Army West Point Athletics
MISSION FIRST: Schretzman Family
December 01, 2015 | Football, Women's Basketball, Athletics
Since arriving at West Point in 1985, Chuck and Stacy Schretzman have become strong ambassadors of the United States Military Academy's morals.
The Schretzmans adopted United States Army values, such as personal accountability and responsibility, and have used them as the foundation for handling many of their lives' experiences, including numerous relocations around the country and around the world because of deployment, and raising their three children, Zackary, Olivia and Chloé.
Their ties to West Point began in 1985 when Chuck entered the Academy following a year at the U.S. Military Academy Prep School and Stacy enrolled as a direct-admission cadet.
Chuck was recruited to play football at West Point under Jim Young, who took over as head coach of the Black Knights' program in 1983.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Pa., Chuck was a multi-sport athlete during high school, but settled on football as his top sport. He had other college offers, but ultimately chose to enroll in the Prep School after seeing the direction the Army football program was heading.
"I wanted a challenge for myself and I wanted to play Division I football," Chuck says. "I got into the prep schools at all three service academies, but West Point seemed like it was up-and-coming. I knew at that young age that I needed discipline and I was excited to do something different. Nobody in my family was from the Army, Navy or Air Force, so I thought it was going to be a great test for me both academically and physically."
Chuck was a three-year letterwinner on the football team, starting as a defensive back before transitioning to linebacker. He was a member of the Black Knights during two postseason appearances to include the 1985 Peach Bowl win over Illinois and the 1988 Sun Bowl showing versus Alabama.
Stacy (Pahl) Schretzman was recruited to play on the Academy's basketball team by then-assistant coach Lynn Chiavaro. She was offered scholarships from other Division I schools, but it was a moment during Chiavaro's recruiting visit that tilted the scales in favor of West Point.
"During Lynn's recruiting trip, she had this book that explained what West Point was," Stacy remembers. "One of the pages read, 'At West Point, it is often said, much of the history we teach was made by the people we taught.' I remember feeling so unbelievably excited that I could be a part of something like that.
"I knew that getting offered full scholarships to other Division I programs was very special, but I figured that I can always go to college, but I can't always go to West Point."
Stacy played on the basketball team for a season and a half and earned a varsity letter before transferring to Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., in January of her sophomore year. She was a center on the 1985-86 Army team that finished 19-11 under head coach Harold Johnson and advanced to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference South Tournament championship game.
After redshirting for a season, she competed for three years at Bentley and appeared in three consecutive Division II NCAA Tournaments to include Final Fours in 1989 and 1990.
Chuck and Stacy dated as cadets and continued their relationship following Stacy's transfer to Bentley. The couple married in the summer of 1990, less than a week before Chuck was set to begin U.S. Army Ranger School.
The Army required the Schretzmans to move around a good amount while raising their young family, including stops around the United States in Georgia, Hawai'i, upstate New York and Kansas, as well international relocations to Canada and Germany, where Zack and Olivia were born.
"It's hard enough to have to grow up and be unpacking all your stuff," says Stacy, who estimates the family has moved 12 or 13 times. "Our kids had to toe the line and chip in, everybody had their role. It was a real team effort."
Along with their jobs assisting in the family's numerous moves, Zack and Olivia learned at an early age how to be accountable for their own actions.
They weren't unlike many pairs of siblings, as the two had their share of arguments growing up, but because of Chuck's career in the Army, many of the altercations came while he was deployed and away from the family for extended periods of time.
Stacy had experienced her own version of sibling rivalry during her childhood and made it a point to show zero tolerance for her children's verbal fighting, instead using the arguments as teaching moments.
"Any time they would get on each other's case and start fighting, I would put them nose-to-nose and I would have them literally within an inch of each other," Stacy remembers. "I would have them stand like that for a minute and if their eye contact broke, they would get another minute. They would have to stand nose-to-nose and tell each other, 'I love you because…' and they would have to go back and forth.
"Eventually, the tension would break and it would all diffuse into laughter, but I would not tolerate the disrespect of each other. I think that made them grow very close and it made them really forge a bond."
That bond continued into Zack and Olivia's high school and college years, where they attended Springboro High School just outside of Dayton, Ohio, and then the United States Military Academy.
Chuck and Stacy made the decision to keep the family in one location and give their children a taste of civilian life after watching them come of age with the continual changes associated with growing up in an Army household.
Chuck chose to work as a professor of military science and an ROTC commander at the University of Dayton, serving as a battalion commander in the Army, while Stacy worked for Brian Gregory, who was then the head men's basketball coach at Dayton.
"I had the opportunity to keep them in the same high school, Zack for three years and Olivia for four years, and to get grounded and be in one place," Chuck says.
Olivia, who says she enjoyed changing hometowns and learning different cultures, was grateful for the opportunity to attend the same high school, but ultimately recognized how much she appreciated the Army lifestyle.
"My dad wanted to get us to stay in one place and have us go to one high school," Olivia says. "We were in the civilian world for a little bit and I realized how much I loved the values of the Army and I knew I wanted to go to school at West Point."
In the midst of their travels, the family made it back to West Point for three-year tours in 1997 and 2011 and lived at the Academy each time.
The Schretzmans' youngest daughter, Chloé, was born at West Point during the family's first trip back and Zack and Olivia both attended the Academy during the second tour.
The second return to West Point proved bittersweet however, as almost as soon as they got settled, Chuck deployed to Afghanistan, Zack reported for training at Camp Buckner and Olivia began Cadet Basic Training, with everything happening during a period of two weeks.
Olivia played on the basketball team for four years at Army West Point and served as team captain during her junior and senior seasons. She contributed to three consecutive 20-win seasons and three straight appearances in national postseason tournaments, including the Black Knights' second trip to the Division I NCAA Tournament in 2014. Both accomplishments were firsts for the women's basketball program.
Zack kept close ties with his sister, serving as a manager on the basketball team during her freshman season and continuing to support her on and off the court for his final two years at West Point.
Stacy worked in the admissions support branch of West Point's athletic department in 2011 before moving to the Army West Point "A" Club, where she was eventually promoted to operations manager.
Chuck worked in the athletic department's team operations unit as part of his final tour at West Point before retiring from the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel following the 2013-14 academic year, concluding 26 years of military service.
Zack graduated from West Point in 2014 and is currently stationed as a second lieutenant in Ft. Carson, Colo. Olivia graduated with the Class of 2015 and is beginning her Army career in Ft. Campbell, Ky., and Chloé recently entered her sophomore year of high school.
With their two oldest children now in the early stages of their respective Army careers as second lieutenants and their youngest in the midst of her high school years, Chuck and Stacy know how important the Army has been – not only to themselves, but now to their entire family.
Chuck recalls his days on the Army football team when summarizing the opportunities afforded to him and his family by the Army.
"I got a chance to be a part of a great culture with Army Football," Chuck shares. "On the football team, we believed we could win every week and that's the attitude you have to have in the Army. We believed in each other, we believed in the program and we believed we could succeed in the most difficult situations. That's the lesson I took out into the Army and it meshes well with what Army athletics is about.
"There are so many times in athletics when you get frustrated, but if you stay with it and give 100 percent, you are a champion. To me, the most important lesson I can pass down to my kids is getting after it and giving 100 percent because, if you stay with it, you'll reach your goals."
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The Schretzmans adopted United States Army values, such as personal accountability and responsibility, and have used them as the foundation for handling many of their lives' experiences, including numerous relocations around the country and around the world because of deployment, and raising their three children, Zackary, Olivia and Chloé.
Their ties to West Point began in 1985 when Chuck entered the Academy following a year at the U.S. Military Academy Prep School and Stacy enrolled as a direct-admission cadet.
Chuck was recruited to play football at West Point under Jim Young, who took over as head coach of the Black Knights' program in 1983.
Growing up in Philadelphia, Pa., Chuck was a multi-sport athlete during high school, but settled on football as his top sport. He had other college offers, but ultimately chose to enroll in the Prep School after seeing the direction the Army football program was heading.
"I wanted a challenge for myself and I wanted to play Division I football," Chuck says. "I got into the prep schools at all three service academies, but West Point seemed like it was up-and-coming. I knew at that young age that I needed discipline and I was excited to do something different. Nobody in my family was from the Army, Navy or Air Force, so I thought it was going to be a great test for me both academically and physically."
Chuck was a three-year letterwinner on the football team, starting as a defensive back before transitioning to linebacker. He was a member of the Black Knights during two postseason appearances to include the 1985 Peach Bowl win over Illinois and the 1988 Sun Bowl showing versus Alabama.
Stacy (Pahl) Schretzman was recruited to play on the Academy's basketball team by then-assistant coach Lynn Chiavaro. She was offered scholarships from other Division I schools, but it was a moment during Chiavaro's recruiting visit that tilted the scales in favor of West Point.
"During Lynn's recruiting trip, she had this book that explained what West Point was," Stacy remembers. "One of the pages read, 'At West Point, it is often said, much of the history we teach was made by the people we taught.' I remember feeling so unbelievably excited that I could be a part of something like that.
"I knew that getting offered full scholarships to other Division I programs was very special, but I figured that I can always go to college, but I can't always go to West Point."
Stacy played on the basketball team for a season and a half and earned a varsity letter before transferring to Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., in January of her sophomore year. She was a center on the 1985-86 Army team that finished 19-11 under head coach Harold Johnson and advanced to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference South Tournament championship game.
After redshirting for a season, she competed for three years at Bentley and appeared in three consecutive Division II NCAA Tournaments to include Final Fours in 1989 and 1990.
Chuck and Stacy dated as cadets and continued their relationship following Stacy's transfer to Bentley. The couple married in the summer of 1990, less than a week before Chuck was set to begin U.S. Army Ranger School.
The Army required the Schretzmans to move around a good amount while raising their young family, including stops around the United States in Georgia, Hawai'i, upstate New York and Kansas, as well international relocations to Canada and Germany, where Zack and Olivia were born.
"It's hard enough to have to grow up and be unpacking all your stuff," says Stacy, who estimates the family has moved 12 or 13 times. "Our kids had to toe the line and chip in, everybody had their role. It was a real team effort."
Along with their jobs assisting in the family's numerous moves, Zack and Olivia learned at an early age how to be accountable for their own actions.
They weren't unlike many pairs of siblings, as the two had their share of arguments growing up, but because of Chuck's career in the Army, many of the altercations came while he was deployed and away from the family for extended periods of time.
Stacy had experienced her own version of sibling rivalry during her childhood and made it a point to show zero tolerance for her children's verbal fighting, instead using the arguments as teaching moments.
"Any time they would get on each other's case and start fighting, I would put them nose-to-nose and I would have them literally within an inch of each other," Stacy remembers. "I would have them stand like that for a minute and if their eye contact broke, they would get another minute. They would have to stand nose-to-nose and tell each other, 'I love you because…' and they would have to go back and forth.
"Eventually, the tension would break and it would all diffuse into laughter, but I would not tolerate the disrespect of each other. I think that made them grow very close and it made them really forge a bond."
That bond continued into Zack and Olivia's high school and college years, where they attended Springboro High School just outside of Dayton, Ohio, and then the United States Military Academy.
Chuck and Stacy made the decision to keep the family in one location and give their children a taste of civilian life after watching them come of age with the continual changes associated with growing up in an Army household.
Chuck chose to work as a professor of military science and an ROTC commander at the University of Dayton, serving as a battalion commander in the Army, while Stacy worked for Brian Gregory, who was then the head men's basketball coach at Dayton.
"I had the opportunity to keep them in the same high school, Zack for three years and Olivia for four years, and to get grounded and be in one place," Chuck says.
Olivia, who says she enjoyed changing hometowns and learning different cultures, was grateful for the opportunity to attend the same high school, but ultimately recognized how much she appreciated the Army lifestyle.
"My dad wanted to get us to stay in one place and have us go to one high school," Olivia says. "We were in the civilian world for a little bit and I realized how much I loved the values of the Army and I knew I wanted to go to school at West Point."
In the midst of their travels, the family made it back to West Point for three-year tours in 1997 and 2011 and lived at the Academy each time.
The Schretzmans' youngest daughter, Chloé, was born at West Point during the family's first trip back and Zack and Olivia both attended the Academy during the second tour.
The second return to West Point proved bittersweet however, as almost as soon as they got settled, Chuck deployed to Afghanistan, Zack reported for training at Camp Buckner and Olivia began Cadet Basic Training, with everything happening during a period of two weeks.
Olivia played on the basketball team for four years at Army West Point and served as team captain during her junior and senior seasons. She contributed to three consecutive 20-win seasons and three straight appearances in national postseason tournaments, including the Black Knights' second trip to the Division I NCAA Tournament in 2014. Both accomplishments were firsts for the women's basketball program.
Zack kept close ties with his sister, serving as a manager on the basketball team during her freshman season and continuing to support her on and off the court for his final two years at West Point.
Stacy worked in the admissions support branch of West Point's athletic department in 2011 before moving to the Army West Point "A" Club, where she was eventually promoted to operations manager.
Chuck worked in the athletic department's team operations unit as part of his final tour at West Point before retiring from the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel following the 2013-14 academic year, concluding 26 years of military service.
Zack graduated from West Point in 2014 and is currently stationed as a second lieutenant in Ft. Carson, Colo. Olivia graduated with the Class of 2015 and is beginning her Army career in Ft. Campbell, Ky., and Chloé recently entered her sophomore year of high school.
With their two oldest children now in the early stages of their respective Army careers as second lieutenants and their youngest in the midst of her high school years, Chuck and Stacy know how important the Army has been – not only to themselves, but now to their entire family.
Chuck recalls his days on the Army football team when summarizing the opportunities afforded to him and his family by the Army.
"I got a chance to be a part of a great culture with Army Football," Chuck shares. "On the football team, we believed we could win every week and that's the attitude you have to have in the Army. We believed in each other, we believed in the program and we believed we could succeed in the most difficult situations. That's the lesson I took out into the Army and it meshes well with what Army athletics is about.
"There are so many times in athletics when you get frustrated, but if you stay with it and give 100 percent, you are a champion. To me, the most important lesson I can pass down to my kids is getting after it and giving 100 percent because, if you stay with it, you'll reach your goals."
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