We say thanks and farewell to Union's most loyal sports fan. The College's first sports information director, George Cuttita, is leaving Union after 25 years and an estimated 10,000 athletic contests to join his wife, Donna, who has begun a new career in Orlando, Florida.
Union's garnet-wearing booster has always remembered the first advice he got from his mentor, retired Director of Athletics Richard Sakala: “Dick told me that the student-athletes should always come first,” Cuttita said. “If you take care of them, everything else will fall into place. And he was absolutely right.”
The job of sports information director at most institutions is nothing short of intense. Except for a brief respite in the summer months, it is a late-night gig with just enough time on the weekends to grab a sandwich before heading off to the next game.
Cuttita was feted at a recent reception attended by alumni, friends and campus colleagues. Later that evening, in a center-court ceremony between the men's and women's basketball games in the new Viniar Athletic Center, Cuttita received an ovation, a chair and a framed collection of action photos from his career.
Cuttita found his calling early, writing sports for local papers when he was a freshman at Shenendehowa High School in Clifton Park. By his junior year, he was a busy stringer for the Albany Times Union. By the time he arrived at Union in 1980 to a manual typewriter with three missing keys, he was a seasoned veteran of the local sports scene.
At Union, he was ubiquitous at games, patrolling the sidelines with a camera, scurrying around the press box, even rolling out the carpet for special events. In recent years, he was often assisted by his son, Danny, a gifted statistician who shares his father's gift of grace under pressure.
George has been there for the great times-Stagg Bowls in football, final fours in hockey, Hall of Fame performances by great student-athletes and NCAA appearances by more than 15 different Union teams. He has also been steadfast through losing seasons and tough defeats. Throughout it all, there has been no one more dedicated to Union- and our student-athletes- than George Cuttita.