Today in History with Chuck: Remembering Lieutenant Colonel Tony Stremic, 1952 Cheltenham grad and football/wrestling All-American
Local historian Chuck Langerman shared today that Lieutenant Colonel Anthony “Tony” Stremic, a Glenside native and 1952 Cheltenham High School graduate, is considered one of the greatest two-sport athletes to come out of Wyncote.
Langerman shared Stremic’s memory as Saturday, December 13 is the 126th renewal of the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore.
After graduation, Stremic prepped at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania, before matriculating at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He participated in both wrestling and football at the Academy.
Wrestling at 191 pounds, Stremic came within a whisker of winning an NCAA Division I wrestling championship in 1957. In the 191-pound final, he lost to the University of Pittsburgh’s Ron Schirf by the slimmest of margins. He and Schirf wrestled to a draw through two overtime periods, and Schirf was declared the winner on a controversial 2-1 split referees’ decision.
Anthony William Stremic
On the gridiron, Stremic was an Honorable Mention All-American at the guard position, leading the Midshipmen to a (8-1-1) record in 1957 and an invite to the January 1, 1958 Cotton Bowl game against Rice University. Before a crowd of 75,500, Navy defeated Rice, 20-7, on New Year’s Day, and Stremic was named Cotton Bowl MVP. Navy finished ranked fifth in the nation for the 1957 college football season.
Stremic graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1958 with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering in the top 10% of his class. At his graduation, he was selected as the top athlete in the Naval Academy’s senior class. He also attended the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1966.
Upon retirement from the Marine Corps, Stremic was a program manager and professional services consultant in Weapons Systems Acquisition and Information Systems for several firms in the Northern Virginia area until full retirement in 2002.
His military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, and Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation Gallantry Cross.
Years later, Lieutenant Colonel Stremic was inducted into the Naval Academy Athletic Hall of Fame for both football and wrestling.
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