ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Tribune News Service) — Five United States Naval Academy graduates were honored Friday during the 25th Annual Distinguished Graduate Award ceremony at Alumni Hall.

Among the five winners, who hail from the 1970, 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1978 classes, are Maj. Gen. Leo V. Williams III, Ronald L. Nicol, Adm. James G. Stavridis, Rear Adm. Julius S. Caesar and Adm. Cecil D. Haney.

The awardees include a best-selling author, the second Black four-star admiral in the history of the U.S. Navy, two business executives and the first Black vice chairman of the Naval Academy Alumni Association Board of Trustees, who when working for the Ford Motor Company helped name the Ford Expedition.

The Distinguished Graduate Award was established in 1998 to honor academy alumni who have demonstrated a lifetime commitment to service, personal character and contributions to the country. Past recipients include the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, NFL star Roger Staubach and 2022 inductee Janie Mines, the first Black woman to graduate from the academy.

Maj. Gen. Leo V. Williams III ‘70, USMCR (Ret.)

Williams, who now resides in Charleston, South Carolina, was born in Norfolk, Virginia to parents Leo and Audrey. He had a brother named Michael and a sister named Audrey.

It was his family’s lineage of service, including his grandfather who served in World War I and his father who served in World War II, that pushed him to enter the military.

During his time at the academy, he helped create a Black studies progra. Williams would go on to become the first Black Marine officer to serve in the Officer Assignments Branch. He served 33 years in the Marine Corps, including 25 in the Marine Corps Reserve. He served in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and the war on terror.

During his 25-year career working for Ford Motor Company, Williams became the first Black person to hold each new leadership role he filled. While being a brand manager for Ford, Exhibition was chosen to be the name for their large SUV. The name can be attributed to Williams as a salute to the Marine Corps “Go Anywhere, Do Anything” spirit.

Williams became the first Black vice chairman of the Naval Academy Alumni Association Board of Trustees, the first Black director for the Naval Academy Foundation Board of Directors and was instrumental in creating Shared Interest Groups governed by the Alumni Association, a program designed to keep alumni connected to the academy.

Ronald L. Nicol ‘75

Ronald Nicol, who now lives in Frisco, Texas. with his wife Leanne considers his family to be his greatest personal accomplishment. He has two children and five grandchildren. He considers graduating from the Naval Academy to be his most meaningful professional accomplishment.

After his service, Nicol was a corporate executive, serving as a senior partner at The Boston Consulting Group while being an ambassador in the corporate world, hiring and mentoring Naval Academy alumni for over 40 years. He recently led a pro bono effort supporting the Superintendent’s 2030 USNA Strategy project, a long-term planning process to help the academy fulfill its mission.

He earned his master’s degree from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and later became chairman of its Board of Visitors where he worked to expand opportunities for military veterans, including establishing a scholarship endowment in perpetuity.

Nicol completed Nuclear Power School and also worked at the Naval Research Laboratory doing research for particle beam weapons. He would return to the Nuclear Power School to teach before serving an additional 13 years in the Navy Reserves.

In 2016, he directed the U.S. Presidential Transition Agency Action Team where he assembled a team of 300 volunteers to support an efficient transfer of government.

He is currently the executive chairman of Nuburu, a high-power blue laser company.

Adm. James G. Stavridis ‘76, USN (Ret.)

Adm. James G. Stavridis who now resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida had a 37-year military career in which he started as a surface warfare officer and went on to become the only Naval officer to serve as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, Commander of U.S. European Command, and Commander of U.S. Southern Command.

He also was promoted directly from 1-star to 3-star vice admiral as the senior military assistant to the Secretary of Defense.

To go along with his distinguished service Stavridis published 12 books — including six national bestsellers — and produced fundamental textbooks for the surface Navy including Division Officer’s Guide, Watch Officer’s Guide, and Command at Sea.

He also served as the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he earned a doctorate in 1984.

Rear Adm. Julius S. Caesar ‘77, USNR (Ret.)

Rear Adm. Julius S. Caesar, who currently lives in Fairfax, Virginia was born in Radford, Virginia, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio with his family where he was raised. He attended the Naval Academy with the intention of serving his country and participating in sports.

To get to the Naval Academy he first enlisted and went to boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois before going to Naval Academy preparatory school.

After graduation from the Naval Academy, he was assigned to recruiter duty before eventually being assigned to the USS Dale as a Surface Warfare Officer.

His first flag assignment in 2003 was reserve deputy commander of Navy Installations Command at Washington Navy Yard. He served as vice director of Joint Concept Development and Experimentation at U.S. Joint Forces Command and his final assignment was deputy director of Joint and Coalition Warfighting in Suffolk, Virginia.

Caesar went on to also have a career in the private sector now serving as an executive with NetApp, Inc., a Fortune 500 firm.

Adm. Cecil D. Haney ‘78, USN (Ret.)

Adm. Haney, who now lives in Adelphi, Maryland was born in Washington D.C. and was raised with his two sisters while his mother was a seamstress and father a taxi driver for Greyhound.

He originally planned to join the Army in order to save up enough to afford medical school but his father, a World War II Army veteran, didn’t approve of that plan.

He instead attended the Naval Academy where he participated in various intramural sports, dancing for a dance band called “The Variations” and serving as a DJ for WRNV the campus radio station.

Once in the fleet, he became the first Black four-star submariner, the first Black Pacific Fleet commander, the first Black Strategic Command commander and only the second Black four-star admiral in the history of the U.S. Navy.

As Pacific Fleet commander, he led the largest fleet in the Navy and is an original member of the Centennial Seven — the first seven Black submarine commanding officers in the 20th century. His efforts with the Centennial Seven team resulted in nearly tripling the number of Black submarine commanding officers in the 21st century.

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