Chimp: Champion Gymnast & Lover

Marv – US Navy champion gymnast

The above photo was likely taken the same year Marv was dating Elle. Marv decided to attend the Naval Academy for the educational opportunity but more importantly to him at the time, for gymnastics. Marv apparently had a reputation for being a sort of playboy with the ladies but when he dated Elle it was for a solid year and as far as Elle knew she was his steady (and only) girlfriend.

The blurb in the Navy yearbook about Marv says “Life at USNA can sure get tedious for a true New Yorker, but Marv kept track of the finer things through a comprehensive collection of jazz and be-bop discs and a steady stream of divine drags. By way of keeping in trim during the off-season (between leaves), he diverted his attention to the gym, where he picked up the name Chimp, the finest set of muscles at the Academy, and, incidentally, the Eastern intercollegiate rope-climbing championship. How Marv found time for all this activity and still spent twenty-six hours a day in the sack is still an unsolved mystery, but the effortless way it was all done offers that he has the determination to get ahead." 

That entire year with Marv was one of Elle’s happiest ever. She was head over heels for Marv and it was mutual. They spent every weekend possible together and had wonderfully fun times. Marv expressed deep care for her, gave her special gifts and gave Elle very reason to look forward to joining him as his most special date during the upcoming June week at the Academy. June week was the final bash of events before graduation and deployment and consisted of a plethora of fun events like a major Navy football game, a formal dance and plenty of beautiful young girlfriends, fiancées and midshipmen family members descending on Annapolis for the graduation ceremonies.

Immediately after the official graduation ceremonies are completed every year the Navy chapel is book every single hour for non-stop Navy weddings. Midshipmen were not permitted to marry while attending the Academy so a barrage of Naval Academy graduates got married right after graduation and just before shipping off somewhere else on the globe, usually leaving their new brides in the states. Sometimes wives could join them where they were stationed but men on ships and submarines went off alone, always leaving their family behind. Usually the minimal time apart was six months at a time.

After the lovely year long love affair Elle had high hopes for June week participation and being there to see Marv graduate, along with his family from New York. She also aspired to marry Marv, the man she loved and there was every indication based on Marv’s behavior that the longings of her heart were indeed justified.

Elle (far right) in the Rifle Club