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Raiders excited to host Falcons

Air Force visit highlights Wright St., Wright-Patt connection.

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By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer 9:54 PM Tuesday, December 7, 2010

FAIRBORN — Asked about the alumni support for the Air Force Academy’s sports teams, Col. Amanda Gladney, commander of the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, didn’t hesitate.

“I’ll say it in two words,” she said. “Go Falcons.”

As one of numerous academy graduates working at the base — and, as a former four-year starting point guard and assistant coach for the academy’s women’s basketball team — Gladney will watch her alma mater up close tonight when the Air Force men’s basketball team visits Wright State at 7 p.m.

It’s a game touted as special to the area because of the proximity between Wright State and Wright-Patt. Gladney, who played for Air Force from 1984-88, said the athletes hold a significant place for any service academy.

“We are the ambassadors between the communities and our service academies,” she said. “How people rate, judge or perceive the academies sometimes has a lot to do with those athletes, and we take a lot of pride in that.”

Although this is the teams’ first meeting, the game has been discussed for some time. Richmond coach Chris Mooney talked before the Spiders faced Wright State last month about trying to schedule the Raiders while he was both an assistant coach and head coach at the academy from 2000-05.

WSU Athletic Director Bob Grant said he discussed the possible series with former coach Brad Brownell, and they agreed it would be a good idea. When coach Billy Donlon was promoted in April, Air Force came up at his and Grant’s first breakfast meeting.

Not long after, Donlon came to Grant and said he had likely locked up a two-game series.

“It just makes all kinds of sense,” Grant said.

The Falcons arrived Monday night so they could participate in a Tuesday evening dinner at the National Museum of the United States Air Force with Wright State athletics officials and Wright-Patt personnel. Donlon might have been sizing up the Falcons, who have started 5-1 after finishing 10-21 each of the past two seasons.

“I think it’s good for the community,” Donlon said. “What I’ve said all along is that we want to have games that are good for us and good for the community.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.