The Most Valuable Player of both the basketball and lacrosse teams as a senior and the Outstanding Senior Male Athlete, Jim Berkman played in seven NCAA tournaments during his undergraduate career, including four straight in lacrosse.
A first-team All America in lacrosse as a senior and a selection for the North-South Game, he scored 40 goals as a senior and finished his career third on the all-time Saint scoring list. A clutch player, he scored a goal at the final horn to beat Ohio Wesleyan and the game winning overtime goal against Washington College on the 1980 spring break.
He also came through with big plays in basketball, scoring the game-winning basket at the buzzer in a win at Potsdam in 1980 and scoring 27 points as the Saints upset Division I Canisius in Buffalo. While he averaged a solid 8.2 points per game for his career in basketball, he held the Saint record for assists at the time of his graduation and was an outstanding passer. He is also one of the greatest free throw shooters in Saint hoop history, setting both the single season and career free throw accuracy records. He played on three straight league championship teams in basketball, including on the first team to go undefeated in league play.
Jim returned to St. Lawrence as head basketball coach in 1985-86 and spent three seasons at the Saint helm, winning the 1987-88 ICAC title. He then moved on to Salisbury University in Maryland where he earned national lacrosse Coach of the Year honors in 1991, won national championships in 1994, 1995 and 1999 and has coached over 70 All America players.
