CoSIDA E-Digest April 2013 • 1

y Dennis O’Donnell
Director of Athletic
Communications,
University of Rochester
CoSIDA Special Awards Committee
member
“Hey, George. The ditto machine’s
frozen. It won’t work!”
It was probably the last thing that
George Cuttita wanted to hear. Union
College was hosting Plymouth State
College in an NCAA Division III playoff
game in November, 1984. Snow fell
heavily through the game. Union built
a temporary press box at its new
football field – a pipe structure with
canvas covering the top, the sides,
and the back. Nothing in front.
So, Cuttita did what sports
information directors learn quickly: he
adapted. He covered the machine with
his sport coat. With snow covering all
the yardlines, he went on the field with
a walkie-talkie to spot the ball for his
statisticians. “We did stats with penciland-paper
in those days,” he recalled.
Union made his day worthwhile, at
least. The Dutchmen won the playoff
game.
Over a 25-year career at
Union, Cuttita learned to adapt
numerous times. At the 2013 CoSIDA
Convention, he will be recognized
along with fellow professionals with
CoSIDA’s 25-Year Award.
His career started in the age of
manual typewriters – the first one at
his desk was missing three keys. It
continued into the age of the internet
– paper and pencils traded straight
up for laptops. Phone calls replaced
by email. And digital photos replacing
black-and-white prints.
Hustle constantly. Union played a
men’s basketball ECAC playoff game
at Hamilton College. A Union player
threw in a three-quarter court shot.
Cuttita worked with several sources
and managed to get a game clip to
ESPN which used it as one of its Top
10 plays of the week.
25-YEAR AWARD
George Cuttita, Union
He started as a sportswriter. In his
freshman year at Shenendehowa High
School in Clifton Park, NY (just outside
Albany), Cuttita wrote weekly articles
for the Commercial News. The Albany
Times-Union advertised for a part-time
sportswriter. He worked there for two
years, then joined the Schenectady
Gazette on a full-time basis. Cuttita
married his fiancée, Terri Lynch, and
she gave birth to a daughter, Kim.
Eighteen months later, Terri tragically
died in an auto accident.
With help from his parents and
his sister, Terri, Cutttita raised his
daughter as a single parent. He
returned to college at the University
at Albany on a full-time basis. After
school, he worked at the Gazette until
1 am each morning. This lasted for
a year. In January, 1980, he left the
paper and was a substitute student
teacher at Shenendehowa.
Union advertised for a full-time
SID working out of its public relations
office. “They saw the job as an entrylevel
position and didn’t expect anyone
to stay there for a long time,” Cuttita
said. Learn the craft, develop some
skills, and move on. He started on July
1, 1980.
His first ‘road trip’ as an SID
brought on a different sort of mishap.
That winter, Cuttita rode the bus with
men’s hockey down to Army. The
Cadets beat the Dutchmen, 7-2. After
CoSIDA E-Digest April 2013 • 66
the game, he got to a phone and
started calling. “Remember,” he said,
“this was way before email and web.
You got on the phone and it took a
while to make all the calls.” When he
finished calling the TV stations and
dictating game info to the three Capitol
District newspapers, he went outside.
The bus was gone.
The team forgot he was with them
and left for Schenectady.
Army’s hockey coach invited
Cuttita to spend the night at his house.
Cuttita reached his men’s basketball
coach by phone. Union was busing
down on Saturday to play at Columbia.
The men’s coach agreed to pick him
up. The Army coach dropped Cuttita at
the New York State Thruway toll booth.
He met the Union basketball bus and
wound up covering both hockey and
basketball on the same weekend,
although it wasn’t in his original plan
when the week began.
“I always enjoyed working with
the students,” he said, “especially
with their writing.” That gave him the
opportunity to blend his sportswriting
skills with his teaching experience.
The students and the athletes
appreciated his efforts. Melissa
Matusewicz earned All-America
honors in soccer in 2000. She made
a copy of her certificate had it framed,
and presented it to Cuttita along with a
personal note of thanks for everything
he did to spread the word about her
skills. She attributed her honor to his
work. The framed certificate sits in his
den in his home outside Orlando.
Another student, Hannah Blum,
worked in minor league hockey after
graduation. When she was chasing
her advanced degree, Blum dedicated
her thesis to Cuttita because she did
the thesis on sports information.
Cuttita remarried in the mid-1980s. He
and Donna have been together for 29
years. Long hours are a part of any
SID’s life and that’s a challenge.
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