Seven new members will be inducted into the SUNY Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame during its 44th annual banquet and ceremonies on Saturday, Oct. 20, in the College's Corey Union.

The 2012 honorees are:

John “Jack” LaBombard '63, a former conference wrestling champion at Cortland who coached the Queensbury (N.Y.) High School wrestling team and two other programs to more than 390 victories in 37 seasons;

Tony Seaman '65, who won 263 games and three National Coach of the Year honors as a 30-year collegiate men's lacrosse head coach at Towson, Johns Hopkins, Penn and C.W. Post;

Ann Dunwoody '75, a former Red Dragon gymnast and tennis player who is the first female four-star general in the history of the United States military and was the winner of the NCAA's top honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Award, in 2011;

Rick Armstrong '79, a three-time All-America wrestler and 1978 NCAA Division III 158-pound champion who has enjoyed a long and successful career as wrestling coach at Walton (N.Y.) High School;

Paul Alexander '82, an Academic All-America offensive tackle at Cortland who has served as an assistant coach with the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals since 1994 and as the team's assistant head coach since 2003;

Tracey Armstead '86, a five-time women's track and field NCAA champion and 13-time All-American who has coached and taught in the Ithaca (N.Y.) City School District since 1986;

and honorary inductee Fran Elia, Cortland's sports information director since 1992.

In addition to Saturday night's official ceremony, the inductees will be introduced at halftime of the Cortland-Rowan football game earlier that afternoon.

Established in 1969, the C-Club Hall of Fame recognizes Cortland alumni who competed as athletes at the College and who since have distinguished themselves in their professions and within their communities. Honorary members are recognized for their long and significant contributions to SUNY Cortland athletics. New C-Club members have been added annually and this year's ceremony will bring the Hall of Fame roster to 225 alumni and 26 honorary members.

A detailed look at this year's inductees follows.


John “Jack” LaBombard '63
Queensbury, N.Y.

John “Jack” LaBombard is one of the top high school wrestling coaches in New York state history with more than 390 victories in a storied 38-year career. In 31 years at Queensbury (N.Y.) High School from 1966-97, LaBombard led the school to a 374-62-6 record and coached three state individual champions along with numerous sectional and league champs. He also coached football and baseball and initiated the school's lacrosse program.

After a brief retirement, he coached wrestling for two seasons at Schuylerville (N.Y.) High School and posted a 16-8 record. In 2008, he helped establish a new wrestling program at Lake George (N.Y.) High School in conjunction with Hadley-Luzerne High School and still serves as co-coach. LaBombard has been inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, the New York State Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame and the Section Two Wrestling Hall of Fame.

LaBombard graduated from Cortland in 1963 with a bachelor's degree in physical education, health and recreation. The Plattsburgh, N.Y., native wrestled for four seasons and played one year of junior varsity lacrosse. As a senior, he won the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) wrestling title at 115 pounds, and he finished third at the New York State Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament as a 123-pounder his junior year. Over his final three seasons the Red Dragons recorded a combined 23-5 record and won three SUNYAC crowns.

For 35 years, LaBombard served as a member of the Town of Queensbury Recreation Commission. He was chairman for five years. He's on the board of directors of the Capital Region Sports Foundation and the New York State Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He initiated a committee that brought the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships to Albany in 2002.

LaBombard is the treasurer of the Warren County Safe and Quality Bicycling Organization and is a member of the Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish Council.

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Tony Seaman '65
Lutherville, Md.

Tony Seaman won 263 games and three National Coach of the Year honors as a 30-year collegiate men's lacrosse head coach at Towson University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania and C.W. Post College. He served as general manager of the Denver Outlaws in Major League Lacrosse in the 2011-12 season and is currently a special advisor to Towson's director of athletics.

Seaman coached at Lynbrook (N.Y.) High School from 1972-81 and compiled a 116-61 record. He earned two Division IV Nassau County Coach of the Year awards. He moved to the college coaching ranks in 1982 and led C.W. Post to a 12-3 mark in its first season as a Division I program. The following year, he moved to Penn and coached the Quakers from 1983-90. Seaman was named NCAA National Coach of the Year in both 1983 and 1984 and led Penn to six NCAA tournament appearances.

From 1991-98, Seaman guided the Johns Hopkins program to eight consecutive NCAA playoffs with four national semifinal showings. He led the Blue Jays to a 13-1 record in 1995. Seaman also coached the United States National Team to a gold medal at the 1994 International Lacrosse Federation World Championships in England. Seaman moved to Towson in 1999 and helped the Tigers earn five NCAA tournament berths. He was named NCAA National Coach of the Year in 2001.

In all, Seaman has coached 73 All-Americans and 87 all-conference honorees and his teams have qualified for the NCAA tournament 19 times. He's a member of the Greater Baltimore Chapter of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Seaman graduated from Cortland in 1965 as a history major and physical education minor. He played both varsity lacrosse and soccer from 1962-64 and worked on the campus newspaper and radio station. Seaman is an alumnus of Delaware Valley High School in Callicoon, N.Y.

Seaman served as a member of the NCAA Championship Lacrosse Committee from 2009-12. He was the director of the Baltimore County Annual Youth Lacrosse Clinic from 2001-11. In 1998 he founded the “Lacrosse for Leukemia” collegiate fall tournament that has raised funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

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Ann Dunwoody '75
Huntsville, Ala.

Army General Ann Dunwoody became the first woman in U.S. military history to be promoted to the rank of four-star general in November 2008 and retired this past August after 38 years of service. The former Red Dragon gymnast and tennis player graduated with a degree in physical education and was commissioned directly into the Women's Army Corps.  She received a Master of Science in Logistics Management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1988 and a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1995.

When Dunwoody began her military career, women had not yet been admitted to West Point. Her brother, father, grandfather and great-grandfather all attended the U.S. Military Academy, a family history that stretches to 1866.  Dunwoody's father, a career Army officer, was a veteran of World War II and Korea and served in Vietnam during her college career.

In 1992 Dunwoody became the first woman to command a battalion in the 82nd Airborne Division. She was the first female general at Fort Bragg, N.C., and the first woman to lead the Combined Arms Support Command at Fort Lee, Va. Dunwoody was deployed to Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm as a division parachute officer for the 407th Supply and Transportation Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division.

She served as the 1st Corps Support Command Commander in the deployment of the Logistics Task Force in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Prior to her retirement, she was the Commanding General, U.S. Army Materiel Command.

The Randolph, N.Y., native earned the 2011 Theodore Roosevelt Award, the NCAA's highest honor. She joined a prestigious list of “Teddy Award” winners that includes former U.S. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

Earlier this year, she received the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) annual Achievement Award and was included on the Women's Sports Foundation's “40 for 40” list, which honored women of accomplishment who played high school or college sports after the enactment of Title IX. Dunwoody's peers on that high-profile list included U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, tennis star Venus Williams and legendary University of Tennessee basketball coach Pat Summit.

Dunwoody was honored as a SUNY Cortland Distinguished Alumna in 2001 and received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the College in 2009.

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Rick Armstrong '79
Binghamton, N.Y.

One of the most accomplished wrestlers in school history, Rick Armstrong won the program's first individual national championship before going on to a long and successful career as the wrestling coach at Walton (N.Y.) High School.

Armstrong won the NCAA Division III title at 158 pounds during his junior season in 1978. He also earned All-America honors with a fourth-place national finish in 1979 and a sixth-place effort in 1977. He won three consecutive State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) titles from 1977-79, garnered two all-state awards in 1976 and 1977, and finished with a four-year career record of 88-21-4. Armstrong also played linebacker on the junior varsity football team for one season and graduated with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1979. A Whitney Point, N.Y., native, Armstrong finished 33-0 and won Whitney Point High School's first state wrestling title in 1974.

After starting his coaching and teaching career in the Attica (N.Y.) Central School District, Armstrong moved to the Walton Central School District in 1981 and served as the high school's head wrestling coach from 1982-2011. He also worked at various times as an assistant football and baseball coach.

Armstrong's Walton wrestling teams won more than 200 matches and claimed three Section Four titles. The program also won five Susquenango Association division crowns. A two-time Section Four Coach of the Year, Armstrong mentored an individual state champion, four state finalists and nine state tournament place-winners. He was inducted into the New York State Collegiate Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2005 and the NCAA Division III Wrestling Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2009.

From 2004-11, Armstrong served as co-coordinator for the American Heart Association's “Jump for Heart” program. He was the Section Four Wrestling Coaches Association president from 1987-2010, the Susquenango Association Wrestling Coordinator from 1987-2001 and a Junior American Legion assistant baseball coach from 1995-2005. He also has been the Section Four Wrestling Coordinator since 1994.

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Paul Alexander '82
Mason, Ohio

A former Academic All-America offensive lineman at Cortland, Paul Alexander is in his 18th season as the offensive line coach for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals in 2012. He is also the team's assistant head coach, having added that designation in 2003, and has coached 19 seasons overall with the Bengals.

Last year in Cincinnati, Alexander's line led a pass protection effort that tied for fourth in the NFL in fewest sacks allowed. The Bengals also ranked in the league's top 10 in pass protection in 2010.

In 1992, Alexander began his NFL coaching career as tight ends coach of the New York Jets under head coach Bruce Coslet. When Coslet moved to Cincinnati as offensive coordinator in 1994, Alexander joined him in the role of tight ends coach. Alexander is a product of distinguished teachers. He coached under Joe Paterno at Penn State University from 1982-84 and Bo Schembechler at the University of Michigan from 1985-86. He became the offensive line coach at Central Michigan University from 1987-91 before receiving his opportunity to coach with the Jets.

The Spencerport, N.Y., native earned a bachelor's degree in physical education, with a minor in music, from Cortland in 1982. He played offensive tackle for the Red Dragons for three seasons from 1979-81 and received Red Letter Awards each season. Following his senior season he became the College's first-ever College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) national Academic All-America selection.

Alexander is actively involved with the Boy Scouts of America and the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, and he co-founded the first high school football camp exclusively for linemen. He is also an accomplished pianist and in 2011 authored a well-received book – Perform – linking the mentality and training techniques of top athletes and musicians. Alexander performed at a fundraising concert at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 2010 having started private piano lessons only two years earlier.

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Tracey Armstead '86
Freeville, N.Y.

One of the best athletes in SUNY Cortland history, Tracey Armstead won five NCAA Division III track and field individual national titles, earned 13 All-America honors and helped the Red Dragons win the 1985 NCAA Division III Women's Outdoor Track and Field national team crown.

The Monticello, N.Y., native began her Red Dragon track and field career with an All-America finish in the 60-yard dash at the 1982 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division I indoor championships. As a sophomore, she won NCAA Division III outdoor titles in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash and was an indoor All-American in four events.

Armstead added three more All-America awards as a junior at the NCAA outdoor championships. As a senior in 1985, she won three NCAA individual titles – the indoor 55-meter dash and both the indoor and outdoor long jumps – and earned a total of five All-America honors. Her winning long jump at the Division III outdoor championships qualified her to compete at the Division I championship meet.

In addition to capturing the NCAA Division III outdoor team title in 1985, the Red Dragons also finished second at the indoor national meet and won both the inaugural State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) women's indoor and outdoor championships.

Armstead still holds school records in five events – the indoor 55-meter dash (6.9) and long jump (20' 4.5”) and the outdoor 100-meter dash (11.7), 200-meter dash (24.2) and long jump (19' 7”). A great all-around athlete, Armstead also played soccer at Cortland her first two years and won the 1983 Miss Cortland State Bodybuilding Championship.

Armstead earned a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1986 and a master's degree in 1990. She has taught physical education at DeWitt Middle School in the Ithaca City School District since 1986. Armstead coached the boys' and girls' track and field sprinters and jumpers in the school district from 1985-2000, was the girls' varsity soccer coach from 1990-97 and the girls' junior varsity soccer coach from 1986-90. She has worked as a volunteer youth soccer coach for the Ithaca Youth Bureau and has organized a World Fit Walk-a-Thon program for DeWitt Middle School.

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Fran Elia (Honorary)
New Woodstock, N.Y.

The senior sports information director (SID) of the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), Fran Elia is in his 22nd year at SUNY Cortland in 2012-13. He started in the profession as a volunteer assistant at Siena College, his alma mater, during the 1990-91 school year before accepting a one-year internship as the assistant SID at Cortland the following year. In 1992, he was hired as Cortland's SID replacing Peter Koryzno, who became the College's director of public relations.

Elia oversees the publicity of Cortland's 25 varsity athletic teams. During his tenure, Cortland has hosted numerous conference and national tournaments, including the 1996 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships and two National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Division III Championships. Elia also serves on Cortland's C-Club Board of Directors.

Elia received the Fraser Stokes Award for dedication to SUNY Cortland Athletics in 1996. He was named the inaugural chair of the SUNYAC Sports Information Directors Committee during the 2004-05 school year, and in 2009 he earned the Eastern College Athletic Conference – Sports Information Directors Association's (ECAC-SIDA) Irving T. Marsh Service Bureau Award for excellence in the profession.

In addition to his duties at Cortland, Elia oversaw the Upstate New York Division III Football Statistical Bureau from 1993-94, assisted with the compilation of weekly Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America women's soccer polls from 1992-94, and coordinated ECAC Upstate New York women's basketball all-star selections from 1995-97. He wrote a weekly regional column for the Web site D3football.com in 2000 and is currently a D3hoops.com Top 25 women's basketball poll voter. Elia also served as a results auditor in the Empire State Games media headquarters every summer from 1991-2001.

The Schenectady, N.Y., native graduated from Siena in 1988 and worked four years as a men's basketball student team manager at the school. He served as a staff auditor for the Big Eight accounting firm Coopers and Lybrand and took graduate courses in Communication Studies at The University at Albany prior to coming to Cortland.

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