By Jim Hanchett '53
Cornell Football Association Historian
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A man who built a distinguished career leading tough men, Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John M. (Jay) Paxton Jr. 'B.S., '73, M. Eng '74, will join a notable array of mentors at the Cornell Football Association's fifth annual Career Day at Schoellkopf this spring.
Gen. Paxton is Director for Operations, J-3, of the Joint Staff, which assists the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in accomplishing his mission.
He was previously Chief of Staff for Multinational Force Iraq in Baghdad and, before that, commanding general of the First Marine Division.
A member of Cornell's 1969 freshman and 1970 varsity football teams, he also learned enough lacrosse at Cornell to play midfield and defense with the '71 national champs, says coach Richie Moran. Paxton is listed in the 1970 football program as a defensive back, wearing number 15, and standing 6-2 and 175 pounds, from Broomall, Pa.
Many of "the good things you do with the Marines you might have learned playing football and lacrosse on Schoellkopf," he says.
CFA chairman John Morehouse, a starting defensive back on the '70 team, vividly recalls the future general as "one of those who came to practice every day and did whatever he was asked. I don't think he played a lot, but that was not what it was about. It was whatever he could do to help the team, the team and the team." (Reminiscent of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's ringing farewell address to the West Point Corps of Cadets on May 12, 1962, concluding with "When I cross the river, my last conscious thoughts will be of the Corps, and the Corps, and the Corps.")
Paxton's career as Leatherneck infantryman has taken him to Bosnia, Somalia, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, command school and Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institute, among numerous duties, commanding Marines at every level from platoon through division in all three active Marine divisions.
One stop on his way up the chain of command was heading the Marine Corps Recruiting Station New York. The Big City looks great, he says, particularly compared to lots of places where the Marines have sent him.
His Delta Upsilon brothers of yore, like Mark Clemente '73, remember him from his days as president of the DU pledge class and later house president. The brothers were prescient, says Mr. Wheels. "He had a military haircut and we all called him General even then." Some amended that to "General Rughead," in view of the buzz cut he preferred to shoulder length hair in an era of flower power and flowing locks. Brother John Moresko says word around D.U. was that Paxton joined the Corps "so he could let his hair grow longer." It was indeed unusual for students of that time, but, Moresko adds, Paxton was definitely squared away to say the least. And all the house -- and his teammates -- loved him, says Clemente.
Paxton's roommate, Malcolm McLaren, captain of the lightweight football team, who will also participate in Career Day 2010, says the future general was "the ultimate good guy, a nice guy who was made to be a Marine." He "was also a neatness freak. We roommates were not." McLaren tells of Paxton leaving aftershave and such toiletries always in the exact same spot on his dresser. When he was away, his roommates might rearrange them. The next time they looked, everything would be back in its original, exact, assigned spot.
Nothing was ever said about the pranks.
His brothers agree that Paxton was neat and organized but never angry or belligerent about anything, certainly not the games his brothers might play.
The result was that "he made you feel better about yourself."
Paxton, we're told, could study his civil engineering courses "for hours and hours and hours" and take such complete notes that his fellow C.E.s didn't have to take any. They just borrowed his." They were so complete that they probably could be used to make a textbook," says McLaren.
Paxton went on to take an engineering masters degree and in that time grew long hair and a beard. That didn't last too long.
Then one day he told McLaren, "You know, I'm not sure I'm good at engineering. Maybe I'll join the Marines and see what happens." What indeed.
"Nobody believed him," says McLaren, but he went through Officers Candidate School (OCS) and the next thing everyone knew, he had gone to jump school at Fort Benning, followed by command of a rifle platoon at Kaneohe, Hawaii.
When Paxton earned his first star, says McLaren, "It made me think the country is in good hands."
Bob Lally '74 did not know him well at Cornell but many years later, in 2002, when his son Rob was applying to the Naval Academy, Bob reached out to the general for guidance. "Jay had just come back from Afghanistan," Lally recalls. "A few months earlier he was in the Pentagon and was one of the first people on the scene after the September 11 terrorist attack. He had the pressure of war and of all the human tragedy that comes with his position. However, Jay pulled out all the stops for his fellow Cornellian. He invited us to the Pentagon, where one could not help but be very impressed how beloved he was by the Marines who worked for him. He set up a meeting with the USNA commandant, his friend, where we were also introduced to the midshipmen at lunch. The Lallys will never forget his kindness and we will be forever indebted to him."
Clemente recalled a meeting between Paxton, then commanding the Second Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif., with a former sprint football player, Scott Bielicki '94, then on duty at Pendleton. Terry Cullen asked Paxton to contact Bielicki and he did. When the general, unexpectedly, showed up where Bielicki was working, he had a fairly tough question: "Terry Cullen tells me you were a real pussycat on the field. Is that right?"
Bielicki wasn't shook. He took the question in the good-natured spirit intended and shared some laughs with his fellow Cornell alum. They became fast friends. Bielicki is now an attorney in the District of Columbia area.
The general was interested to learn about Marine Jerome P. Rizzo, "the energetic Lt. Col. and former coach at Navy who is with the NROTC unit on campus" and helping Jim Knowles and his staff help develop leaders for a tougher Big Red team. Rizzo is the Executive Director of the Cornell NROTC. Gen. Paxton likes his ideas.
DU brother Randy Shayler recalls a reunion back on the Hill. How's business, Paxton was asked. "Booming," he replied.
