She is the all-time scoring leader as a SUNY Oswego women’s ice hockey team defenseman. She was the scoring leader for field hockey in the 1979-80 season. She has athletic accolades ranging from most valuable player to team captain.
And when she graduated with a degree in education, she was far from done with the sports that had shaped her youth.
Instead, Anne Potter Collins ’80 has woven hockey throughout her entire life, with the next generation of her family spreading even more broadly her love for—and skills on—the ice.
Inducted into the Oswego State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006 for her contributions to athletics, Collins and her husband, Glenn (who played hockey for Rochester Institute of Technology and later coached there), have four children, all who have played either collegiate or professional hockey. Her daughters—Kelly ’12 and Courtney ’15—both played for SUNY Oswego. Sons Chris and Greg are retired from professional hockey careers in Europe. Her brother, the late Fred Potter ’80, played for SUNY Oswego as well.
“When Glenn and I met near the end of our college days, we just knew that hockey would be a big part of our journey together,” Anne said. “When our first son Chris was born, we had him on the ice as soon as he could walk!”
And the reach is broader than the Collins clan. Anne and her family own and operate Village Sports arena in Fairport, N.Y., where the next generation of hockey players put sticks to ice and learn the skills of the game under the Collins family’s tutelage.
“We’ve had thousands of kids from the community come through our programs, and we enjoy giving back by doing business in the community the kids grew up in,” she said. “We make sure the kids have fun as they learn and play the great game of hockey.”
Anne runs a sports-based preschool that teaches 3 and 4 year olds to play hockey, as well as kindergarten readiness skills. The rest of the family runs other programs, training youth off and on the ice.
It’s a natural evolution for a family that has dedicated itself to the game.
“The game of hockey has taught me humility, respect, companionship and perseverance,” Anne said. “I just love seeing the little ones and their parents having fun together.”