Fordham Superbowl Flyover

Superbowl Heads Up

Had you looked up on Superbowl Sunday, you would have seen a Fordham alumnus. Lt. Col. Bernard J. Harrington, Gabelli ’97, was commanding officer of the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment. He led a flight of nine helicopters on their flyover of MetLife Stadium just as the national anthem was ending. 

Three AH-64D Apache Helicopters on a Practice Flight over MetLife Stadium

Jennifer Brizzolara Harrington
and Bernard J.Harrington

Harrington, an Apache helicopter pilot, commanded three Apache, three Blackhawk, and three Chinook helicopters during the flyover. He is part of a contingent of soldiers from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

"It's an incredible honor to lead a team of professional, selfless soldiers and represent our armed forces during Super Bowl XLVIII," Harrington said. "Like so many military officers serving today, I feel that my Fordham experience, particularly being a member of the Pershing Rifles, provided me an outstanding foundation to serve in today's military. I was also blessed to meet my wife, Jennifer, at Fordham. She has always been the most important part of my life since leaving Rose Hill."

Harrington and his wife, Jennifer Brizzolara Harrington, FCRH ’97, live in Fort Campbell. Bernard Harrington is from Rego Park, New York, and was commissioned from the ROTC Battalion at Fordham, where he was a member of the Pershing Rifles drill team. He is a graduate of Xavier High School, in Manhattan.

Jennifer Harrington is from Wilmington, Delaware. She graduated from Fordham with a degree in anthropology, is currently raising their 3-year-old son, Jeremy, at home. Both her father and sister attended Fordham.

An Apache Helicopter from Harrington's Command
Flies Past the Freedom Tower in Lower Manhattan on a Practice Flight

Bernard Harrington and Jennifer Brizzolara at Commencement, Rose Hill 1997

—Bob Howe

Army Veteran Bobbie Scroggin is Fordham's Boxing Philosopher

Scroggin took classes at all three of Fordham's New York campuses to get her degree.
(Photo:Tom Stoelker)

Bobbie Scroggin, PCS '12, is a veteran, a boxer, a mom, and philosopher—though not necessarily in that order.

After Scroggin left the U.S. Army, she had a two children, a girl in 2006 and a boy in 2007. Two years later she accepted a full-time position as administrative assistant at U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She filled what little spare time she had coaching the academy's women's boxing team.

When asked how she managed it all, she claims she had a doppelganger.

Eventually, Scroggin realized that she needed to shift the focus back to herself and her family. She began taking classes at Fordham's School of Professional and Continuing Studies, and thus began an unexpected philosophical journey.

For Scroggin, Fordham offered a combination of location and well organized scheduling that allowed her to, in some cases, "knock out a whole class over five Saturday sessions." For a single mom of two, PCS's flexibility proved invaluable.

What she didn't expect, however, was that the core curriculum requirement of two theology courses and two philosophy courses would alter the course of her studies and change her manner of thinking. 

"I was like, 'Aww, do I really have to take philosophy?'" she recalled. "But in the end I was really glad, and now that's my major at Columbia."

Since graduating from PCS with a bachelor's degree in organizational leadership, Scroggin has gone on to pursue a master's degree in philosophy and education at Columbia University's Teachers College. She expects to graduate next year.

Given her experience living in Afghanistan, Germany, Hawaii, and her native California, Scroggin had a natural inclination to process events philosophically, but it wasn't  until she came to Fordham that she embraced it as a discipline. She said her studies have informed her dating life, her work life, and her life as a mom.

"I subconsciously teach my kids philosophy, logic, and reasoning," she said, joking that it has caused occasional discord.

"Now when my kids are arguing with me, they always ask me ‘Why?,’ or 'What if you did it this way?'"

She said that at West Point, her colleagues sometimes need to remind her that she's in the U.S. Army and the modus operandi there is to take orders.

"I always ask why, and my colleagues say, 'Come on, we're the Army--we just do!'"

--Tom Stoelker

Alumni Chaplain’s Leap of Faith

On May 5, 2011, Alumni Chaplain Daniel J. Gatti, S.J., performed his first parachute jump—at age 69—with the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights Parachute Team at the Joint Base in Lakehurst, N.J. (if the name sounds familiar, it’s because it is the crash site of the Hindenburg).

See the Video
(Added June 15, 2011)

Father Gatti was in Lakehurst as a friend of Xavier High School, whose X-Squad Drill Team was performing at the three-day Army-sponsored event. His thoughts on the jump are below.


From my perspective as a Jesuit, I somewhat jokingly call my tandem jump a “leap of faith.” And so it was. Not, however, in the theological sense of a movement to belief in God, but in the basic sense of trust; trust in the U.S. Army, its plane, its equipment and its personnel; trust that all elements would work together for a successful jump!


How did I feel about doing this? I felt euphoric, extremely happy to be able to do something exciting I had never done before. Once in the plane and ascending to 13,000 feet, I had the sense that “this is it; the time has arrived; no thought of changing my mind now.” I had willingly boarded this plane; I will willingly tandem jump from this plane and “return to earth.”


The initial free fall lasted about 60 seconds and the two of us were falling at 120 miles per hour. With our arms and legs now extended, my partially exposed face felt like it was about to freeze. My Army instructor and Golden Knight, Greg, then pulled the chute and we quickly came to a sudden but not jolting stop. In reality we were still descending, but for a moment the sensation was that of absolute stillness, with a blue sky all around us, and a familiar terra firma beneath us. To the northeast I could see the skyline of New York some 85 miles away, and to the east the New Jersey coast and the expansive Atlantic Ocean beyond. All was simply beautiful.


Our full descent took a few minutes more, with only sounds of wind gushing through and around our chute to accompany us. Then with land seemingly rising up to meet us, we made our approach to the target area and made our landing—not as soft as I would have liked, since I jammed my knees, but a welcomed landing none the less. Greg later described it as “a little bumpy.”


Certainly it was an experience making one feel fully alive! Yes, given the opportunity, I would be willing to jump again. Certainly it was the highlight of my two days at the event. But what impressed me most was the caliber of the Army personnel I met. Not for nothing is their current motto Army Strong! These are men and women battle tested and mission ready; confident, fit, crystal clear in eye and in speech, exuding an admirable strength of character for which all Americans can be extremely proud.

—Daniel J. Gatti, S.J., FCRH '65, GSE '66, '96
Alumni Chaplain