Top 10 Army Football Players of All Time

There was a time in college football history when the most dominant program in the country resided in West Point, New York — home of the Army football program. 

Army won three consecutive national championships from 1944 to 1946 and produced three Heisman Trophy winners from 1945 to 1958 — just one Heisman Trophy behind the nation’s current dynasty college football program at the University of Alabama. 

Army’s football program is about much more than those long-ago championships, with a history of great players and patriots that can only be matched by its fellow Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy pursuers at the Naval Academy and Air Force Academy. 

These are the 10 greatest Army football players of all time. 

Born: Oct. 25, 1932 (Newark, New Jersey)

Died: June 26, 2014, 81 years old (Orinda, California)

High School: Union High School (Union Township, New Jersey)

Years: 1950-53

Position: Offensive Line/Defensive Line

Career highlights: Two-time All-AFL Team (1960, 1961), two-time AFL All-Star (1961, 1962)

Bottom line: Bob Mischak is responsible for perhaps the single-greatest play in Army history — made during his senior year at Army under the watchful eye of assistant coach Vince Lombardi. Leading Duke 14-13 in a game in October 1953 at Polo Grounds in New York City, Mischak chased down Duke running back Red Smith on a double reverse that would have been a 73-yard touchdown run … instead dragging Smith down at the 1-yard line.

Army’s defense held at the goal line, and it saved the win, which was famously chronicled in Lombardi’s biography, “When Pride Still Mattered,” by David Maraniss. Mischak went on to play seven seasons in the NFL and AFL, where he was a two-time All-AFL pick. 

After his playing career was over, Mischak won three Super Bowls as a tight ends coach for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. He died in 2014 at 81 years old. 

Born: May 1, 1905 (Merryville, Louisiana)

Died: Dec. 26, 1942, 37 years old (New York, New York)

High School: Merryville High School (Merryville, Louisiana)

Years: 1926-29

Position: Halfback/Quarterback

Career highlights: Three-time AP All-American (1927-29)

Bottom line: Christian ‘Red’ Cagle — also known as “The Red Thunderbolt of West Point” — had one of the more interesting college careers we’ve ever come across. 

That’s because Cagle played eight years of college football. First, he was a three-sport star at the University of Louisiana in football, basketball and track and field from 1922 to 1925 before playing four years at Army, where he was a three-time All-American who was so good he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine as a senior. 

Cagle’s time at Army ended in scandal — he was forced to resign from West Point after it was discovered he married in secret in 1928. He was a star player for the NFL’s New York Giants, briefly owned the NFL’s Brooklyn Dodgers in the mid-1930s and also founded the New York Touchdown Club. 

Cagle died under mysterious circumstances in 1942, at just 37 years old, when he was found unconscious and with a fractured skull at the bottom of the stairs of a Manhattan subway staircase. 

Born: April 10, 1988 (Houston, Texas)

High School: Clear Lake High School (Houston, Texas)

Years: 2007-10

Position: Linebacker

Career highlights: Armed Forces Bowl champion (2010), Burlsworth Trophy finalist (2010), Lott IMPACT Trophy semifinalist (2010), East-West Shrine Game Pat Tillman Award (2011)

Bottom line: Josh McNary went from an undersized, dominant defensive lineman at Clear Lake High in Houston, Texas, to an undersized, dominant defensive lineman at Army. At just 6-foot and 251 pounds, McNary finished his career at Army as the program’s career sacks leader and career tackles for loss leader along with records for most sacks in single game and most sacks in a single season — a record that stood until defensive end Andre Carter II broke it in 2021. 

After going undrafted in 2011, McNary served two years of active service duty before signing as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts in 2013 and playing in the NFL for four seasons. 

Born: June 2, 2000 (Missouri City, Texas)

High School: Cheshire Academy (Cheshire, Connecticut)

Years: 2020-present

Position: Defensive End

Career highlights: AP All-American (2021)

Bottom line: We can just believe what our eyes tell us when it comes to Andre Carter II — the only current Army player to make the list. Carter, 6-foot-7 and 260 pounds, was second in the nation with 15.5 sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles as a junior in 2021 and became Army’s first AP All-American since 1990. 

Carter only had 3.0 sacks in 2022 headed into the annual Army-Navy game after missing three games with a concussion and facing constant double teams or teams just going entirely away from him. What we’re curious about is Carter’s future because he seems like he could be a first-round pick in the NFL Draft.