Harvey A. Dorfman '57 Scholarship

Harvey A. Dorfman ’57/’61 spent 27 years in education before embarking on his second career in the early 1980s as professional baseball’s first true sports psychologist. Mr. Dorfman began his sports psychology career with the Oakland A’s in 1984, remaining with the team for 10 years. He was with Oakland for three World Series Championships.

In 1994, he joined the Florida Marlins organization and was with them when the Marlins won their World Series Championship in 1997. He continued working with individual clients until his passing in 2011.

Mr. Dorfman wrote four books on psychological coaching: The Mental ABCs of Pitching, The Mental Game of Baseball, The Mental Keys to Hitting, and Coaching the Mental Game, all published by the Trade Division of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.

At SUNY Brockport, Mr. Dorfman majored in English as an undergraduate, and he earned his master’s degree in education. He also was goalkeeper for the Brockport men’s soccer team that shared the National Championship with Penn State in 1955. He dedicated Coaching the Mental Game to A. Huntley Parker, Jr., his Brockport soccer coach.

His family—Anita, his wife of more than 50 years; his son Dan, and his daughter, Melissa—established the Harvey A. Dorfman ’57 Scholarship to honor his memory by recognizing an outstanding student at Brockport who has demonstrated a potential for excellence in teaching English at the secondary level.

Applicants must be Department of English majors who plan to teach at the secondary (grade six or above) level. Students applying for this scholarship should have completed a minimum of one year of study at Brockport with a GPA of at least 3.5 or better.