A. Lee Roberts, director emeritus of athletics at SUNY Cortland, guided the College's combined 24-sport men's and women's intercollegiate athletic program to the forefront among the nation's nearly 400 NCAA Division III institutions.
Roberts became athletic director in 1987. During Robert's tenure, SUNY Cortland has won 14 national team championships and a host of regional, state and conference titles, while more than 200 Cortland athletes have achieved All-American status. Cortland has won every Commissioner's Cup, emblematic of all-sport superiority in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), since the trophy was established in 1996. The Red Dragons also finished in the Top 20 in the Sears Director's Cup national all sport competition, including a second place finish in 1997-98.
As Cortland C-Club executive director, Roberts organized the annual benefit golf tournament and began special banquets for the Red Dragon national championships and undefeated teams. He has upgraded the College's athletic facilities with championship banners, new scoreboards, dugouts and press boxes. Most recently, he helped in the efforts to secure funding for the new multipurpose artificial surface athletic complex.
He was an integral figure in improving the annual C-Club Hall of Fame Banquet and creating the Hall of Fame Room. Roberts has been president of the Executive Council of the State University of New York Athletic Conference. He has also been a member of ECAC and NCAA Football Committees.
A native of Narrowsburg, N.Y., Roberts came to SUNY Cortland from East Stroudsburg (Pa.) University, where he had been on the Physical Education Department faculty since 1969. He coached baseball and basketball and coordinated the 13 women's intercollegiate teams as associate athletic director.
He earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from Springfield College, a master's degree from Bridgeport University and a doctorate in education from Temple University. Roberts coached soccer, basketball and baseball in Ellenville (N.Y.) High School. He then joined the faculty at Sullivan County (N.Y.) Community College where he coached soccer and basketball, earning Mid-Hudson Conference Coach of the Year honors in 1966. Roberts directed the soccer and basketball programs at SUNY New Paltz from 1967-69.
An All-American soccer player at Springfield College, Roberts played on its 1958 NCAA champion team. He continued playing professionally from 1961 until 1975. Roberts, an avid runner who has competed in four Boston Marathons, and his wife, Barbara Reger Roberts '61, have three children: Deborah, Roger and Scott.
