This Friday, 10 Cornell alumni will be inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame. Among the group to be honored is Paul Beuttermuller, Jr. ’78, a former soccer player who attained numerous accolades on the pitch.
With Beuttermuller’s credentials, a Hall of Fame selection seemed imminent. Beuttermuller was a three-time firs-team All-Ivy selection and co-captain of the 1977 side that claimed the Ancient Eight crown.
The selection will put him in the Hall with only 473 other members. But his elevated status within the realm of Cornell Athletics has humbled the future honoree.
“I was extremely honored and humbled. It is just a wonderful feeling,” Beuttermuller said.
Beuttermuller, who graduated with a B.A. in Economics, played on two Ivy League championship teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament. His 1975 team was the most successful, defeating Oneonta State and Hartwick before losing in the quarterfinals to Brown. His 1977 Ivy championship team defeated LIU in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
“You can achieve anything, if you really focus and work for it. Our coaches and players always had that mentality,” Beuttermuller said.
Among all of his soccer memories, Beuttermuller will never forget his trip to Poland with the team. The team toured and played soccer there for three weeks.
“It was different for us, going to a country that was under communist rule, watching police walk around the streets holding their machine guns,” Beuttermuller said.
Nearing the end of his undergraduate education, Beuttermuller was selected to play in the Senior Soccer Bowl. In addition, Beuttermuller was selected in the fifth round by the Connecticut Yankees of the American Soccer League.
Beuttermuller elected to attend graduate school upon graduation. He is now the chief financial officer for a medical group based in Missouri.
But his passion for soccer has not disappeared — Beuttermuller will play in the Missouri Senior Championship in addition to playing in a Sunday morning league.
Beuttermuller’s accomplishments highlight some of men’s soccer’s greatest achievements. With his selection into the Hall, they will always be remembered.
“This is something I will remember for the rest of my life,” Beuttermuller said.