BON VOYAGE

MEL TUBLIN ’49 KP

At the opening of the Football section of the ’58 MIDSHIPS Yearbook reads

the following:

The year 1958 will always be remembered by Kings Pointers as the birth of a
“new era” of sports here at the Academy. With the Alumni Association
providing the impetus, the sports program was revamped in an attempt to field
athletic teams which would represent the Academy in the true tradition of the
Merchant Marine. (Emphasis added)

The “new era” was the product of Mel Tublin’s efforts, as President of the USMMA

Alumni Association. The ’57 football season ended with Kings Point not winning a

single football game in three years. KP football became the laughing stock of the

collegiate sports.

Mel Tublin fixed that picture. He persuaded the Alumni Association to hire

Coach Harry “The Horse” Wright, a former All-American at Notre Dame, to leave

the University of Georgia as an assistant coach, relocate his family to Great Neck

and convert KP football into a winning program. Coach Wright’s first season (5wins,

4losses) began an unbroken string of KP winning seasons, boosted Academy morale

and, most importantly, inaugurated the “split-sea” year program which permitted

football, basketball and soccer cadet-players to participate in team sports, without

1
the debilitating interruption of the year-long sea year. Today, the entire regiment

sails on a split sea-year schedule.

We were very fortunate to have witnessed this remarkable renaissance as

members of the Class of ’61. We no longer wonder why Mel Tublin and Athletic

Director Jim Libertz earnestly watched Coach Wright shaped us into a competitive,

winning team at practice and game time. With Mel’s passing we witnessed what

impact the Alumni Association can have on Academy education and a marvelous

example of Acta Non Verba, demonstrated by Mel Tublin, Class of ’49. Bon

Yoyage: Mel Tublin

Joe Ryan ’61 KP