Harry Sheehy will soon walk the sidelines in Hanover, NH and the Ivy League
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – You can walk a long
way in 50 years. And you will see a lot and learn a lot.
Though growing up on Long Island, a young Harry Sheehy, III,
walked the Williams sidelines in the late 1950s and throughout the
1960s with his dad, Harry Sheehy, Jr, ’51.
“I’ve wandered the sidelines here for 50 years with my dad, a few friends and Morty [Schapiro],” stated Sheehy. “What a gift this college has given to me. It's love and loyalty. I am so blessed.”
After walking the sidelines at Williams for half a century Harry Sheehy ’75 will walk the sidelines in Hanover, NH and the Ivy League this academic year as the Athletic Director at Dartmouth College.
Lisa Melendy, Associate Athletic Director Senior Women's Administrator will serve as the Ephs Interim Athletic Director while the college conducts a national search.
Melendy, a former head coach of women’s soccer at Williams, previously served as the Ephs Interim Athletic Director during the 2006-07 academic year, while Sheehy was on sabbatical at Vanderbilt University.
"Harry’s contributions to Williams athletics – as player, coach, and director -- are exceptional, as the record shows,” said Williams President Adam Falk. “We thank him and wish him well as he pursues new challenges. While the successes of our teams during his tenure as Athletic Director have been gratifying, they’ve been the byproduct of attending to the development of the whole student-athlete. We’re proud that Harry will carry to Dartmouth not only our athletic success at Williams but our underlying philosophy."
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Harry Sheehy '75 |
Sheehy was a two-time All-American basketball player for the Ephs who later became the all-time leader in points and rebounds for the Athletes in Action team that represented the USA in international competitions in the 1970s and 1980s.
Sheehy returned to Williams in 1984 and served as the head coach of men’s basketball for 17 years, compiling a record of 324-104 (.757), which was the fourth best winning percentage in the history of NCAA Division III men’s basketball. Sheehy’s teams were frequently ranked in the Top Ten nationally and posted the second highest winning percentage (221-45, .830) in the nation in the 1990s.
He was selected Northeast Coach of the Year (1997, 1998), Eastern Basketball Magazine Coach of the Year (1998), and NESCAC Coach of the Year (2000). In 2002 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame, along with such notables as Bob Cousy, Patrick Ewing, and Julius Erving.
Sheehy’s Eph hoop teams earned 12 consecutive NCAA tournament bids from 1989-2000 and thirteen overall. In both 1997 and 1998, Williams appeared in the NCAA Division III Final Four finishing third nationally both years. In addition, his teams won ECAC-New England Championships in 1987 and 1999.
Prior to Sheehy’s arrival as coach at Williams, the Ephs had won 20 or more games only once. Sheehy’s teams won 20 or more games nine times including his final eight seasons. He had a knack for developing players to their fullest potential, as evidenced by 15 player selections to the All-New England team, eight All-Americans and one National Player of the Year.
Named Athletic Director at Williams in May of 2000, Sheehy guided the Eph program to 10 consecutive Directors’ Cups, emblematic of athletic supremacy in NCAA Division III play. Williams has won 14 of the 15 Directors’ Cups awarded in Division III, including the last 12. This past year Dartmouth finished 128th out of 283 teams in the Directors’ Cup standings in NCAA Division I.
Four times in Sheehy’s career as Athletic Director, Williams has won the ECAC Jostens Institutional Award, given annually to the ECAC institution that best combines excellence in academics and athletics. Williams is the only ECAC member to win the Jostens Award more than twice in the 15-year history of the award, which goes to the top school among the ECAC’s 320 members in NCAA Division I, II and III from Maine to North Carolina.
During Sheehy’s tenure as Athletic Director, Sports Illustrated selected Williams as both the best college for women athletes, and the nation’s best NCAA Division III athletic program.
Of the Ephs 23 NCAA titles, 17 were won during Sheehy’s reign.
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finished 3rd in NCAA Tourney in both 1997 and 1998 |
Asked to comment on the 50 years he has been involved in Williams athletics Sheehy responded: “What I’ll miss about Williams is the people. Bricks and mortar are great, but the real value of this place is the folks who work here. I’ll also miss Cole Field on a beautiful fall morning well before either soccer team kicks off. Weston Field late fall afternoon after the football game is over and stragglers are making their way out… the whole spirit of the place.
“My fondest memory as a player is quite simply my teammates, practice, pulling the game jersey over the head before a big game or after beating Amherst, which I got to do every time we played them during my career.
“As a coach, it was hugging my dad after a big win. Nothing else compares. Also, watching so many good players and young men give their all for Williams.
“As AD, learning the different cultures of our teams and mostly seeing how important the experience was to each and every athlete. Listening to our athletes articulate their experience to parents, alums, friends, and the media.”
