Mercy College, along with the athletic department, dedicated the Student Athlete Center in honor of former Mercy athletic director Neil Judge on Dec. 2. The ceremony was well attended by members of all athletic teams at Mercy, as well as Mercy College President Tim Hall and other faculty.

Judge served as the first athletic director at Mercy, and served in this role for 34 years before retiring from the position in 2005. In the athletic program’s Instagram post about the tribute to Judge, the school noted Judge’s “dedication to student success” as the main reason for the renaming.

Unfortunately, Judge passed away in early January a few weeks after the ceremony was held. 

As a part-time physical education instructor, Neil Judge started working at Mercy College in 1969. Two years later, he was appointed Mercy’s first athletics director.

He once served as the head coach of each team at Mercy College, and his entry on the Mercy College Hall of Fame website mentions that “he was well-liked and respected by everyone there.” In addition to serving as Mercy’s summer sports camp director and instructing several physical education courses, his tenure included three stints as the softball team’s head coach.

Judge played a crucial role in helping to secure membership in the NCAA in 1975, the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1973, and a charter membership in the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1989. Judge was elected as a member of the East Coast Conference Hall of Fame in 2018 for his many years of dedication to athletics and to Mercy.

“It’s an absolute pleasure and an honor to celebrate the legacy of Neil Judge” current athletic director Matt Kilcullen said in his speech during the dedication ceremony.

When asked about Judge after, Kilcullen said that he “can’t truly put into words how important Neil Judge is to this athletic department, and the impact that he had on each student-athlete that had the pleasure of meeting him.”

“There is still so much of you here, Neil,” assistant athletic director Bill Sullivan said in his speech to the Mercy athletic family. Sullivan also added that “we still emphasize the importance of the student-athlete and their academic progress in the goal that they all walk across that stage at graduation.”

1993 Mercy College graduate and former athlete Michele Coyle-Hughes was interviewed by the school after the ceremony and echoed much of the same sentiment shared by both Kilcullen and Sullivan.

In a message to Judge, Coyle-Hughes said that the student-athlete program “owes so much to you. We finally got a home gym, and thank you for everything.”

In recognition of Judge’s dedication to the education of the student-athletes he oversaw, the award for the graduating senior with the highest grade-point average is awarded the Neil Judge award. The members of the student-athlete office emphasized that Judge’s emphasis on graduating student-athletes was part of what made him a great athletic director, and ambassador to Mercy College.

The ceremony took place one day before the Mercy men’s and women’s basketball teams hosted the University of District Columbia at the newly named Neil Judge Center. The women’s team prevailed with an 84-75 win, while the men’s team endured a tough 81-69 loss. Both teams are now on break until after Christmas.

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The following is a statement from President Hall:

It is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the passing of Neil Judge on Sunday, January 15, 2023.  Neil was Mercy College’s first athletic director who served in this role for 34 years until his retirement in 2005. His student-first approach for the athletes is still evoked to this day.  Neil is survived by his wife of 55 years, Mary Anne Mulheren Judge ’65, his three daughters, Jane (Larry) Bonassar, Megan Judge and Abby Judge (Patrick Tutek) and seven grandchildren.

Neil was credited for laying the foundation for a thriving athletics program and creating an environment of academic accountability and achievement on and off the field. He was instrumental in securing Mercy’s membership in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1973, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1975, and a charter membership in the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1989.  

Mercy College sports teams were successful under Neil’s leadership, with highlights that included three straight 20-win seasons by the women’s basketball team in the early 1980s, five straight winning seasons from the baseball team in the early 1980s, a 1986 state championship by the softball team, the men’s soccer team’s run to the NCAA regional finals in 1989 and a NCAA Elite Eight appearance by the volleyball team in 2001. 

Among his many professional achievements, Neil was inducted into the Mercy College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006, Neil earned the East Coast Conference Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and was inducted into the East Coast Conference Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2017, Mercy College honored Neil with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Trustees’ Scholarship Dinner.

t is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the passing of Neil Judge on Sunday, January 15, 2023.  Neil was Mercy College’s first athletic director who served in this role for 34 years until his retirement in 2005. His student first approach for the athletes is still evoked to this day.  Neil is survived by his wife of 55 years, Mary Anne Mulheren Judge ’65, his three daughters, Jane (Larry) Bonassar, Megan Judge and Abby Judge (Patrick Tutek) and seven grandchildren.

Neil was credited for laying the foundation for a thriving athletics program and creating an environment of academic accountability and achievement on and off the field. He was instrumental in securing Mercy’s membership in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1973, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1975, and a charter membership in the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1989.  

Mercy College sports teams were successful under Neil’s leadership, with highlights that included three straight 20-win seasons by the women’s basketball team in the early 1980s, five straight winning seasons from the baseball team in the early 1980s, a 1986 state championship by the softball team, the men’s soccer team’s run to the NCAA regional finals in 1989 and a NCAA Elite Eight appearance by the volleyball team in 2001. 

Among his many professional achievements, Neil was inducted into the Mercy College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006, Neil earned the East Coast Conference Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 and was inducted into the East Coast Conference Hall of Fame in 2018. In 2017, Mercy College honored Neil with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Trustees’ Scholarship Dinner.

Click here to watch the tribute video that was shown at the event.

In December 2022, Mercy dedicated the Neil Judge Student Athlete Center on the Dobbs Ferry Campus in honor of Neil and as a tribute to his dedication to student success. The Center encompasses the athletics wing of Victory Hall. Many former athletes, coaches and colleagues returned to campus for this special event and shared their memories of and admiration for Neil.