American International College

Springfield native Milt Piepul was the architect of the modern athletic department at AIC, and built the program while also serving as head football coach for five years.

On the field, he had a career record of 26-19 (.578) and won a then school-record eight games in 1975, a record that stood until 1999, and in doing so was named the New England Coach of the Year by the New England Football Writers. He was instrumental in the formation of the Northeast-7 Conference (now the Northeast-10), and was inducted into the Northeast-10 Hall of Fame in 2006 as a Founding Father.

Piepul served on numerous committees of both the NCAA and ECAC, and was a member of the American Football Coaches' Association for over 50 years. He also served as President of the Springfield Tip-Off Classic, which annually pitted two of college basketball's top teams against each other in the city. He was also active in the Western Massachusetts chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. Piepul stepped down as athletic director in 1986, and passed away in 1994 at the age of 75.