SUNY Cortland has a long history of athletic programs that are built around student success and have been guided by countless dedicated coaches and educators over the years. While there are number of athletes and coaches who deserve recognition and praise for their efforts, this section honors specific student-athletes who had a major impact either in their sport or in their field, post SUNY Cortland. The athletes include Tracey Armstead, CB Bucknor, Robert Colon, Rikki Daniels, Stefan Mascoll, Era Mugisa, and R-Kal Truluck. They are arranged in alphabetical order.
Pictured: Tracey Armstead (left) and her teammates, 1983 Track and Field Team Guide, 2004-2005 highlighting Tracey's statistics
Tracey Armstead, from Monticello, New York, began her college career at SUNY Cortland in 1982. She was part of five separate NCAA Division III Track and Field national titles. Armstead also earned 13 All-American Honors, and helped the Red Dragons win the 1985 NCAA Division III Women’s Outdoor Track and Field National Championship. She holds 5-school records: the indoor 55-meter dash (6.9) and long jump (20’ 4.5”) and the outdoor 100-meter dash (11.7), 200-meter dash (24.2) and long jump (19’ 7”).
Armstead graduated from Cortland in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, and also received a master's degree in 1990. In 1986 she went on to teach physical education at the DeWitt Middle School in Ithaca, and coached the boys and girls track and field teams until 2000.
Photograph of Bucknor, courtesy of the C-Club Hall of Fame Baseball Team Guide, 1983
C.B (Cedrick) Bucknor was born in Jamaica, but raised in Brooklyn. He was a baseball player for the Red Dragons as a center-fielder. Bucknor set the school record for the most bases stolen. In 1983 and 1984 he was voted All-State University of New York Athletic Conference and in 2002 inducted into Cortland's Hall of Fame.
He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in recreation. He then became a recreational therapist at the Child Life Department for the New York and Presbyterian Hospital, providing therapeutic support to children- ranging from infants to adolescents- that have gained trauma as a result of hospitalization or surgery. Bucknor transitioned into Umping School and started working within the New York - Penn League Games in the 1990's. He eventually became a professional umpire for Major League Baseball (MLB).
Photographs of Robert Colon, 1986 The Press, April 18, 1986
Robert Colon (known as “beefy” to his teammates) was an All-American gymnast who competed in mid-1980’s for Cortland. Colon performed several events throughout his collegiate career including the all-around, rings, high bar, and parallel bars. Colon alongside his teammates competed in the Division II National Championship in Springfield College, Massachusetts, where they placed second overall. In 1985 Colon set a record for North Atlantic Gymnastics League on the parallel bards earning a high score of 18.05. In 1986, Colon was part of the National Championship team (alongside Rikki Daniels), this time earning the number one placement. Prior to coming to Cortland, Colon attended City College of New York (a native of Bronx, NY) where he competed in the all-around event during the North Atlantic Gymnastics League Championship.
Photograph of Daniels, 1988 Photograph of Daniels, 1988 The Press, October 31, 1986
Rikki Daniels was a seven-time All-American Gymnast at Cortland in the 1980's. Daniels was born in the Bronx and lives with a condition known as arthrogryposis. Despite his inability to dismount, he excelled in parallel bars, pommel horse, and the rings and was part of the 1986 National Championship team.
Daniels stayed local. He is still very active as he continues to express himself through dance. He has worked with various musicians including Michael Franti, Spearhead, and Tina Christina-Price. He created a one-man show titled "Learning to Swim," which an autobiographical play. He married his husband Marc Mauzy in 2012. Daniels is an inspiring athlete and performer.
Photograph of Mascoll, courtesy of Cortland Athletics Photograph of Mascoll, 1999
Stefan Mascoll, a Nanuet, New York native graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in Communication Studies. He earned five All-American honors and nine SUNYAC titles in three seasons, and was a three-time Cortland Red Letter Award winner for outdoor track and field. His fame has reached such heights in Cortland that the "Stefan Mascoll Award" was created and is given out annually to a graduating senior that participates in track and field at SUNY Cortland. The award is given to the student who best exemplifies the characteristics displayed by Mascoll: self-discipline, the pursuit of excellence, and achievement.
1997:
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1999:
Around 2002, Mascoll settled down in Fairfax county where he has worked in the public school system. He was the assistant principal at Glasgow Middle school for 5 years (2011-2016), and has since been the coordinator of the Student Safety and Wellness Office.
Mugisa, courtesy of the C-Club Hall of Fame 1968 Soccer Team 1966 Tennis Team
Era Mugisa is from Hoima, Uganda. Before attending SUNY Cortland, Mugisa has already made a name for himself back home. While he was in his twenties, from the years 1962-1964, Mugisa was the first Ugandan National Soccer Coach. With his love for soccer spurring him forward, he decided to attend SUNY Cortland in the late 1960's to play for the Red Dragons and to gain a better understanding of physical education and education in general. He would receive his bachelor's degree in Phys. Ed. in 1969, and his master's degree in Education in 1972.
He was an All-American in 1967 and 1968. In those same years, he was also a first team All-State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) pick. For the SUNYAC pick, it was Coach T. Fred "Prof" Holloway of the Red Mules that had taken a shine to him (Holloway had referred to his soccer team as the Red Mules as opposed to the Red Dragons, which was officially adopted in 1933, but was largely associated with the status of the football team).
When Mugisa's time at SUNY Cortland came to an end, he returned to Uganda to better help his community, as well as become an international coach. From 1970-1972 he acted as a lecturer and director of athletics at the National Teachers’ College in Kampala, Uganda. In the following year he was named the sports tutor and the director of athletics, at Makerere University and would eventually become the head of the Sports Department. From 1978-1979 He was a lecturer at Kenyatta University in Kenya, and unfortunately turned down a teaching position at SUNY Cortland in 1980 to return to Uganda after the fall of Idi Amin. In 2000, Mugisa became the coordinator of the Bachelor of Sports Science Degree program at Makerere University.
Furthermore, after his time at SUNY Cortland, Mugisa spearheaded many organizations. Organizations include: the Uganda Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (UAHPERD), the Uganda Track and Field Athletics Coaches Association (UTFACA), the East Central and Southern African University Sports Association (ECSAUSA), the National University Sports Federation, and the Association for Health and Fitness through Sports, Games and Dance for All (ASHEFIT). Not only that, bit Mugisa was able to coach internationally, as mentioned previously. He coached the Soviet Union (1973), Accra-Ghana (1974), Mexico (1979), Canada (1983), Yugoslavia (1987), Germany (1989), England (1991), United States (1993), Japan (1995), Italy (1997), Spain (1999) and China (2001).
Truluck, courtesy of Cortland's '40 for 40' 1997 Football team Dragon Chronicle, April 15, 1997
R-Kal Truluck graduated from Cortland in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in health science. As a linebacker and defensive end at Cortland, he was named a two-time ECAC Upstate New York All-Star with 169 tackles, 15.5 sacks, and 6 blocked field goal attempts.
He went on to play for the CFL (Canadian Football League) for the Saskatchewan Roughriders where he recorded 101 defensive tackles and 11 sacks.
He was also the first Red Dragon to play in the NFL. He played four seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals, and has eight career sacks in the NFL included taking down former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in a 2004 playoff game (Cortland's '40 for 40').
Sadly, in 2019, Truluck passed away at the age of 45. He was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).