Bob Durocher (left) and hockey coach Greg Carvel present me with a photo placque and a jersey following my retirement announcement in 2016. My last home regular season game was against Harvard on Feb. 27, 2016.
In my 40 years at St. Lawrence, there were five different presidents of the University, but only four athletic directors. I consider all four good friends and while we had our minor disagreements along the way, the relationship between AD and SID was very good.
Bob “Hook” Sheldon was the athletic director when I first signed on and he did it all. A former SLU basketball coach and the proprietor of the Colgate summer camp, he handled scheduling, the finances and pretty much everything else that is in the laundry list of an athletic director’s job title. We worked our way from folding schedule folders to schedule posters and eventually individual schedule cards for different teams if they wanted them. Shel was also the quote source for hirings along with Dick Metcalf, who was chair of the department of athletics and recreation.
The athletic department has actually had a number of different names over the year. Athletics and Recreation is one and has returned as the current listing. The athletics department was also called the Department of Sport and Leisure Studies for quite a while and in retirement I am working on my leisure studies skills. I always wondered why if they were calling athletics Sport and Leisure Studies, they didn’t rename the English Department “Composition and Light Reading” or something similar. I served on a number of coach-search committees during my tenure and the interaction among Shel, Dick and I was always interesting in what we saw in different candidates. Shel also started the St. Lawrence Athletic Hall of Fame and I was a member of the committee from day one and will continue to be as long as I am able. He was inducted into the St. Lawrence Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993 and Dick Metcalf was a 2004 inductee, recognizing his career as a three-sport athlete and coach and administrator.
When Shel retired in 1991, John Clark took over as AD. Clark, a 1969 graduate of St. Lawrence, became the Saint wrestling coach for the 1971-72 season, compiling a 182-54-7 dual meet record and winning the 1988 NCAA Division III National Championship. He retired from coaching and took over as athletic director of what had grown to become a 26-sport program. John and I worked together any number of times on his imaginative projects to promote intramural sports and he was a big part of the effort to move me from University Communications to athletics. After his retirement from the athletic director position, John went on a 2004 trek across Canada. What he called “A Journey To Daybreak” in which he biked, kayaked and walked across Canada and resulted in memoire detailing the trip. He went 3000 miles by bike, 900 miles by sea kayak and 500 miles on foot. He was inducted into the St. Lawrence Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023.
When John retired, Margie Strait took over the athletic department reins, the first woman to serve in the top spot in the athletic department. Among her many accomplishments in a 18-year career in athletics administration was the addition of seven new sports and extensive renovation to SLU athletic facilities. She oversaw a renewal of Appleton Arena and Burkman Gym, construction of Leckonby Stadium and Merrick Pinkard Track, North Country Field and Hall-Leet Stadium, a synthetic turf facility for lacrosse and field hockey, the Newell Field House as well as new or improved facilities for baseball, softball, tennis, squash and crew. She also spearheaded a redesign of the University’s athletic logos and marks. She was recognized as ECAC Administrator of the Year and was UnderArmour Division III Athletic Director of the Year in 2013 and was recognized at the NACDA national convention. Margie started her career at St. Lawrence in 1970 as women’s tennis and ski coach and also coached men’s tennis before moving to the administrative side. She and I shared a trip to Orlando in 2013 as I was able to attend her awards ceremony and she was on hand when I was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame. Margie and Dan Sullivan, who was president during the expansion of the University’s athletic offerings and its serious upgrade of facilities, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this June.
The fourth athletic director during my career was Canton native Bob Durocher, who I saw play against St. Lawrence as an undergraduate soccer player for Ithaca College. Bob spent 35 years in the SLU athletic department, starting as soccer coach in 1990. He built the St. Lawrence program into a Division III powerhouse and won the 1999 national championship, becoming the first team to go undefeated and untied enroute the national title. His teams made 17 NCAA appearances and he earned NCAA Coach of the Year honors before moving from coaching to administration as Senior Associate Vice President for Athletics in 2015. Among many projects during his tenure was continued and extensive alterations to Appleton Arena which continue with additions for Division III teams and athletes. Bob retired after a nine-year career as AD and was replaced by one of his former players, Franco Bari ’98. Bob’s 1999 team is in the Hall of Fame and he should follow as an individual shortly now that he has retired.
While my interaction with Franco will be through the Hall of Fame and the occasional phone conversation, I am confident he will excel in the position after spending time as an assistant athletic director for facilities and game management for seven years, as athletic director at the College of St. Scholastica and since 2021 Associate Athletic Director for Operations and External Relations at SLU.
Two long-serving assistant athletic directors were also positive influences on my career and good friends. Randy LaBrake, Senior Associate Director of Athletics has been with the Saint administration since shortly after his graduation from SLU in 1980. He joined the SLU staff as manager of Appleton Arena and has been the business manager for the athletic department since 1998. He also worked closely with the hockey team in arranging team travel and meals, and was my roommate on a number of road trips. Fran Grembowicz, who joined the SLU staff as women’s basketball coach in 1991-92. She built the Saint softball program in 1999 and coached it till 2012. She took over the field hockey team in 1998 upon the retirement of Dotty Hall, and remains as field hockey coach and Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator/Coordinator of Academic Programs. All of Fran’s sports were on my coverage list from pretty much Day One of her career and I enjoyed several meals with she and her husband John Meagher.