At the dawn of the 1970s, Bishop McDevitt High School had five athletic teams for boys.  Brian Flannery captained three of them, while also serving on Student Council and excelling in the classroom….and that was but prologue for what was to come.

The Fall, 1970 season was a very good one for our football team. They compiled the best record of the program’s first ten years, all the while competing with powerhouse teams from schools with much larger enrollments and generally better facilities.  And we all earned WFIL’s School Spirit Award -- presented to us 52 years ago tomorrow by fondly remembered DJ George Michael --- for cheering them on.  As middle linebacker and the team’s key defensive leader, Brian was the only three-year starter in his class, and he also did us proud throwing shot and discus for our track teams.

The outstanding student-athlete of his class, Brian Flannery earned an appointment to the United States Naval Academy.  He finished near the top of his class at Annapolis and then number one in two of the Navy’s top pilot training schools, at Pensacola and Meridian.  Again, prologue.

Brian later won appointment to the elite Top Gun program…where, a few promotions later, Commander Flannery was serving as a flight instructor when the movie – yes, that movie – was filmed.  The live shots of real pilots and their aircraft included Commander Flannery in aircraft number 210.

More importantly, Brian rose through the ranks from aviator to Squadron Chief to Operations Chief to Executive Officer on some of our Navy’s largest aircraft carriers.  He and his crews flew thousands of mission hours in perilous locations during the Iran Hostage Crisis, the Iran-Iraq War, and Operation Desert Storm, to name just a few.  For their service over such hot spots as the Straits of Hormuz, the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, the Arabian Gulf, and the Gulf of Sidra, Commander Flannery and his crews were frequently honored, individually and collectively.  

Brian’s outstanding naval career was followed by more than two decades as a commercial pilot on six continents.

Brian’s classmate Chuck Boyle shared with me Brian’s description of the view from above during a key 1980s mission over Libya, “like Las Vegas at night” …when it was anything but.  As I’ve reflected on that – and, by extension, wondered about the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of sights and sounds in Brian’s naval aviation memory – I’ve done so, as a fellow citizen, with abiding appreciation for his service.

His classmate Tom Foley writes that Brian may be the outsanding example from the Class of 1971 of someone who turned his McDevitt sports, academic, and leadership experiences into valuable lifelong assets – for which he has rightfully earned our and our country’s gratitude.

With thanks to his nominators, classmates, teammates, and friends Tom Foley and Chuck Boyle, please join our Alumni Hall of Fame as we welcome the Class of 1971’s Brian Flannery.