Donald Trump entered the New York Military Academy in the fall of 1963, a move triggered by his father’s discovery of a cache of switchblades in the teenager’s room. The academy, known for its strict discipline and rigorous schedule, became the backdrop for the future president’s formative high‑school experience.
At NYMA Trump joined the senior‑year soccer squad, a team that included classmates such as Peter Ticktin, Sandy McIntosh, Theodore Dobias, Alfred Harrison, Paul Curtin and Javier Angel Sustaeta. Former teammates recall a culture steeped in hazing and bullying, with incidents of violence that sometimes threatened expulsion for those involved.
A Troubled Yet Formative Chapter
Although Peter Ticktin later asserted that the team remained undefeated, official records show a 3‑8 season in 1964, and Trump’s own baseball statistics were far from the lofty claims he would later make, posting a batting average well below the Mendoza line. The disparity between his self‑portrayal and the documented performance illustrates a pattern of exaggeration that has followed him throughout his public life.
The squad’s roster reflected the school’s diverse population, with many Latin American students, and the team competed in the Dutchess County Scholastic League, a collection of small Hudson Valley schools. Javier Angel Sustaeta served as team captain, while Trump, though not a starter, was known among peers for assigning nicknames — a habit that has resurfaced in his later political rhetoric.
Decades later, the echoes of those teenage years surface in the way Trump references sports, from boasting about a potential professional baseball career to drawing comparisons with contemporary football icons such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi. Even Gianni Infantino, the president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, has been drawn into the conversation, underscoring the far‑reaching impact of his early claims.