CLAIM: President Joe Biden, during his commencement speech at the United States Military Academy at West Point, claimed he turned down an offer to play football at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Verdict: False.
Biden had previously delivered a different version of this argument to graduating students at the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Military Academy. Air Force Academy In Colorado.
In his allegations, Biden said he applied to the Naval Academy to play football. He was appointed to the academy in 1965 by former Delaware Sen. J. Caleb Boggs (R-Delaware). However, the president graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965, making it unlikely he applied to attend the Naval Academy at that time.
Biden continues to maintain that he turned down the offer because he learned that NFL Heisman Trophy winner Joe Bellino and Staubach played on the U.S. Naval Academy football team at the time.
Another problem with this claim is that Staubach graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1964, while Bellino graduated in 1961, Fox News reported. report.
“I was one of 10, and I wanted to play football,” Biden told the graduates, “and on the day I was supposed to go in for my interview, my classmate, Steve Dunning, who was also one of the 10 to be selected, came to pick me up.”
Biden told the West Point graduating class that he had been “appointed” to the Naval Academy, where he “wanted to play football.”
He has repeated this lie many times before, but there is still no record of it ever actually happening. pic.twitter.com/JxLC1EG9fO
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 25, 2024
Biden continued: “I found out two days ago that they have a quarterback named Roger Staubach and a halfback named Joe Bellino. I said, ‘Oh, I’m not going there,’ and I went to Delaware. No joke.”
In high school, Biden Played He played football at Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware. graduated He graduated from Catholic University Preparatory School in 1961.
Yahoo Sports report:
Biden emerged as one of the state’s best players during his senior year, scoring 10 touchdowns in eight games and scoring 60 points on the season, which ranked third in the entire state of Delaware.
Biden claims he was appointed to the Naval Academy, and that he once drove an 18-wheeler truck and was arrested during the civil rights movement. beginning A family member attends college.
