Rylan Tuohy is no longer in the Navy , but like most Naval Academy grads, he's still an avid supporter of Navy athletics, especially when they're going up against their archrival, Army . He first caught the military world's attention with the series of "spirit spots" he made as a Midshipman between 2012 and 2016 and into his subsequent Seabee career. Now he's back with a new vision -- and a new ask.
"Spirit spots" are just one of the strange but fun (and often funny) traditions surrounding the annual Army-Navy Game. They can be as simple as a unit screaming "Go Army, Beat Navy" or "Go Navy, Beat Army" at a camera. For Tuohy, however, the spirit spot presented a chance to take cinematic smack talk to a whole new level.
Tuohy made his first spirit spot as a plebe (a first-year Midshipman) in 2012. During his four years at the U.S. Naval Academy and 5½ years as an active-duty Seabee, he made some 25 spirit spots supporting Navy athletics. Fans of the annual tradition might remember some of his greatest hits, including " We Give a Ship " and " Helm Yeah " -- all made with zero budget.
He rejoined civilian life in 2022, but his support for the Navy Midshipmen has never wavered. Now he's back, and he wants to make "The Spirit Spot to Rule Them All." He launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise $50,000 for the ambitious goal, raising more than $32,000 in its first few days.
"I'm doing it now because there haven't been any notable spirit spots in the last few years, and I think it's time to change that," Tuohy told Military.com. "Now that I've left the Navy and work in TV and production, I want to elevate what I used to do and bring spirit spots into a whole new realm."
In his civilian life, Tuohy is a writer and director, as well as a commercial producer whose work has been featured on CBS, ESPN, CNN and Fox News, to name just a few. As a Midshipman, his video work wasn't limited to trolling the U.S. Military Academy at West Point . It also targeted the Air Force Academy and pretty much any other institution going up against Navy athletics.
Tuohy burst out of the usual Army-Navy bubble in 2016 with the release of his spirit spot "Naptown Funk," which garnered 8.5 million views on YouTube.
For anyone who can't (or won't) watch the Kickstarter pitch video and wonders what "The Spirit Spot to Rule Them All" means, the subject is a closely guarded secret. Tuohy had the idea for it years ago, he says in the video, but he knew the U.S. Navy would never let him make it. That says a lot for someone who skirted copyright law with a "Star Wars" parody and even made a spirit spot in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic . The concept did meet with laughter and resounding approval from a handful of Navy grads who were privy to the script (but were sworn to secrecy), he says.
Tuohy's videos not only raised the bar for spirit spots at the Naval Academy, they also elevated the levels of the Army's own productions. In 2017, a year after the breakout success of "Naptown Funk," a West Point cadet named Austin Lachance led the U.S. Military Academy production of its own high-quality short film, " Lead From The Front, " which featured a lot of Army brass. Although it didn't quite match Tuohy's level of humor, it was a big step up for the Black Knights' supporters.
"I think what Army did in 2017 is fantastic," Tuohy said. "Spirit spots are a competition, but I want them to lead to making each other better. If Army can step up their game and production value, then I'm all for it. How cool would it be if we continually use the friendly competition to better our videos?"
The Air Force Academy, though often the target of Rylan Tuohy and Naval Academy humor, has yet to clap back.
To support Tuohy's latest spirit spot campaign, support Navy football or even just support sports-related smack talk online, visit "The Spirit Spot to Rule Them All" Kickstarter campaign .
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