William R. Milhaven, one of Cortland's finest all-around athletes in the late 1940's and early 1950's, spent the majority of his professional career promoting junior high school level athletics in New York State as a teacher and coach. A native of East Meadow, N.Y., Milhaven graduated from Mepham High School.
He played soccer, basketball and baseball at Cortland, where he was a two-time All-American and three-time All-New York State goalie on "Prof" Holloway's soccer squads. He won Red Letters in soccer and in basketball and was voted the Beta Sports King as a senior. While at Cortland, Milhaven served on the House of Delegates and the Board of Governors. He was active with Delta Kappa fraternity and, in 1951, was elected into "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges." Milhaven earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from Cortland in 1952 and was drafted in the U.S. Army later that year. He served overseas in Austria and attained the rank of sergeant. He later earned a master's degree from New York University.
In 1954, he became a teacher and coach at Jerusalem Avenue Junior High School in North Bellmore, N.Y. He was a member of the State Committee for Junior High Athletics and the state chair of boys soccer and boys basketball. He chaired the Nassau County Junior High School Athletic Association for two years. He reassociated with the State Junior High Modified Sports Committee as state chair for Lifetime Sports.
In 1966, Milhaven took a teaching and coaching position at Calhoun High in Merrick, N.Y., and the following year was a teacher and coach at Setauket (N.Y.) Junior-Senior High School. From 1968 until his retirement in 1985, Milhaven taught and coached at P.J. Gelinas Junior High School on Long Island. In 1982, he started the girls varsity soccer program at Ward-Melville High and served as head coach through the 1980's. He also coached the girls varsity basketball squad from 1985-92.
He is a former volunteer for the Long Island Suffolk Symphony fund-raising events and a board member on the Early Childhood Learning Center in Setauket, N.Y.
In 1992, the Milhavens moved to North Carolina. Milhaven and his wife, Barbara Wansor Milhaven '54, have three children: Darcy, Lyssa and William.
UPDATE: Milhaven passed away on Feb. 17, 2007.
