Dick Schwartz enjoys time on academy selection committee
Sports reporter
Dick Schwartz was thrilled Marion High School student Hank Collett recently was accepted by the United Sates Military Academy at West Point.
The Marion resident actually knew before the high school senior did.
As part of the Kansas Academy Selection Committee for West Point, Schwartz and 15 other members helped nominate Collett for the honor.
But Schwartz wants it to be known he wasn't the only one on the committee impressed with Collett.
"I wouldn't have supported him like I did if I didn't think he deserved it," Scwartz said.
Collett went on to become Congressman Jerry Moran's top nominee in the state, and was accepted in December by the academy.
But this wasn't a one time deal for Schwartz.
A veteran by the time he saw Collett, Schwartz was taking part in his fourth committee selection process.
The committee
After 30 years in the Marine Corps and retiring as a full colonel, Schwartz knows just a little about how the United States Army works.
Moran noticed that after the two were introduced a few years ago.
This past summer Moran came to a Marion Kiwanis Club meeting Schwartz was attending.
When Moran motioned for Schwartz to come talk to him, he knew what was coming.
"He asked me if I had the fall open," Schwartz said.
After having been on the committee three times before, Schwartz knew what that question meant.
He had planned to watch some grandchildren play high school football in Virginia, but Moran told him the committee would meet in late fall.
Schwartz figured if he could do both, he was in.
"I was honored he asked me to do it," Scwartz said. "It's a learning experience, and I would do it every time he asked me."
The committee consists of 16 Kansas residents and is made up of retired military people, educators, businessmen and women, and others.
Schwartz likes having a mix of backgrounds on the panel, and feels it needs to be that way.
When the 16 screen the candidates, he feels it's good for experts in different fields to talk to the candidates.
Everyone who applies for the Army (as well as the Naval Academy, Merchant Marines, and Air Force) has a different personality and background.
"We get to see all kind of different characters," Schwartz said.
Seeing the high school students striving for success makes Schwartz proud, but he knows the military is not for everyone.
"It's great to see young adults who do something with their lives," Schwartz said. "But are they well-rounded, will they make a contribution?"
That is where Schwartz and the others on the committee come in to decide if the student's academic, athletic, and activity successes, and overall well-roundedness, are enough to make them a part of the United States Military.
So while Schwartz thought it was great for a Marion student to walk the halls of The Academy, he thinks it is even better Collett earned it by impressing more than just him.
"There was some pressure on me," Schwartz said. "But he came well-prepared."
In the end, that worked out for the both of them.
