you can see what the tent looks like at our GoFundMe web link) for those blustery or rainy weekends so those attending can remain warm and dry; or have a shady spot on an 85 degree sunny day. Seeing our Class Crest displayed proudly in Navy Colors will also provice our class with a great source of pride and a homing beacon for those who do not attend regularly but expect a great tailgate when they do attend. We will continue to improve on our Class of ’85 tailgating experience and I have an energized group of local volunteers who took over this effort at the end of last season and they are ready to continue making strides to continually improve and upgrade the ’85 Tailgate. We are looking at having a Satellite connection and TV at our tailgate once again this season (having a tent to house this equipment is important), I will also continue to have FREE beer and wine at each home tailgate along with special catered tailgates a few times each year. I need the other 95% of our class who have not had the chance to donate to go to: https://www.gofundme.com/USNA85Tent and DONATE!!

Be generous in your giving so I can close out this effort and move on to other important class business: Class elections, the Navy game in Hawaii in 2018, the Navy game vs. Notre Dame in San Diego in 2018, this year’s Army/Navy Tailgate, etc., the next Class Reunion (the Big 35th). You get it….

Next, just one more plug while I am on the “Giving” bandwagon. I just renewed my President’s Circle Donation for 2017 (By giving $2500 to the USNA Alumni Association/Foundation), but this year I designated 100% of this donation to Athletic Excellence and it gained me access to the Yeager Pavilion for all home games as well as a priority for game ticket purchase for Army/Navy and other away games. If interested, email Matt Goff at NAAA, matt.goff@usna.com or call him at: 410-293-8963 and support our Navy Athletes. My plea to you is to give back to USNA no matter what you designate it for. Our Federal tax dollars only fund the basics at USNA and Alumni donations continue to be the life blood for the things that make USNA the greatest among service Academies and the best damn Univeristy in the World. Being a President’s Circle Member is a great experience and you get a weekend each football season that you are invited to join other PC members and are treated to special events and behind the scenes tours. My wife and I LOVE the experience and you will too. Give what you can and it all helps as you can see each time you step on the yard or attend a sporting event.

I look forward to closing out our GoFundMe campaign soon (so I can stop talking about money), if we go over the goal (which I hope we do), I will use that money for tailgate upgrades. It will be capped at $20,000, so don’t be worried just keep hitting the “Donate” button! I once again appreciate those who have given so generously and those who are about to give right after reading this email. If you give $500 or more, you will get your name printed on the “Donor Wall” of our tent so that others can appreciate your donation as much as I do. My name is the first among the $500 donors. Go Navy, as always, and stay tuned for more class news in the weeks ahead. Regards,  Bob Smith Your Proud Class President