As a leading member of Clarkson’s prominent hockey teams in the late 1960s, Fred Silver could be remembered most by many followers of Golden Knights athletics for his solid two-way play on the ice. However, the native of Copper Cliff, Ontario may have achieved his athletic accomplishments on the golf course.
A Northern Ontario amateur and two-time junior golf champion prior to attending college, Silver continued to dominate on the course while at Clarkson and was the Golden Knights’ leading medalist for three seasons from 1966-68. He lost only three matches in three years of varsity competition and was the Independent College Athletic Conference (ICAC) individual champion in 1966 and 1968. Silver also competed in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Golf Championships at Bethpage on Long Island as a senior, finishing eighth in the highly competitive tournament field of 63 of the best collegiate golfers in the east.
In the winter as a left wing/center for head coach Len Ceglarski’s teams, no one was more balanced in scoring than Silver. He posted 42 goals and 42 assists for 84 points over his 67 games from 1965-68, and helped to lead the Knights to a 54-18-2 overall record.
As a sophomore in 1965-66, in his first year of varsity eligibility, Silver helped the Green and Gold post one of Clarkson’s best seasons ever. He tallied 14 goals and 10 assists as the Knights came within one game of claiming college hockey’s national title.
Clarkson finished the 1965-66 campaign with a 24-3 overall record, including an 11-1 first-place mark in ECAC play. The Knights won the school’s first ever tournament championship that winter with a 6-2 victory over Cornell in the title game at the old Boston Arena.
In the NCAA Tournament, Silver started Clarkson’s comeback in the semifinal round, scoring the Knights’ second goal in the 4-3 victory over pre-tournament favorite Denver. The Green and Gold finished as national championship runner-up after Michigan State pulled out the win in the final game.
Silver excelled in his role again during the 1967-68 campaign as a junior and posted 34 points, including 18 goals, as the Knights’ fourth leading scorer.
In his senior campaign of 1967-68, he was slowed by injuries, but still managed to put up 26 points on 10 goals and 16 assists through 18 games. Silver came on strong in the second half of the season and helped guide Clarkson to a 16-7-1 overall record and second place in the ECAC with an 11-5 conference mark. He was selected to the first team of the 1968 ECAC Tournament All-Star squad.
Along with serving as an alternate captain on the hockey team as a senior, Silver was golf team captain in his junior and senior seasons, served as president of the Varsity “C” Club, and was tapped into Phalanx.
After graduating from Clarkson with a B.S in Industrial Distribution and an M.S. in Industrial Management, Silver spent most of his professional career with the Carborundum Company. He also served as President and CEO of the Excelon-ESK Co., a world-wide manufacturing business.
Silver continued to stay active in athletics after college and compiled an impressive list of playing accomplishments as an amateur golfer. For 36 consecutive years beginning in 1970, he qualified for the Porter Cup, the world renowned amateur event. He recorded four top five finishes in 18 appearances in the New York State Amateur Championship. Silver was the #1-ranked amateur in Western New York for 14 consecutive years from 1983-1996, and was also named Ontario Senior Player of the Year in 2002. He competed in 11 USGA Championships and was ranked #3 in the nation for senior amateurs by Golf Week Magazine in 2002 and 2005. Silver was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Spots Hall of Fame in 2003 and was selected to the WNYPGA Hall of Fame in 2006.
