SUNY Cortland Athletics

Warren “Red” Kilmer graduated from Cortland in January 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in health education as part of the College’s first-ever class in that major. For the last seven decades, he has shined as an educator, musician, and even to this day, as a baseball player.

Kilmer played baseball for four seasons at Cortland, two on the varsity level, under head coach Carl “Chugger” Davis. He batted .360 during the Red Dragons’ 9-0 undefeated season in 1954, and in 1955 earned the team’s Red Letter and MVP awards with a .425 batting average. The second baseman signed professionally with the Milwaukee Braves after his senior season, played in the minors in the summer of 1955 and went to spring training in 1956.

The Schenectady, N.Y., native graduated from Mont Pleasant High School in 1951. Upon his graduation from Cortland, he served in the U.S. Army Special Services Unit from 1956-58, then taught from 1958-70 in the Schoharie and Schenectady School Districts.

Kilmer became an Associate in the New York State Education Department’s Bureau of Health and Drug Education in 1970 and worked there for 20 years. He helped implement the health and drug education mandate in schools throughout the state, and trained teachers, college undergraduate education majors, and community health professionals. From 1990-98, Kilmer consulted for the U.S. Department of Education and the Ayco Company, L.P.

Known as “The Banjo Man,” Kilmer began performing professionally at age 12 alongside his father. He honed his craft in college by playing with a Dixieland band comprised of Cortland student musicians. He continues his lifelong passion by playing the tenor banjo professionally and has also played the mandolin as a member of the Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra.

At 80 years old, Kilmer still competes for the Talbot Fair Play Base Ball Club, a team in Easton, Md., that plays “Vintage Base Ball” according to the rules of the 1860s, with no gloves. The team competes in approximately 40 games each season. Kilmer also was a silver medalist in the softball throw at the 2006 Maryland State Senior Olympics.

Kilmer has served on the Gift Planning Committee for both his 50th and 55th-year alumni reunions at SUNY Cortland. He has also returned for numerous Cortland baseball reunions and still plays in the program’s alumni games.