Jim Butterfield

Bio

Jim Butterfield was born in Tampa, Florida. He moved to Westboro, Massachusetts, finished high school in 1945, and served in the Navy in World War II as an aviation machinist's mate. Butterfield played football at the University of Maine, won three letters, was team captain and all-Yankee Conference guard in 1952. He obtained a bachelor's degree in 1953 and master's degree in 1958. Butterfield coached Arms Academy 1954-55 with a 11-4 record. He was assistant coach at Maine 1956-59 and Colgate 1960-66. He became head coach at Ithaca in 1967. For his first seven seasons he had a 29-29 record. Then came 20 consecutive winning seasons with a mark of 177-42-1. The Ithaca Bombers under Butterfield were in postseason playoffs 11 times. Their playoff record was 21-8. They won the national championship of NCAA Division III three times--beating Wittenberg 14-10 in the title game in 1979, beating Central (Iowa) 39-24 in 1988, and beating Dayton 34-20 in 1991. The Bombers were runners-up for the championship in 1974, 1975, 1980, and 1985. Butterfield's 27-year record was 206-71-1, a .743 percentage. The American Football Coaches Association named him Coach of the Year in the small college category in 1988 and 1991. The Ithaca Stadium was re-named Jim Butterfield Stadium in 1992. The school created the Butterfield Scholarship, awarded to a student for academics and leadership.