Seven new members were inducted into the SUNY Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame during its annual ceremony on September 28. The 2019 honorees include Spencerport High School alum Frank Ciliberto, a 1983 Cortland grad.
Ciliberto was a two-time men’s soccer All-America defender who helped the Red Dragons reach the NCAA Division III “final four” as a senior and national quarterfinals as a junior.
A native of Rochester, he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Cortland in 1983.
Ciliberto was a three-year starting central defender from 1980-82 and a midfielder in 1979 for Cortland’s men’s soccer squads.
He was a two-time National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-American, earning first team honors in 1982 and second team recognition in 1981. Team captain in both of those seasons; two-time first team All-New York Region (1981 and 1982); SUNYAC Eastern Division Player of the Year in 1982 and also an All-SUNYAC selection in 1981.
He helped Cortland advance to the NCAA Division III semifinals in 1982 and the NCAA quarterfinals in 1981. The 1982 team finished 15-3 (then a school record for wins), allowed only eight goals during the season, and lost 1-0 in overtime to UNC Greensboro in the national semifinals in front of 1,600 fans at Holloway Field. The 1981 team went 14-1-3, allowed only 15 goals, and suffered its only loss of the year to Glassboro State, 1-0 in overtime, in the national quarterfinals.
He was a member of SUNYAC championship teams in 1979 and 1981. The 1979 Red Dragon squad finished with a 12-3-2 record, including a 2-0 win over Brockport in the league title game, and the 1981 team beat the University of Buffalo, 3-0, in the championship game.
Ciliberto was the lone Division III player to compete in the prestigious Senior Bowl in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January 1983.
He was selected by the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the fourth round of the 1983 North American Soccer League collegiate draft and was the captain of the United States Soccer League’s Rochester Flash in 1984.
He received Cortland’s Prof Holloway Award for athletics/academics after his senior season.
He has worked more than 30 years in various positions at Eastman Kodak. He was a synthetic organic chemist beginning in 1985 and was promoted to technical support engineer in the Film Sensitizing division in 1992. He was eventually promoted to a formulation engineer position responsible for overseeing the manufacturing of the Kodacolor line of camera films Gold 200, 400 and 800. He spent seven years as technical supervisor of the Formulation Group, was operations supervisor for four years, and is currently a senior product/formulation/quality engineer.
He is a member of Spencerport High School Soccer Wall of Fame and Athletic Hall of Fame and has been a youth soccer coach for more than 35 years in the Rochester area, coaching players ranging from ages five through 19.
Established in 1969, the C-Club Hall of Fame recognizes Cortland alumni who competed as athletes at the college and who have since distinguished themselves in their professions and within their communities. Honorary members are recognized for their long and significant contributions to SUNY Cortland athletics. New C-Club members have been added annually and this year’s ceremony brought the Hall of Fame roster to 270 alumni and 30 honorary members.
Nominations for next year’s C-Club Hall of Fame voting will be accepted until January 15, 2020. The nomination form is available online at: http://www.cortlandreddragons.com/nominations. A person must be nominated in order to be considered for induction into the Hall of Fame.
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