Colgate University invited alumni, friends, and family to campus for the dedication of Biddle Way, Biddle Plaza, and the Dick Biddle video board at Andy Kerr Stadium on Oct. 30.
Named for the Raiders’ long-time head football coach Dick Biddle, Biddle Way and Biddle Plaza will serve as the centerpiece for the program’s pre-and-post game festivities. The 2,000-square foot plaza, located at the southeast end of the stadium, includes amphitheater-style seating that can be used as a gathering space for fans. It also features a monument acknowledging Biddle’s accomplishments.
Biddle Way is the newly dedicated pathway that runs adjacent to Sanford Fieldhouse and serves as the route the football team walks from the locker room to their new game-day entrance through Biddle Plaza. The stadium’s state-of-the-art video board, first unveiled in 2019, will now also bear Biddle’s name.
“Colgate is about people, and Coach Biddle was such an authentic person,” says Tom McGarrity ’79, a former Maroon Council president who helped spearhead the project. “I’m happy to see it come to fruition. I love the fact that it’s going to be a tradition for the football team to come through here. This area will take on a real special reverence for our players and alumni, and will be a multifaceted space for the program to use.”
After opening remarks from Vice President and Director of Athletics Nicki Moore and Fred ’50 and Marilyn Dunlap Head Football Coach Stan Dakosty ’05, Anthony Caravetta ’97 and Dick Biddle’s son, Brendon Biddle ’03, offered words of appreciation. Maroon Council co-presidents Caravetta and Mark Paske ’94 later cut the ribbon to officially open Biddle Way, allowing the football team to enter the stadium through the plaza, between lines of cheering football alumni and fans, for the first time.
“Those of us who were lucky enough to play this amazing sport had many great coaches – but for a lot of us here, none compared to Coach Biddle,” says Caravetta. “We love Coach Biddle not only for turning the program around, but for the things he said to us on and off the field. He always tried to make you a better player and a better person.”
Biddle, who retired in 2013, is the winningest head coach in Colgate and Patriot League history, compiling a 137-73 record in his 18 seasons. He led the Raiders to seven Patriot League titles and was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year on five occasions. In 2003, Biddle was named the National Coach of the Year after guiding Colgate to a 15-1 record and the NCAA Division I-AA Championship Game.
“Through Coach Biddle’s expertise, passion, and dedication to his staff and players, Colgate is one of the winningest programs in Patriot League history,” says Moore. “It is to Coach Biddle that we express our greatest thanks for making Colgate a home of champions.”
More than 100 donors contributed to the effort to pay tribute to Biddle. The project’s lead donors will be recognized with a plaque on the monument in Biddle Plaza:
Brion B. Applegate ’76 and Sabrina Applegate
Dan ’83 and Julie ’86 Arment
Class of 1996 and 1997 Era Teammates
Class of 2003 Team
Class of 2005 Team in memory of Eric "Gugs" Guglielmotti #42
Brothers of Delta Upsilon in honor of our coach
Frederick H. ’50 and Marilyn Dunlap P’81,GP’18
Fred "Tiger" Dunlap ’81 and Andrea G. Dunlap P’18
Alan ’51 and Maria Egler Family
Michael W. Fish ’05
Jonathan S. Halkyard ’87 and Kari J. Halkyard ’87,P’20
Peter O. ’55 and Linda Hanson P’79,’86,’89,GP’25
Daniel B. Hurwitz ’86,H’19 and Eleanor R. Hurwitz P’17,’20
John Marzo ’80,P’19 and JoAnn Marzo P’19
Robert H. Meyerhoff ’49 and Sarah Meyerhoff P’76,GP’09
Bruce F. ’79 and Pamela Nardella
Mark A. Paske ’94
Robert G. Relph, Jr. ’78 and Deirdre M. Relph P’09
Robert C. Watson ’66
Gordon O. Watson ’62 and Mary M. Watson P’98,’01
Read Colgate athletics' tribute to Dick Biddle.
