A member of the National Junior College Wrestling Hall of Fame and a former Region III Cross Country Coach of the Year, James Cranfield has extended his exceptional achievements as a Cortland undergraduate into an outstanding career as a physical education instructor and coach at Cayuga Community Collge since 1965.
Cranfield, who grew up in Auburn, N.Y., excelled at Cortland between 1957 and 1961. He was president of the House of Delegates, a member of the Faculty-Student Board of Directors, a four-time letterman, SUNYAC champion and state runner-up Red Dragon wrestler, the Red Letter Award winner in track, soloist for the Men's Glee Club and treasurer of Delta Kappa Beta fraternity. Graduating from Cortland in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, Cranfield went on to earn a master's degree in physical education from Syracuse University in 1963.
From 1963 until 1965, Cranfield taught science and health at West High School in Auburn, N.Y. Cranfield began his long association with Cayuga Community College in Auburn, N.Y., in 1965. The versitile educator and coach continues to wear many hats at the institution. A professor in the Physical Education Department, Cranfield has edited the C.C.C. Newsletter, served on a vast array of campus-wide committees, has been director of C.C.C. Alumni Affairs since 1984, spent 1986-87 as acting director of admissions and has still found time to direct the C.C.C. wrestling and cross country teams that have produced numerous All-American athletes.
On the international level, Cranfield managed the C.C.C. basketball team's cultural exchange trip to Jamaica and coached the 1976 Junior Pan American Wrestling Team.
Within his community, Cranfield is a past president of the Auburn Enlarged School District Board of Education. He is a past president and current member of the Cayuga County BOCES Board. Since 1968, he has been College chairman and small business recruiter for the United Fund. A former member of the YMCA Camp Committee and the Auburn Jaycees, Cranfield has held the top offices in the Owasco Yacht Club Board of Directors. He has authored a number of articles for Rudder Magazine and Lakeland Boating and published the History of the Owasco Yacht Club 1893-1983.
