The passage of nearly 30 years has done little to dim the memories Cal Esleek (marketing '66) has of his former Virginia Tech classmate and fellow Marine Corps officer Paul Frederick "Freddie" Cobb (business administration '66). Esleek recently helped spearhead efforts to establish a $75,000 scholarship in honor of Cobb, who was killed in 1968 in Vietnam when he went to the aid of a beseiged company.

"Even though Freddie was quiet and unassuming, he had a reputation for taking charge and doing whatever needed to be done, and he died doing just that," Esleek says. Yet last summer, when Esleek came to Blacksburg with his daughter Lauren, now a freshman at Tech, he realized there was no remembrance of Lt. Cobb anywhere on campus except the War Memorial pylons.

So Esleek began talking with Ron Gibbs (history '66) of Portsmouth, president of the Sports Boosters. They decided the class's 30-year reunion was a good time to honor their fallen classmate. A 28-member committee was organized, and plans quickly got under way.

The scholarship was announced at halftime of the Virginia Tech-West Virginia football game in November. The Marine Corps' Silent Drill Platoon performed, as did the Highty Tighties, the Marching Virginians, and the Fork Union Military Academy Band.

For Cobb's son, Paul Jr. (industrial and systems engineering '92), the weekend activities provided a chance to hear first-hand stories from men who had known the father he never met. Cobb's wife gave birth to their son while Cobb was in Vietnam.

"I heard stories about football and marine basic training that I hadn't heard, and I met men whose names I had heard all my life but had never seen," Paul Jr. says. "This has been a good thing not only for me, but for my whole family." After graduation from Tech, Cobb and Esleek enlisted in the Marine Corps and were sent to Quantico. Esleek recalls the night Cobb told him that his wife Bonnie was pregnant.

"He was ecstatic," Esleek says, "and I thought he was crazy. The rest of us weren't buying new cars or green bananas; we weren't thinking long-term. We knew this was a dangerous tour. But he said we couldn't be shortsighted, that some of us probably wouldn't come back, but we had to look long range and not let what was in front of us disrupt everything else. He said we had to approach anything difficult with a positive attitude. It was the most inspiring talk I had ever heard in my life, and it was especially surprising because, normally, Freddie didn't have much to say."

Esleek, a certified public accountant in Richmond, says most of his fellow marines were worried about getting home alive but, "if there was one guy in our class that I would have bet hands down was going to make it, it was Freddie."

Of the 96 men in Cobb's training class, 22 were killed in one week. A few months after that, on May 16, 1968, Cobb led his platoon to aid an adjoining company in the Quang Nam Province that was under siege by a well-entrenched enemy force. Despite being wounded when he was within 20 meters of an enemy position, he continued to lead his men in hand-to-hand combat. His troops overran and defeated the enemy while the pinned-down Marines pulled their wounded comrades out of the area. Cobb died of his wounds.

Cobb was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism under fire. The citation praised his "bold determination and unwavering and selfless dedication to duty," and said: "Forced to crawl forward toward the hostile emplacements under heavy fire of the enemy's automatic weapons, he ignored the fire striking around him as he shouted instructions and encouragement to his men. ... He gallantly gave his life for his country."

His former football coach at Virginia Tech, Jerry Claiborne, wasn't surprised by Cobb's actions. "I break out in goose bumps just talking about him," says Claiborne. "He was willing to pay the price to help the team. He was one of the most unselfish players I ever had."

The Suffolk native went to high school in Portsmouth and later turned down numerous offers to play college football to take post-high school training at Fork Union Military Academy, following in the footsteps of his father. Cobb led Fork Union to a 6-2 record. Yet he seldom got on the Virginia Tech field during his five seasons as a quarterback/defensive back. He didn't realize that his drop-back style didn't fit into Claiborne's roll-out system. As Cobb himself admitted, he was slow on his feet.

Claiborne has described Cobb as one of his favorite players and says, "Even though he knew that he probably would not play in the games, he came to practice with great enthusiasm and gave 100 percent on every play. His spirit rubbed off on all those around him."

In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch during his senior year, Cobb said that he would have liked to play more football, but "I've learned to accept it. I came here for an education first. I have no regrets."

Besides, Cobb added, "If I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have met my wife." Cobb got another chance to play football after graduation. While at the Basic School at Quantico, he quarterbacked the Quantico Marines during their 1967 season. His coach, Lt. Col. Frank Marcus, remembers him as "a real cool performer under pressure."

Cobb so impressed the Baltimore Colts that they offered him a tryout. What's more, Esleek says, they told him that, if he would agree to it, "they could fix it so he wouldn't have to go to Vietnam."

But, Esleek says, "Freddie's response was pretty quick. He told them that he had signed a contract and was going to pull duty as planned. That's the kind of man he was. If Freddie was assigned to do something, you knew it was going to get done."

Joining Esleek and Gibbs for the halftime activities were Cobb's widow, Bonnie; his son Paul Jr.; and Bonnie's husband and Cobb's former teammate, Dave Gillespie (business administration '62), who raised Paul Jr. as his own. Also at the ceremony were Cobb's mother, Mrs. Edla Cobb; his two brothers, Billy and Bobby; other former classmates; his former football coach; several of his football teammates; officials from Fork Union, including the institution's president; and high-ranking Marine officers.

A display case in Cassell Coliseum was set up to hold Cobb's Navy Cross and other memorabilia, including photos of Cobb.

Fork Union is participating in the efforts to endow the scholarship, which is more than two-thirds funded. Cobb's brother Bobby is director of development at Fork Union.

Contributions to the scholarship fund may be sent to the Freddie Cobb Scholarship Fund, c/o Virginia Tech Athletic Fund, P.O. Box 10307, Blacksburg, VA 24062.

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