Former superintendent celebrated as namesake of Academy’s new visitor center

  • Published
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Strategic Communications

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – A new visitor center under construction at the U.S. Air Force Academy has been officially named in honor of the school’s 12th superintendent, retired Lt. Gen. Bradley Hosmer, and his wife, Zita.

A ceremony at the building site near I-25 and North Gate Boulevard included the unveiling of a visitor center sign featuring the Hosmers’ name, comments from Hosmer and the Academy’s current superintendent, Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, Sept. 30.  

“I am truly humbled to be here today in this role as a representative of my class,” Hosmer said.

Referring to Clark, retired Lt. Gens.’ Michael Gould and Michele Johnson, former superintendents at the ceremony, Hosmer said, “The four of us here can testify that every superintendent has had challenges. The challenges seem to get a little more complicated as our culture evolves. The call to command an effective military organization, much less an academy with 4,000 of today’s teenagers on board is a challenge to be respected, admired and very much appreciated. So thank you, General Clark.”

Hosmer and Clark thanked Jerry Bruni, a 1970 Academy graduate, and his wife Pam Bruni for donating $5.5 million to support the development of the new visitor center scheduled to open next year.

“Jerry Bruni is a man who has made exceptional success out of his second career,” Hosmer said. “He’s determined to share some of that success with the Academy, so that the Academy can do more for, and with, today’s cadets to improve their lives and the Air Force officers they will become,” Hosmer said.

Clark said Hosmer is a “man of many firsts.”

“He’s the first graduate in the Academy’s first graduating class of 1959, the first Air Force Academy Rhodes scholar, and the first Air Force Academy graduate to be appointed as superintendent,” Clark said. “He is literally the first member of the Long Blue Line.”

Clark praised Hosmer’s wife, Zita, a Wellesley College (Wellesley, Massachusetts) honors graduate born in Greece.   

“One of her many passions is her dedication to her father’s legacy, the Dr. Basil Vlavianos Collection, an internationally recognized collection of over 3,500 books on modern Greece,” Clark said. “She is most well-known, however, for the loving kindness she shows to everyone she meets and her ability to make people feel special.

Clark said the Hosmer Visitor Center will be a state-of-the-art facility and iconic landmark.

“It will be the first building travelers see as they crest Monument Hill on their way into Colorado Springs,” he said. “As our ‘front door,’ it will be many citizens’ first introduction to the Air Force Academy, our country’s premier institution for developing leaders of character.

“This building will, in innumerable ways, pay a fitting tribute to the Hosmers and the members of the Long Blue Line, while ushering in our next generation of graduates who will celebrate many more firsts for our Nation," Clark said. "This is truly a momentous day for our Academy.”

Visit here link to read more about Hosmer’s accomplishments.