UPDATED: Parachute team to jump tonight in West Milford
REGION. Jumps by the West Point Military Academy Black Knights that were planned in Vernon and Jefferson later were canceled.
| 13 Sep 2024 | 09:14
The West Point Military Academy Black Knights Parachute Team is scheduled to jump Friday, Sept. 13 at the West Milford High School football game. (Photo provided)
The West Point Military Academy Black Knights Parachute Team will be jumping at two, rather than four, area high school football games this season.
The jumps are part of a Friday Night Lights event honoring participating school’s alumni and hometown veterans.
Jumps that had been scheduled at Vernon Township High School on Sept. 6 and at Jefferson on Oct. 4 were canceled.
The parachutists are scheduled to jump at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13 at West Milford High School, 67 Highlander Drive. The Highlanders will play Dover that night.
The team also plans to jump at Pompton Lakes High School field at Hershfield Park off Ramapo Avenue at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28. The Cardinals will play the Manchester Regional High School Falcons of Haledon that day.
Ties to the team
In the early 1960s, Carol Worden of Pequannock graduated from Butler High School, which served students from several towns.
She met and married Frederick Terry, who was one of the three cadets who started the parachute team at West Point. Many of their dates involved Worden watching Terry practicing his jumps. After he graduated from the military academy, the couple settled in Pequannock.
In 1968, Terry was killed in action in Vietnam.
Worden has continued a relationship with the Golden Knights Parachute Team. She now lives in central Pennsylvania but still attends many of the Friday Night jumps.
In the fall of 2019, the parachute team jumped on the Butler High School sports field before a Bulldogs home game. The jump was part of a ceremony to honor the 106 alumni who were killed in action or died in service.
After the pandemic, the team jumped at Pequannock High School in 2021, at Jefferson in 2022 and at Kinnelon in 2023.The team also was scheduled to jump at West Milford last year but that was canceled because of the weather.
The mission of the West Point Parachute Team is to educate, train and inspire cadets to develop leadership skills and build self-confidence. In 2022, the team earned 32 medals at the National Colligate Parachuting Championships.