SUNY Cortland Athletics

Bobby Bateson was an All-ECAC football linebacker at Cortland who went on to play professionally in the mid 1980s. He is the founder and long-time owner of Body Blocks Fitness in Buffalo.
 
* A native of Chicago, Ill., Columbus, Ohio and Eden, N.Y., he earned a bachelor's degree in physical education with a concentration in athletic training from Cortland in 1983
 
* Football four-year starting linebacker at Cortland from 1979-82
 
* Finished with career totals of 384 tackles, which was a school record when he graduated and still ranks third at Cortland; he also registered five forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, 11 pass breakups and two interceptions
 
* His 140 tackles in 1982 are still a school single-season record; he finished with 109 tackles in 1981, 73 tackles in 1980 and 62 tackles in 1979
 
* During his senior season in 1982, he was elected as a team captain, earned All-Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) recognition, and was a nominee for Kodak All-America honors
 
* Registered a school single-game record 23 tackles versus Canisius and 18 tackles in Cortland's Cortaca Jug win versus Ithaca during the 1982 season
 
* Linebacker with NFL's Buffalo Bills in 1985 before being released due to a knee injury
 
* Played professionally in Italy from 1986-88 with the Belusco Seahawks of the Associazione Italiana Football Americano (AIFA); also a member of the Canadian Football League's (CFL) Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1984) and Mid-East Football Conference's New Jersey Rams (1984) and Brooklyn Mariners (1985)
* Owner of Body Blocks Fitness in Buffalo, which he founded in 1988
 
* Strength and conditioning coach and athletic trainer with the Buffalo franchise of the American Basketball Association from 2005-07 (known as the Rapids in 2005-06 and the Silverbacks in 2006-07), and strength and conditioning coach for the Nigerian national basketball team at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China as the team qualified for the 2020 Olympics
 
* Personal strength, conditioning and rehabilitation coach for professional and collegiate teams, including Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NHL
 
* Basketball associate head coach and head strength coach at The Park School of Buffalo from 2017-21; the Pioneers won the 2018 New York State Federation Class A title and won New York State Catholic High School Athletic Association and Monsignor Martin High School Athletic Association titles in both 2018 and 2019
 
* Author of The Essentials of Fitness and Sports Performance, which was implemented into a curriculum for the Buffalo City Schools and for the Human Performance Course at Medaille College
 
* Developed and implemented fitness program for Teens Living with Cancer, which worked with post-cancer treatments in conjunction with the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center