Fred Acee Inducted into Cortland C-Club Hall of Fame

Former Air Force head lacrosse coach Fred Acee  was inducted into the SUNY Cortland C-Club Hal of Fame during its 42nd-annual banquet and ceremonies on Oct. 30. Acee, a 1963 graduate of Cortland, was one of six inductees in the 2010 class.

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.

Acee, who began his tenure as the Falcons' head lacrosse coach in 1998, retired from coaching full-time following the 2008 season and still serves as a volunteer assistant with the program. Over the past four decades, he has impacted collegiate lacrosse as a highly successful coach, role model and as one of the founder of the Intercollegiate Men's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IMLCA).

Between 1966-97, Acee guided the Farmingdale Community College men's lacrosse program to an amazing 312-119-1 overall record, 25 final four appearances in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championships, and national championship titles in 1977, 1981 and 1987. He was voted the national junior college Coach of the Year in each of those three seasons.

In 1994, Acee was the defensive coach of the USA Lacrosse Team that captured the world championship. Four years later, he served on the executive board for the USA Team. In 2002, he coached the South team in the North-South Division I lacrosse game.

In 2001, the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) presented Acee with its prestigious Howdy Meyers Man of the Year Award for his extraordinary contributions and unselfish and untiring devotion to the game of lacrosse. He served on the USILA Rules Advisory Committee.

He received the USILA's Joseph R. "Frenchy" Julien Award in 2007 for outstanding and continuous service to the sport. The same year, IMLCA gave Acee its Creators Award. In 1992, he was inducted into the Long Island Metropolitan Lacrosse Sports Hall of Fame. A past president of NJCAA, Acee was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2005.

Acee serves on the board of directors of the IMLCA, an organization of college coaches devoted to growing the sport, providing coaching development and monitoring the integrity of lacrosse.

A native of Clinton, N.Y., Acee was a standout in football, basketball and baseball at Clinton Central High School, where he is a 2005 Hall of Fame inductee.

Acee majored in physical education at SUNY Cortland, where he played quarterback on the football squad and competed all four years as a midfielder on the lacrosse unit. He earned the Red Letter and was an All-Morrill Division selection as a senior. He was a member of Beta Phi Epsilon fraternity and performed with Bess Koval's Folk Dance group.

He graduated from Cortland in 1963 and earned a master's degree from Ithaca College in 1966. He taught physical education and coached boys and girls sports at Leonardsville (N.Y.) Central School from 1963-65 and was an elementary physical education instructor in the Ithaca (N.Y.) City Schools the following year.

At Farmingdale Community College, Acee chaired the Physical Education Department from 1975-97, was head soccer coach from 1966-76, directed intramurals from 1972-76 and was head women's tennis coach from 1992-96.

Acee and his wife, Linda, currently reside in Monument, Colo.