FURMAN PRESIDENT PRAISES CITADEL PRESIDENT ON EVE OF BIG GAME

By David E. Shi

Furman University President

Furman and The Citadel are playing an important football game on Saturday. For over a hundred years, the two schools have nurtured an intense athletic rivalry. The intensity of the rivalry makes it hard for a Furman man to praise a Citadel man. Yet I want to do just that.

Last April The Citadel inaugurated its nineteenth president, Lt. General John Rosa. The state's military college could not be in better hands. You see, I know John Rosa. When he was a Citadel cadet playing quarterback for the Bulldogs in the early 1970s, I was playing defense for the Furman Paladins. He was a terrific athlete and field general. And he went on to become one of the Air Force’s highest ranking and most widely respected officers.

During his presidential inauguration address at The Citadel last spring, John told the large crowd of students, alumni, and friends that "the hottest fire forges the strongest steel." He was referring to his alma mater's widely publicized struggles to maintain proud traditions while accepting women into the Corps of Cadets. Although the challenges of coeducation had been difficult and not always wisely handled, Rosa said, the storied military school on the banks of the Ashley River had emerged stronger from the heat of controversy and adversity.

The quotation also serves as a metaphor for John Rosa, who himself has been tested by fire. The only son of a meticulous, disciplined Navy chief petty officer, Rosa grew up near Jacksonville, Florida, and channeled much of his teenage energy into sports. A standout baseball player, Rosa also quarterbacked his overachieving high school football team to the playoffs his senior year.

His gridiron exploits earned him a scholarship to The Citadel. Like all freshmen (known as knobs at the military college), Rosa struggled through the rigors of first-year life, including hazing, "hell week" and assorted drills and requirements. On several occasions he and his roommate thought seriously about withdrawing from school.

Before leaving campus for both Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, Rosa packed his belongings and walked through the wrought iron gates, determined never to return. But he did. And as the months passed, Rosa learned to see the benefits of the demanding life in the Corp of Cadets.

By his sophomore year, Rosa had earned a starting role as the Bulldogs quarterback. In 1970, he led a young team to a 5-6 record. Expectations for the football team were high for Rosa's junior year before he broke his leg during the spring game. Although he returned to the team after a long rehabilitation, he never regained his starting role. That same year, I, too, suffered a season-ending injury.

After graduating in 1973, Rosa joined the U.S. Air Force. In a military career spanning nearly three decades, he rose to the rank of Lt. General, commanded military bases and units across the globe, logged 3,600 hours in the air and completed two assignments at the Pentagon.

In 2003, Rose was appointed superintendent of the Air Force Academy, which was then reeling from allegations of religious intolerance and sexual assaults. Amid the chaos of controversy, Rosa took charge and announced that he would transform the academy's culture and rebuild its tarnished image.

An editorial in The Denver Post applauded the new superintendent's leadership: "Rosa's buck-stops-here attitude has been refreshing through the unexpected turmoil over religious intolerance, especially given society’s current climate for scapegoating. If the culture at the academy is going to change, it must start at the top."

During a tumultuous two years, Superintendent Rosa made sweeping changes at the service academy, overhauling programs and launching an officer development system that highlighted the importance of honor, character, respect and tolerance.

With his mission accomplished, Rosa retired from the Air Force in 2005 and soon thereafter was named The Citadel's 19th president. After moving 24 times during a 34-year marriage, Rosa and his wife Donna, a Charleston native, have put down roots in the Holy City.

"Change," John Rosa said in his inauguration speech, "has, and will, make us stronger." Those should be words of assurance to the supporters of The Citadel. Every college must harness the energies of change. The Military College of South Carolina is in the hands of a hero who can do just that. My only hope is that President Rosa will not change the tradition of Furman defeating the Bulldogs’ athletic teams.