National Football Foundation

Robert “Scotty” Whitelaw, who claimed the NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award in 1996, served as the commissioner of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) from 1971-1989.

Whitelaw served on the board of the National Football Foundation Board & College Hall of Fame from 1972 until 1994 and as an emeritus member in 1995. During his NFF tenure, he held positions on the Awards Committee and as the organization’s secretary. His dedication to the organization included founding the NFF Eastern Massachusetts Chapter and as chairman of the Kickoff Classic Games Committee. 

Growing up in North Quincy, Mass., Whitelaw was told by his parents that he could not play high school football. Undeterred, he forged his father’s signature, joining the team anyway. Following World War II and his service in the U.S. Naval Reserve, Whitelaw found himself at another crossroad as a freshman at Springfield College (Mass.) when he failed to make the football team. Again his perseverance would pay off when several players quit, and he earned an invitation to play. He spent two years on the junior varsity squad before making the varsity roster as a safety. While at Springfield he also exceled in center field on the baseball team and in track as New England 's AAU 600 yard champion. 

By the time of graduation from Springfield in 1950, college athletics had become his calling, and he landed a teaching fellowship at Springfield, which would launch his coaching career at Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Mass. His next job led him to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he served as the varsity basketball and baseball coach and as the director of physical education. In his last five years at MIT, Whitelaw served as the assistant director of athletics while working as a football and basketball official. 

In 1960, Whitelaw joined the ECAC as an assistant commissioner under the tutelage of Asa S. Bushnell. In  1970,  George L. Shiebler took over the head job from retiring commissioner Bushnell, and Whitelaw became an associate commissioner. Two years later in 1972, Whitelaw become commissioner himself, serving until 1989. In total, he served the ECAC 29 years, 17 years as commissioner. 

During his stewardship , the ECAC grew into the nation's largest conference, adding nearly 50 colleges and swelling to 259 colleges and universities. It offered more than 90 championships in 19 different sports for Division I,  II and  Ill, and Whitelaw had the ultimate responsibility for more than 20,000 officiating assignments annually. 

Whitelaw led the effort to move the conference’s headquarters from New York City to Centerville, Mass., on Cape Cod in the early 1970s, and he negotiated major television contracts in football and basketball for the conference. He played the seminal role in the four regional tournaments, which secured the ECAC's automatic bids to the Division I men's Basketball Championship, a pioneering advance at the time that helped set the precedent for the automatic berth system that remains in place today. In 1983, under his leadership, the ECAC became one of the first conferences in the country to provide championships in women’s sports. 

His many accomplishments did not go unnoticed. When Whitelaw retired in 1989, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) honored him with its prestigious James J. Corbett  Award, named after the former athletic director at Louisiana  State and NACDA’s first president. The award is presented annually by NACDA for outstanding contributions to college athletics. 

Whitelaw became the first conference commissioner to serve on the NACDA Executive Committee, and he amassed numerous honors over the years. He served as executive director of the National Invitation Tournament, and he was named NIT/Kodak Man of The Year. He received the Schaeffer Pen Award for outstanding contributions to college hockey and the George Carens Award from the New England Football Writers' Association for his outstanding contributions to college football. The Metropolitan Football Writers Division I-AA Coach of the Year Award was named "the Scotty Whitelaw Trophy, " and the ECAC Division I Ice Hockey Championship Trophy was named "The Scotty Whitelaw Cup" in recognition of his efforts organizing the National Ice Hockey Officials and as the architect of the ECAC Div. I Hockey Tournament. 

For his many achievements in inter collegiate sports, his alma mater honored him with induction into the Springfield College Hall of Fame, and he was an inaugural inductee into the ECAC Hall of Fame. He passed away April 2, 2016, in Sarasota, Fla., at the age of 88.