Hobart Director of Athletics Mike Hanna '68 recently announced the creation of a new award to be presented at the 2010 Block H Awards banquet. The Coach Ron Fleury Cross Country Award honors the Statesmen's longtime leader.

Fleury, of Cayuga, N.Y., has guided the Hobart cross country team since 1983. He has served as a mentor to dozens of all-academic honorees, several all-conference runners, and two NCAA Championship qualifiers, Ben Flanagan '10 and Greg Stowell '00.

The Coach Ron Fleury Cross Country Award will be presented annually to the Hobart runner whose dedication to his academic work, his teammates, and to the HWS community has been outstanding. The award has been endowed through the generous loyalty of former team captain Tom Patchett '88, of Belle Harbor, N.Y.

Fleury joined the Statesmen coaching staff following 12 years as the cross country coach at Eisenhower College.

A dedicated educator, Fleury was a member of the faculty at Mynderse Academy in Seneca Falls, N.Y., where he taught mathematics and coached track and field for three decades. He retired from teaching in 2000, but continues to coach the Blue Devils, leading his charges to the 2001 Section V Class CC Championship and the 1975, 1995, and 2003 Finger Lakes League Championships.

Fleury graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1969. As a student-athlete, he was a member of Cortland's SUNYAC cross country championship winning teams in 1967 and 1968. Fleury is a member of the SUNYAC Cross Country Hall of Fame.

In addition to a bachelor's degree from Cortland, Fleury has an associate's degree from Auburn Community College (now Cayuga Community College), earned in 1967.