Brockport Golden Eagles football began in 1947 after the end of WWII, when veterans returning from the war began to attend the college on the GI Bill. Many of these young people had gone off to the war right after high school or during high school and wanted to have a true college experience complete with athletic teams. The first football team included center Louis F. Avino, who also came up with the team's Golden Eagles mascot. The team was led byBob Boozer who went on to a long career as an educator and coach at Brockport, the athletic field at Special Olympic Stadium was named Bob Boozer Field in his honor in 2006. The original locker room was a cold room located under the stairwell in Heartwell Hall. Brockport made it to the NCAA Division III postseason for the first time in school history in2000 and went four consecutive times under head coach Rocco Salomone's lead. In2002, Brockport made it all the way to the NCAA quarterfinals before losing to John Carroll in overtime. After a 15 year drought, the Golden Eagles qualified for the2017 NCAA Division III Playoffs following an undefeated regular season. In 2018, the Golden Eagles would once again go undefeated in the regular season and qualify for the2018 NCAA Division III Playoffs. In 2019, the Golden Eagles would once again find their way to the2019 NCAA Division III Playoffs with a win against Western New England in the first round. They would advance to play Muhlenberg in the second round, which they would lose. In 2021, the Golden Eagles earned aECAC bowl bid to play in the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl.[3] They playedWashington & Jefferson on November 20, 2021. They came away from the game with a 20–7 victory. In 2022, the Golden Eagles earned another ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl bid, however it would later be canceled due to inclement weather in the area.[4] In 2023, the Golden Eagles earned their third straight ECAC Bowl bid, this time playing in the ECAC Asa S. Bushnell Bowl losing against Carnegie Mellon.
