Lives of Consequence
Michael Yost '65
As a young man, Michael Yost ’65 wasn’t convinced that Hobart College was the place for him. A talented high school athlete, he dreamed of playing Division I sports. “I begrudgingly went to Hobart — and it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he says.
A native of Corning, N.Y., Yost played baseball, football and basketball for the Statesmen, serving as captain for the basketball team. He found a place for himself academically, majoring in psychology, and was active on campus as a member of Chimera and the IFC Judicial Board. He served as president and pledge master of Kappa Sigma, was president of Interfraternity Council and was inducted in the Druid society. “I had many leadership opportunities at Hobart that I wouldn’t have had elsewhere,” he says.
In his senior year, Yost spent time with then Dean and Professor of English Benjamin Atkinson L.H.D. ’86, who suggested Yost consider a career in college student personnel administration. After earning a master’s in education from Syracuse University, Yost accepted a position as resident director, freshman football coach and assistant varsity basketball coach at SUNY Brockport. It then became clear that he needed to choose between a career in athletics or one in peer administration. The decision was the beginning of a long and distinguished career in higher education.
Yost became Coordinator of Resident Management at Virginia Tech, where he earned a doctorate in higher education management and leadership. A desire to return to the northeast brought the family to Syracuse, where Yost accepted a position at LeMoyne College — where he would remain for more than 25 years, retiring in 2002.
As the Vice President of Student Life, Yost oversaw staff from athletics, career planning and placement, counseling, food service, housing, security, student activities and student health services, but it was the daily contact with students that meant the most to him. Students from Brockport, Virginia Tech and LeMoyne still reach out to share the impact he had on their lives. “There’s not a bigger reward than that,” he says.
Classmate and friend David Gordon ’68 recalls Yost as “a true leader on campus. He was a mentor to many Hobart alums of his era and continued this leadership throughout his career in higher education.”
A past director of the Statesmen Athletic Association Board of Directors, Yost remains a faithful fan of Hobart Athletics. He was inducted into the Corning-Painted Post Sports Hall of Fame in 1986.
A dedicated alumnus and volunteer, Yost has served as Reunion coordinator, Reunion chair, class agent and annual fund volunteer.