Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger indicated that...

Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger indicated that he doesn’t have any problem with a Navy decision to cut the active-duty service commitment for Middie basketball star David Robinson, who has grown too tall to meet service guidelines while at the Academy.

“The person who is being referred to there has either the good fortune or the misfortune to be 7 foot 2 inches tall,” Weinberger said, referring to Robinson, who actually is 7-1.

“And we don’t have any capability of receiving such a person into the Navy, either if they were at war or not.”

Then the defense secretary added: “You can ask why he was allowed to complete his work at the Naval Academy, and the answer is because he was doing very well.”