Category Archives: From the President

Class News and Travel Updates

Posted on by
Email sent 4 Aug 2018

Greetings Class of ’85,

It’s time for an update on things as we are about to begin the 2018 Football Season. First off, I am proud to say we are taking nearly 100 Classmates and families/friends to Honolulu for the opening game of the 2018 Navy Season on September 1st against the U of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. There is still availability for this weekend if you want to join us. I am finalizing my ticket, tailgate and Class dinner numbers on August 15th. So, be like a few others who just said: “What the H… We are going to Hawaii”. Airfares seem to be pretty reasonable and I can still get you the Class group rate at the Marriott Waikiki Beach. If you are interested, contact me ASAP. If anyone who thought they had signed up for this trip and you have not been receiving our small group emails and texts, you NEED to contact me ASAP. Next, I am finalizing plans for the October 27th game against Notre Dame in San Diego. Although our class block of tickets is sold out, you can get them from other sources and still join us in San Diego for the weekend. That schedule of events will be published in the next few weeks and I will start collecting money for the tailgate and Friday night cocktail reception. We will be over 170 strong in San Diego or more likely over 200, so why not get on board NOW with this trip?? We will have a Thursday night kickoff happy hour in the Gas Lamp district, Friday night cocktail party, Saturday pre and post game indoor tailgate at the Quad Pub in the Gas Lamp quarter and of course the game. I am looking for someone who lives in San Diego who might like to organize a golf outing for Thursday or Friday morning in San Diego. Classmate Jim Berdeguez and I are designing an ’85 Special Edition Football Jersey for sale starting that weekend to commemorate this event.

Our normal Class of ’85 Tailgate parties will be on for all home games this season. That information will be provided as we get closer to our first home game. If you are coming to a Navy game, you know that ’85 will always have a great tailgate. I am working on events for the Army/Navy weekend, so if you happen to live in Philly and want to help me out, I am appreciative of some help for this year’s game on December 8th. Also, if you live in a city where there is a Navy away game and want to put a class event together, I welcome anyone doing that. Now that Navy plays in the AAC, we play in some fun places. Also, I have started working our 35th Reunion in September of 2020. This is tentative and based on Navy finalizing the 2020 football schedule, BUT, I am looking at a home game now scheduled for September 12, 2020 (Hint: Save the date UFN). Westin Hotel reserved and exploring great options for all events. I will be starting a committee next year for help with all major events of our reunion. (I am getting too old to do all this stuff solo any more).

Enjoy the remainder of your summer and start thinking about Navy football and joining your classmates in Hawaii, San Diego, Annapolis or Philadelphia this season.

As always, Go Navy…. Beat Army! (and everyone else)

Regards,

Bob Smith ’85

USNA ’85 Hawaii Trip update and more

Posted on by
Email sent 17 July 2018

Greetings Classmates,

As we all enjoy our summer and summer vacations, it’s time start the final phase planning of the Class of ’85 trip to Hawii in late August on your near term calendar, as well as the late October San Diego trip next on your radar scopes. We have about 90 Classmates and family members attending the Hawii Trip which is awesome and once again makes us the “Class with Class” as no other class will have half this number. Here is where we stand and I am still finalizing a few things, but need to get the word to everyone now as the final pieces come into place. Here is what I have in chronological order:

1) Thursday morning at 0845 we have a tour of the the Pearl Harbor area on the Admiral’s Barge. Please contact Ashley Yetman ASAP if you are interested as there are limited spots. Her contact info is: apy@comcast.net. Ashley has also posted this event on our Class Facebook post and you can messenger her there.

2) Thursday evening, classmate Rich Tilghman has arranged for those interested to attend the Hale Koa Luaa, Thursday, August 30th. Meet for drinks at 5:30 at the Barefoot bar for the 6:30pm dinner and show.  “Navy 85” 808-955-0555 Aug 30th. You have contact the Hale Koa directly to attend, 808-955-0555 and tell them you are with the Navy 85 group. The deadline is July 24th at 2300 EST to do reserve. Remember, tell them you are booking as part of “Navy ’85”. There are fireworks next door at the Hilton that go off right after the Luaa ends. Rich says it is an amazing show and fireworks so don’t miss it. Contact Rich at richardwtilghman@gmail.com or he in the class Facebook group and always answers messages promptly with questions.

3) Friday, Rich has also volunteered to do a half day Island Tour for anyone interested. The dynamics of the tour will depend on the level of interest. Please contact Rich on Facebook or at the above email address to attend a tour he that is still in the making.

4) Friday evening, we will have a 1600-1800 Happy Hour at the Marriott Waikiki Beach, which is the class hotel. This will be an event designed to allow for classmates to then go off and enjoy a nice dinner at one of the many local restaurants. I will reach out directly to those who have signed up on the class website to share a list of who is going so people can look network with each other on dinner plans. I have request a cash bar type event and am still working with Marriott staff on this and will post final details when I have them.

5) Pre and post game tailgate for the football game against Hawaii on Saturday, September 1st; we will be teaming up with the local USNA Alumni Chapter for a fun tailgate event. This will include bus transport to and from the Hale Koa and Marriott hotels and game tickets in our class block. Once again, you need to sign up on the class website: http://1985.usnaclasses.net so I have an accurate head count and can set up payment options. Game tickets will be lower level endzone seats I arranged directly through the U of Hawaii football ticket office and will cost $40. Soon, I will start collecting money for tickets, tailgate and bus transport directly to my paypal account so I can pay for this stuff ahead of time.

6) Sunday, September 2nd, Rich Tighlman and his chihuahua will be hosting a party at his house and a beach trip for the day. He lives 1/2 block from one of the nicest beaches in the world: Kailua Beach. It will be a meet at 1200 from hotels for transport to his house where he has a nice pool area and it will be a full day of fun at his beachside bungalo and the beach. Once again, please contact Rich and his chihuahua to RSVP so that we can get a count regarding transportation, food, drinks, speedos (Charlie Giles?), etc. Once again, transport leaving from the Hale Koa and Marriott Waikiki Hotels and returning when the fun runs out.

We have a GREAT turnout for this event so far away and I appreciate this and think we have done a good job of putting a full schedule of events together for those making this trip. I want to thank Ashley and Rich for all their help and support in putting this weekend in place and please sign up on the class website and/or contact me with any questions. The Navy/Notre Dame weekend is coming into view and I will soon be coming out with more specifics on this weekend, but we will have a full schedule of events for those coming to San Diego for that weekend as well. Sign ups are on the class website as well and it helps me to have you sign up in advance. If you are going to Hawaii, PLEASE sign up for our events ASAP so we can do proper planning. I will soon have the tailgate info and will reach out to collect money for the transport, game tickets and tailgate events; so stay tuned.

Outside of all of the travel events, we are gearing up for another great season of home Navy Football games as well as events for the Army/Navy game in Philadelphia and will keep putting out info on these events as the plans come together. If anyone lives in or near a city where there is a home game and wants to help us sponsor a tailgate event or class party, PLEASE let me know and I can help you support it. So, keep enjoying your summer as I am and focus on these upcoming events if you plan to attend. Go Navy and Beat Everyone this season…. MOST OF ALL: ARMY!!

Regards,

Bob Smith ’85

 

Happy 33rd Anniversary and Hawaii/San Diego trip updates

Posted on by
Email sent 22 May 2018

Class of 1985,

First off, Happy 33rd Anniversary to our great class. I salute the 33 years of service to our country and to our communities and our families over the last 33 years by all our classmates. It’s so great to see everyone’s Facebook pictures over the last several years that those in our Facebook group have been sharing (no fake news here!). Pictures of our Academy days, days in the fleet or corps and all the years since. Great family photos of our kids doing amazing things as they all follow in our footsteps now that we approach retirement and hopefully more travel to Class events and Navy Football games together!

Speaking of Class travel, I have an important update for upcoming Class trips. First off Hawaii; I have been offered seats in the Navy section and since they were upper deck end zone seats I reached out directly to the University of Hawaii ticket office and they have committed to giving our class a block of tickets on the lower Navy Sideline. They cannot commit to the exact location yet, but that a block of seats will be available for the numbers we need. I will use the sign ups from our class website and reach out to those attending and confirm ticket orders since I will have to collect money from you via PayPal for these tickets and then have Rich Tighlman pick them up for us in Hawaii and get them to those attending prior to the game. More details to follow, but if have signed up to attend that game, you will hear from me. If you have not, please go on our class website and sign up to attend so I have you on the list as needing tickets (http://1985.usnaclasses.net). We are still working the full schedule of events for that weekend that will be published in the next few weeks, so stay tuned and contact me with any questions. News on the Navy vs. Notre Dame trip to San Diego; we have sold out our 150 seat block for that game. Tickets are still available via ticket master, so you can still attend the game and still attend all the class events that weekend if you were not able to buy seats in our class section. I still urge you to join us if you want to attend a great weekend with many of your classmates in a beautiful setting. The schedule of events will also be published soon for that San Diego trip and I will have to start collecting money for the Friday cocktail reception and the Saturday pre and post game tailgates, also via PayPal. Stay tuned and if you have not signed up, once again, you can do so on the Class of ’85 website. In addition to our 2 away game trips, we are making plans for the normal home Class of ’85 tailgates for this season and for tailgating at the Army/Navy game in Philadelphia. So, lots to look forward to this year.

I want to take a moment and congratulate everyone who has a high school or college student graduating this year as we ourselves celebrate our 33rd Anniversary of our Commencement. My oldest is graduating high school and I am a very proud father as I see him venture into the world like we did 33 very “short” years ago today.

As always, Go Navy and Beat Army!   Bob Smith ’85

Last day to order Navy/Notre Dame tickets

Posted on by
Email 30 Apr 2018

This is the last day to order Navy vs. Notre Dame Football game tickets and our Class only has a few left in our NAAA block of tickets, so if you are a procrastinating, NOW IS THE TIME!! Here is the skinny on what you need to do:

1) Go to: www.Navysports.com 

2) Click the tab for TICKETS

3) Click the tab for ORDER TICKETS ONLINE

4) Click the tab for BUY TICKETS

5) Click to tab for PROMOTION CODES

On that page, enter 1985 in the block and you will be sent to a window to buy tickets in our block for $100 each (plus a small service charge per order). If this does not work, it probably means our block is sold out. As of this morning, there was about 25 tickets left. NAAA is sold out of their allotment of seats and you will then have to buy tickets from Ticketmaster somewhere out of the Navy and Class section. Thanks for those of you who have purchased tickets and signed up so far and I hope that those who want to be part of this amazing event, can get your tickets today if you are interesting in going. Go go the Class of ’85 website to register for this game and for the Hawaii game events if you have not done so but are planning so I can have an idea of how many are attending. I will have an update soon on tickets for the Hawaii game, they have not been released by the home team yet for purchase. When I do know something, you will know it too. Thanks and here is the link for the USNA ’85 website:

http://1985.usnaclasses.net

Our numbers are growing for both events and I am really looking forward to great times ahead for the 2018 football season and USNA ’85.

Go Navy and stay tuned for more information.

Bob Smith  ’85

Navy v Notre Dame 85 Group tickets available for purchase

Posted on by
Email sent 4 Apr 2018

Greetings Class of ’85,

Now that we are on Spring Break, it will be summer soon and then, before we know it, Navy Football season! NAAA has given our Class a block of 150 tickets together for the Navy v Notre game at Qualcomm Stadium on October 27th (Time is still TBA, but I am guessing it will be an early game for those of us on the West Coast). The tickets are $100 each and located together in sections P 48-49. (There is an $8 per transaction fee added on to your order). If you want to sit with other classmates, I suggest you place one order together like those of in 16th Company did this morning. Here is the link for the NAAA Ticket Window for this game:

https://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=ND&linkID=navy&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=&_template=chocolate

Our PROMO Code is: 1985 and the group tickets are ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL April 31st, so GET ON IT. The Class block of rooms at the Westin hotel (50 rooms) is currently sold to 40 rooms, so only 10 left. If I sell out 50 rooms, I can get more, but that opportunity is fading FAST, so if you want to stay with the Class and plan on attending the game, NOW IS THE TIME! The room reservation web link is:

https://www.starwoodmeeting.com/events/start.action?id=1707110058&key=22EF9EF9

I have a contract in place with a local Brewpub near out hotel called the Quad for a pre and post game indoor tailgate and will have motor coach transportation from the Quad to and from the game. For now, I just need you to go on the USNA ’85 Class website and sign up that you are attending the game. Use the above links to reserve your room and buy your tickets and I will have more information about such events as the Friday Night Cocktail reception at our hotel, the Saturday game and tailgate and perhaps a Friday golf outing and other events related to that weekend. The Class website is:

http://1985.usnaclasses.net

Please use the links on our website to sign up for that weekend; for now though, get your rooms and tickets locked up. I will have more information in the near future with a schedule of events for the entire weekend and some additional sign ups.

If anyone is wondering about the Hawaii Game, please use the class website to sign up and get your rooms reserved. NAAA does not have tickets yet and they are controlled by the home team, so when I have that info, I will promptly pass it along. Call, text or email with questions as always: robertsmith5@att.net, C: (502) 432-6185. Go Navy and Happy Spring!!

Bob Smith ‘85