Carl Farnum Ullrich

Carl Ullrich, who as a college coach and administrator shaped generations of scholar-athletes and future military officers, died on May 9, 2023 in Virginia Beach, VA. He was 94.
Mr. Ullrich, who retired from the United States Military Academy in 1990 after a decade at the helm of the West Point athletic department, would go on to serve as the first full-time executive director of the Patriot League, which he grew into an all-sports conference that continues to thrive today.
Carl Farnum Ullrich was born on June 23, 1928, in Ridgewood, NJ, to Carl Oscar Ullrich, a civil engineer, and Margaret Dowling Ullrich. He grew up on Long Island, and attended Friends Academy where he excelled at lacrosse and football. After graduating in 1945, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving aboard an LST in the Pacific theater. Upon his discharge in 1946, he enrolled at Cornell University, where his father and his brother Robert had attended before him. During his time in Ithaca, he was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity and was tapped for the Quill and Dagger Society. As a member of the Big Red lightweight crew, he won a national championship in 1949, and served as commodore during his senior season. He graduated from Cornell in 1950 with a BS in mechanical engineering.
While an undergraduate at Cornell, Ullrich enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve. After a brief stint at the graduate school of education, while coaching the freshmen lightweight crew, he entered active service in November of 1950, and completed basic training at Parris Island, SC. During the summer of 1951, along with 300 other enlisted Marines, he received officer training in Quantico, VA as part of the 5th Special Basic Class. In September he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, and received orders to Korea.
Deploying to the Korean theater as a member of First Battalion, 7th Marines, Ullrich served in combat as part of the East-Central Front. There he led infantry Marines as a rifle platoon leader and, from January through March of 1952, commanding officer of Company A. He would eventually leave the Marine Corps with the rank of Captain.
Upon returning home to Long Island, he took a teaching position at his alma mater, Friends Academy, where he met Rebecca T. Eves, the love of his life. The two were married on June 12, 1953, and would go on to have five children over the course of the next seven years.
Ullrich soon embarked a crew coaching career that took the growing family to a series of college towns: five years coaching the freshmen at Cornell, winning an IRA title in 1958; five years leading the rowing program at Columbia; and a year as the varsity coach at Boston University before settling down at the United States Naval Academy.
While in Annapolis, Ullrich found great success with his Navy crews, punctuated by a victory at the 1971 Eastern Sprints. After 6 years leading the boathouse, he transitioned to an administrative capacity, serving for years as a deputy to Director of Athletics Capt. J.O. "Bo" Coppedge. It was in this role that he found his calling working with a broader array of student athletes.
After a year in Kalamazoo as athletic director at Western Michigan University, Ullrich was called back to service academy life in 1980, this time as the first civilian Director of Athletics at the United States Military Academy. Over the course of a decade he made his mark at West Point, modernizing the athletic program, upgrading facilities, mentoring countless cadets and coaches, and, with the hire of Jim Young, helping to restore the Black Knight football program to national prominence. Under Ullrich's leadership, Army won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy three times, and went to the first three bowl games in academy history, emerging as Cherry Bowl victors in 1984, and Peach Bowl champions in 1985.
During his tenure at Army, Ullrich served as President of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), and on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA.)
As he entered his final year at West Point, Ullrich took the reins of what was then known as the Colonial League; an upstart, football-only conference that he would re-christen the Patriot League, and expand to 22 sports after becoming the first full-time executive director in 1990. During Ullrich's years at the conference's headquarters in Bethlehem, PA, the Patriot League secured an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, expanded to 8 members–including Army and Navy–and strongly embraced women's athletics, while adhering to its founding mission of admitting and graduating scholar-athletes that reflect the makeup of the academically-minded institutions they represent.
An initial retirement in 1993 didn't take, and after moving to Laurinberg, NC, Ullrich would soon find himself helping out a local Division II school, St. Andrew's Presbyterian College, where he would serve two separate stints as athletic director, from 1995 to 1997, and from 2002 to 2004.
A proper retirement would come in 2004 as he and Becky moved to Virginia Beach, VA, to be closer to their children, grandchildren, and, in recent years, a growing brood of adoring great-grandchildren.
Ullrich is a member of the Army Sports Hall of Fame, the St. Andrew's Presbyterian College Hall of Fame, and the East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Hall of Fame.
Carl Ullrich was a man of high moral and ethical standards, an esteemed coach and administrator, and a role model and mentor to many; but above all else, he was devoted to his family. He is survived by his wife Becky; daughter Julie M. Anderson; sons Rick (Suzanne), Tom (Vicki) and Mike (Alison); his son-in-law Walter J. Donovan, Jr.; 12 grandchildren; and 17 great-grandchildren.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Margaret, his brother Robert D. Ullrich, and his daughter Kathleen R. Donovan.
THE FAMILY IS NOT ACCEPTING FLOWERS AT THIS TIME. ANY FLOWER ORDERS WILL BE DECLINED AND RETURNED TO THE FLORIST. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a charity of your choice.