College Announces Sweeting Endowment for Athletics
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, announced today (July 31) the creation of the Roger Sweeting Endowment for Athletics, a fund established to support the college’s 21 NCAA varsity teams in honor of Dr. Roger Sweeting, associate professor emeritus of kinesiology and health education and the college’s longtime director of athletics.
“When it comes to athletics and student-athletes, I cannot think of another person who has meant so much to so many people,” Dr. Jack Burke, chancellor of Penn State Behrend, said. “Roger’s decades of hard work and dedication to Penn State Behrend fostered growth in students on an individual level. Now, as alumni, they have created this endowment as a way to honor him.”
Three of Sweeting’s former players, E. Joseph Williams, Bruce Reinhart and Duane May, spearheaded the effort to establish the endowment. Williams and Reinhart were members of Penn State Behrend’s 1966-67 championship basketball team while May was a member of the undefeated 1968-69 men’s basketball team, posting a 20-0 record. To date, alumni, staff and friends of the college have contributed.
Sweeting was hired in 1963 to teach physical education, run intramurals and coach every sport offered at the time—soccer, basketball and baseball, all for men only. He succeeded Jim Gallagher, who served as the college’s first director of athletics from 1960 to 1963.
During his tenure, Sweeting managed the college’s transition from two-year to four-year competitions and played a key role in implementing Title IX, which introduced women’s sports to Penn State Behrend.
Presently, Penn State Behrend fields teams for both men and women in nine sports, including basketball, cross country, golf, indoor track, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and water polo, a baseball team for men, and softball and volleyball teams for women—a total of 10 sports for men and 11 for women.
In 1981, Herb Lauffer, who was first hired in 1968 to teach physical education and coach soccer and tennis, succeeded Sweeting as athletics director, becoming the face of Penn State Behrend athletics until his death in 1997. Sweeting retired in 1996, after 33 years of service.
“It’s fitting that we honor Roger at Herb Lauffer’s memorial golf tournament,” said Brian Streeter, the college’s current director of athletics. “Individually and together, they played such integral roles in shaping athletics at Penn State Behrend.” The 13th annual Herb Lauffer Memorial Golf Tournament was held today (July 31) at Lawrence Park Golf Course.
Sweeting earned his bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Bowling Green State University, a master’s in physical education from Penn State University Park, and a Ph.D. in administration of physical education and sports from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He resides in Surprise, Ariz.
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a comprehensive residential college offering 34 bachelor’s, six associate, four pre-professional and two graduate degree programs with 22 minors to more than 4,600 students. Focused on providing a student-centered environment, Penn State Behrend connects its students to a major research and land-grant institution on a campus enriched by more than 110 clubs and organizations, 21 NCAA varsity teams and 19 intramural sports. Penn State Behrend is named in recognition of a donation by Mary Behrend, widow of Ernst Behrend, who founded the Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie in 1898. The Behrend family lived on the 400-acre Glenhill Farm, which is the core of the Penn State Behrend campus today. For more information, visit behrend.psu.edu.