LTJG Alton L. Grizzard (USNA '91)
LTJG Alton L. Grizzard (USNA '91)
LTJG Alton L. Grizzard was lost on December 1st, 1993 while serving as a Navy SEAL in Coronado, CA.
LTJG Grizzard graduated from Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, VA, where he was a star football player and was named the Virginia Player of the Year in 1986. LTJG Grizzard entered USNA in 1987 where he quickly excelled as a midshipman and starred as the Quarterback on the Navy Football team.
LTJG Grizzard was Navy’s all-time total offense leader with 5,566 yards rushing and passing and became the fourth player in Navy history to rush for 2,000 yards in a career. In his senior year, Grizzard set a record by passing for 12 touchdowns; his total passing yardage for the season was 1,438 yards. He was also elected as a Captain his senior year.
After graduating and commissioning in 1991, he served on SEAL Team 1 and deployed to Somalia.
For every LTJG Alton L. Grizzard bracelet sold, $10 will be donated to a charity of his family’s choosing.
From the Virginia Pilot:
“Alton Grizzard loved football, and he loved Green Run High School, where the 1987 graduate played as quarterback.
Sadly, Grizzard, who was also Naval Academy graduate and a Navy SEAL, was killed in a shooting at a friend's home in 1993. Now, his sister, teacher Dale DeSarro, and niece, J.J. DeSarro, are carrying on his legacy at Green Run.
DeSarro, like her younger brother, also loved sports and played softball, ran track, and was a cheerleader at her high school on Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, where her family lived before moving to Virginia Beach. DeSarro graduated from high school in Japan and entered Old Dominion University when the family moved to this area.
Grizzard, who was interested in baseball and football, attended Brandon Middle School, at that time Brandon Junior High, for a year before entering Green Run as a sophomore.
In the 1986 football season, he was named Virginia Player of the Year, and he also distinguished himself as a quarterback on the Naval Academy's football team.
"He was actually better at baseball, but he just loved football so much," DeSarro said.
Grizzard launched his career as a Navy SEAL, but while stationed in San Diego, he was killed in a double-murder and suicide.
DeSarro, an English major at ODU, knew that she wanted to teach, and her brother's death and legacy convinced her that she wanted to teach at Green Run.
"I knew that I wanted to teach here," said DeSarro, who has taught at the school since 1995. "I knew so many people here because so many of my brother's teachers were still here when I first came here."
J.J. entered Green Run as a freshman this year, and plays on the golf team
She's also an avid softball player, and played for Princess Anne Middle School, where as an eighth-grader she was named best defensive player. She hopes to play softball at Green Run what that season begins in the spring.
Each day, J.J. walks past her uncle's jersey, which is hanging in the school's hallway. She never knew him, but she stops and blows a kiss anyway.
"I make a point of walking by there," J.J. said. "And my friend says 'Oh, so that's why you came this way.'"
J.J. also feels a certain pressure to live up to her uncle's legacy by excelling in athletics, she said.
Like her daughter, DeSarro also blows a kiss to her younger brother's jersey, and tears still come to her eyes when she remembers his high school football career.
DeSarro works with the school's Booster Club to organize a golf tournament and a bowling tournament, held annually to raise money for a $1,000 scholarship, named in honor of her brother, that is awarded to a Green Run student.
"I've gotten a lot of love here," DeSarro said.”