The University of Hawaii football team will travel more than 38,000 miles for its road games this year, but none of the places it plays on its coast-to-coast excursions will have a cemetery and artillery pieces in close proximity to the football stadium like Saturday’s game.

With some headstones dating from the Revolutionary War and many more commemorating graduates who died in subsequent conflicts, the cemetery at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point is a poignant reminder, one of many, that what takes place surrounding Michie Stadium is much bigger than a football game.

Where the Rainbow Warriors have come on the banks of the Hudson River in New York for the 6 a.m. nationally televised game is a place awash in history and long on tradition. It is, in fact, not just a campus but the oldest continuously occupied military post in the country — a site George Washington identified as key in the Revolutionary War.

West Point’s mission, developing leaders for the Army, is driven home by the words on a bronze plaque near the southeast corner of the stadium. Known as the Marshall Plaque, it quotes Gen. George C. Marshall from World War II as saying, “I want an officer for a secret and dangerous mission. I want a West Point football player.”

The Black Knights, as is their tradition, will take the field after placing their hands on the plaque and then play in front of the remainder of the Corps of Cadets.

“It is a pretty awesome feeling,” said fullback Calen Holt, a “firstie,” or senior, from Kamehameha.

UH coach Nick Rolovich says he tells his players, “These young men that we are playing, you have to respect what they do for the country and, for 60 minutes, you get to battle other warriors who might be fighting for their lives someday. You respect them, you respect the way they play the game and you don’t want to be out-physicaled, out-toughed and out-disciplined in this game.”

History and symbolism surround West Point at nearly every turn, including a monument to Civil War dead and a display of captured artillery pieces.

“You come to West Point, the military installation where George Washington was, where the Army put the chain across the Hudson to prevent the British from invading New York City and Manhattan,” said Boo Corrigan, Army’s athletic director.

“That’s one element of who we are. The other is the U.S. Military Academy and a school that is 216 years old,” Corrigan said. “So you think about (producing) leaders of character, leaders of the Army moving forward. So you have the past and the future when you come to West Point. I think it is important to recognize the past and go to Trophy Point and see the battle monuments and see the links of the chain that are 200-plus years old and recognize we are still producing leaders for our Army and our country.”

The symbolism extends to the uniforms the Black Knights wear, which are said to represent gun powder — charcoal, potassium nitrate and sulfur, which are black, gray and gold.

This week, in tribute to soldiers who serve at Hawaii’s Schofield Barracks, the Black Knights will wear 25th Infantry helmet stickers.

“This is a very special place in our history and for our country,” Rolovich said. “It is an honor to be here.”

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.