UB alum and faculty joins the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2023

Published December 5, 2023

Gerry Meehan, an adjunct professor of computational and data enabled sciences in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has been inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. 

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“UB SEAS is now the platform to bring my message to students that a career in sports is not limited to the athlete in competition. ”
Gerry Meehan, adjunct professor of computational and data enabled sciences in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Meehan circa 1972 with the Buffalo Sabres. Photo: The Gerry Meehan Archives.

Meehan circa 1972 with the Buffalo Sabres. Photo: The Gerry Meehan Archives.

"I am extremely honored by this recognition,” Meehan said. “It confirms that I have made a meaningful contribution to the sports community in Western New York, largely made possible not only by my efforts as an athlete and Sabres attorney then manager but by my experiences at UB, first as a law student and now as a teacher at UB SEAS.”

Meehan started his career in 1963 after being drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs. He then went on to join the Buffalo Sabres, playing in the first game in Buffalo Sabres history in 1970. Meehan scored 94 goals and 208 points over five seasons as a left winger for the Sabres from 1970 to 1975. In his 10 total National Hockey League seasons he scored 180 goals.

After retiring from hockey, Meehan complete his undergraduate degree at Canisius College and later earned his law degree from the University at Buffalo School of Law in 1982.

Meehan went on to practice sports, corporate and immigration law and became the general manager for the Sabres until 1993. After leaving the Sabres, he co-founded Cardinal Consultants Ltd., which provided a wide variety of sports consulting services.

Meehan returned to UB in 2019, where he now helps to lead the School of Law’s Center for the Advancement of Sport as special council. The center partnered with SEAS to create the Data Analytics in Sports Law and Management micro-credential.

“UB law was the platform for my sports law and management career,” said Meehan. “UB SEAS is now the platform to bring my message to students that a career in sports is not limited to the athlete in competition.”

The program is combining data science as well as legal and management issues to help people in sports management make better decisions on player management, development, contract negotiations and financial decisions.