A sophomore starter on SUNY Cortland’s first-ever NCAA Tournament team in 1960, multi-sport athlete James McGuidwin ’63 still holds the College’s men’s soccer single season scoring record of 21 goals that he set as a junior 48 years ago.
A scholastic standout in baseball, soccer and basketball at Brighton (N.Y.) High School, McGuidwin earned all-conference, all-state and All-American honors – when there was only one collegiate men’s soccer division in the U.S. — for legendary Coach T. Fred “Prof” Holloway at SUNY Cortland.
McGuidwin netted 16 goals on the freshman squad. As a sophomore, he helped Cortland become one of only eight colleges and universities in the nation to be selected for the 1960 NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament. As a junior, he tallied his record 21 goals in just 10 games. Despite moving from forward to midfield the next year, McGuidwin still ranks fourth today on the College’s all-time scoring list. The senior co-captain led Cortland to a second NCAA Tournament spot and finished his career with a 24-4-1 overall mark. He was invited to United States Olympic Soccer Trials and advanced to the second of three trial rounds.
In track and field at Cortland, McGuidwin ran hurdles, relays, threw the javelin and high jumped. His 1963 indoor team won the prestigious Union Relays, the then-equivalent of a state meet. His outdoor team went undefeated and placed second in the state. He competed in junior varsity and varsity basketball and played on the State University of New York Athletic Conference champion team as a senior. He also competed for a season on the varsity baseball squad.
McGuidwin was active on campus as an undergraduate. He participated in the Men’s Athletic Association Executive Committee, Cardinal Key, Beta Phi Epsilon fraternity, was a resident advisor as a junior and senior, and served as a student representative for the Admission Office.
He received his bachelor’s degree in physical education from SUNY Cortland and earned a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He completed post-graduate work in higher education administration at the University of Rochester and SUNY Buffalo.
Between 1964-69, McGuidwin worked at SUNY Oneonta, where as an admission counselor he developed and administered that college’s first program for transfer student admissions and advisement.
McGuidwin worked at Monroe Community College (MCC) from 1969 until his retirement in 1997 as a director of academic services. He created, developed and administered MCC’s first Offices of Off-Campus Programs, Community Services, and Corporate Services at various locations throughout Rochester and Monroe County. He was the principal academic field administrator for major construction projects on the main campus in Brighton, at the Damon City Campus in downtown Rochester, and at the Applied Technologies Center.
Over the years, McGuidwin was an assistant soccer coach at both SUNY Oneonta and MCC and was head coach for many years in the Pittsford (N.Y.) Youth Soccer Program.
He and his wife, Leslie Griffith McGuidwin ’63, have two children, Andrew, and Molly, a 1992 SUNY Cortland alumna.
