The Red Letter Award winner in both football and lacrosse at SUNY Cortland, Thomas J. LaPuma ’66 has been a respected leader whose impact on intercollegiate athletics spans New York State and reaches across the nation.
LaPuma started and then coached the men’s lacrosse programs at SUNY Geneseo, Ball State University, Rush-Henrietta High School and Herkimer County Community College (HCCC).
During his 34-year career at HCCC, he initiated and developed the men’s and women’s athletic programs and guided them from their infancy into regional and national powerhouses. LaPuma also developed the curriculum for the physical education and health courses. He organized intramural sports on the campus and was instrumental in the development of the HCCC programs in sports medicine, athletic and fitness studies, and sports and recreation management. He designed and launched the HCC Fitness Center and its curriculum.
A 2001 recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, LaPuma is a past president of the HCCC Faculty Student Association. He helped create the HCCC Day Care Center, one of the first in SUNY. He pioneered a pre-school swim program taught by physical education majors.
A native of Frankfort, N.Y., LaPuma graduated from Frankfort-Schuyler School. At SUNY Cortland, he lettered three years as a quarterback during which the Red Dragons went 19-5 and were undefeated at home. He was the team captain as a senior. He was a three-year letter winner and a senior captain in lacrosse. Voted the College’s Athlete of the Year as a senior, LaPuma was a resident assistant and president of the Men’s Athletic Association. He was awarded professor emeritus status when he retired from HCCC in 2004.
LaPuma earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and health education from SUNY Cortland and a master’s degree from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
In 1967-68, he taught physical education and coached lacrosse and football at Rush-Henrietta Central School. He taught physical education and coached men’s lacrosse and soccer at SUNY Geneseo from 1968-70.
Within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), LaPuma was the Region III director from 1989-1997, with the 33 Upstate New York colleges forming the second largest region in the country. Nationally, he was secretary-treasurer for the men’s division from 1997-2005 and has been the vice president of the men’s division since 2005.
Internationally, LaPuma has served on the USA International University Sports Federation since 1999. He is the lone American representative on its 18-member International Control Commission. He has represented the organization at World University Games and karate, sailing, bridge and floorball championships in Europe, Asia, Mexico and the U.S.
Within his community, LaPuma served on the board of directors for the American Heart Association, the Herkimer Salvation Army and the Red Cross Safety Committee. He has refereed Pop Warner and high school football. He has operated children’s programs as a member of the Ilion (N.Y.) and Chippewa Bay (N.Y.) Fish and Game Clubs. He is an usher at St. Cyril’s Catholic Church in Alexandria Bay, N.Y.
LaPuma and his wife, Kay, have three children, Peter, Mary Kay and Jackie, and six grandchildren.
