Linda J. "Lin" Case ’77 has helped to guide SUNY Brockport’s 23-sport intercollegiate athletic program to national prominence as its director of athletics since 1995.
When hired, Case became only the second female athletic director in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) and the only one in New York State to oversee an NCAA Division III intercollegiate athletic program offering both football and ice hockey.
Case was the SUNYAC president in 2003-04 and is serving a three-year term on the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Board of Directors. She has served on a variety of NCAA Division III committees, including the Financial Aid Task Force, the Financial Aid and Rewards Committee, the Football East Region Selection Committee, and the Infractions Committee.
The Canandaigua, N.Y., native and Canandaigua Academy graduate majored in physical education, with an emphasis in coaching, at SUNY Cortland. She competed in the long jump and high jump for the Red Dragon track and field squad. She later earned a master’s degree in physical education from SUNY Brockport.
Case began her professional career teaching physical education and coaching volleyball, basketball, bowling, gymnastics and cheerleading at Thomas A. Edison High School in Elmira Heights, N.Y. From 1981-87, she was assistant manager and program coordinator at the Penfield (N.Y.) Racquet Club.
In 1987, she joined the SUNY Brockport staff as assistant athletic director. She also handled the duties of senior women’s administrator, NCAA compliance officer and coordinator of the Tuttle facilities at the campus. She has been tournament director for many state, conference, regional and national post-season championships.
Named the athletic director in 1995, she now oversees 23 varsity and two junior varsity intercollegiate athletic teams, 53 full- and part-time coaches, eight athletic administrators, three athletic trainers, three support staff and 65 student employees. She is responsible for management of the $2.3 million athletic budget. Between 1995-99, she concurrently served as director of campus recreation.
Case was the catalyst behind SUNY Brockport’s "College Athletes for a Winning Attitude” initiative, a three-year drug and alcohol education program run in conjunction with the Brockport Central School District’s "Brockport Against Chemical Abuse (BACA)" program. She also reorganized the Golden Eagle Society, the athletic fund-raising program at the college.
The recipient of an Outstanding Young Woman of America Award in 1988, Case was named the Josten’s ECAC Administrator of the Year in 2003. A member of the Beta Pi Chapter of Phi Epsilon Kappa, the national physical education honor society, Case was inducted into the Canandaigua Academy Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
UPDATE- March, 2015: Case retired from SUNY Brockport in May of 2010. Since she has retired she volunteers at the Cleaners Kitchen soup kitchen. She volunteers on a committee to organize and run the Margery Pawluk Annual Golf Tournament to benefit Cancer Society through F.F. Thompson Hospital in Canandaigua, NY.
