Black Lions and Purple Cats

The Army's 28th Infantry Regiment, the Black Lions, sponsors an award to football players. The award is given to a player who shows "an unselfish concern for the team ahead of himself." Ian Campbell of K-State was given the award and will wear the 28th Infantry's unit patch on his jersey this year. Campbell is the first college player not from West Point to receive the award (the 1st Battalion of the 28th Infantry is based at nearby Ft. Riley, Kansas as part of the 1st Infantry Division).

The Black Lion award is given in honor of Don Holleder, a star football player at West Point who was later killed in Vietnam. Holleder gave up his role as an All-American end, to move to a non-passing quarterback role for the good of the team. West Point went 7-1-1 and beat Navy that year. Though drafted by the Giants, Holleder chose to stay in the Army which eventually led to his death years later in Vietnam.

The battle in which Holleder was killed is documented in the book They Marched Into Sunlight, by David Maraniss. The book will be turned into a movie produced by Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass (Bourne Identity, United 93) due out sometime next year.

Tom Hanks is also executive producer of the sequel to Band of Brothers (2001), called The Pacific. Production on the mini series started last month and is slated to air on HBO in 2009.